The Lost Artifact Of Spode

001

"Mel!"

A sharp breath in came from the small figure as he finally stirred. A hand on his shoulder gently shook him awake.

"What?" He groans out.

"Wake up, amor. You don't want to be late again."

The voice of his wife is what got him to finally open his eyes. He looks around, taking in his surroundings as if he had just woken up in a new, unfamiliar place.

At first, the sight of his bedroom confused him. In Mel's mind, he was still in his dream, floating around in that white abyss with a star in his hands. Speaking of that star, where did it go? He pushed himself a bit off of his bed to feel around for the object, but all that met him back was white satin sheets.

His wife softly laughed at the sight. "What are you looking for?" She asks.

Finally, Mel looks up to see her face. At first, he doesn't answer Qiana. He was stuck admiring the beauty of the woman before him. Butterflies formed in his stomach as he remembered that this was the woman he married. And with the sight of her, he remembered the rest of the world around him and his dream melted away.

"I had the strangest dream, mi alma," he finally speaks, sitting up from his side of the bed. Mel brings his hand to his mouth as he let's out a long, loud yawn.

"Tell me while you get ready?" Qiana suggests.

Still not fully awake, he pauses for a moment to try to figure out what she's talking about. Did he forget an important date? Will he be introuble if he admits to it?

However, she sees right through him. "It's 6:45, silly! You're gonna be late for work. Again!"

He stiffens at the reminder. "Already? Why didn't you wake me sooner?!" With a groan, Mel pushes himself out of bed and marches straight to the closet.

"I tried. It ain't my fault you never wanna wake up."

He let out an audible scoff, but Qiana laughed it off, knowing full well her husband wasn't truely upset.

"So what was this dream?" She asks, turning her attention to the screen displayed infront of her.

As he slipped his arms through a white, button up shirt, he ran through his dream once more. "I don't know how to explain it," he admits, buttoning his shirt. "I was in this white abyss, but it wasn't at the same time?"

As he reached the last three buttons, he suddenly stopped and reaches for one of his ties. He grabs one from his pile without looking and drapes it over his shoulders before grabbing his pants.

"What do you mean?" Qiana asks.

He further explains, "Everything kept changing. I think I was in a room of some kind, but I wasn't, too." He shoves his shirt into his pants, then slips his belt through the loops. "But the one thing I knew for sure was there was this... star, I suppose."

With a groan, he bends down and grabs his shoes, then makes his way back over to their bed, where Qiana is sitting, looking through her EyePhy.

She asks, "Like the sun kinda star? Or-?"

"No, no." He slips on his smart shoes before working to tie them. "A kiddy star."

She scoffs at the name he gave it. "A kiddy star?"

"You know, the kind kids think they look like." He took a break from tying his shoe just to trace the shape in the air with his finger. "With five points."

"You can just say ' "the shape" ' you dork."

He pauses, remembering that's what it was. "Oh, right," he murs, getting a laugh out of Qiana. He continues tying his shoes and he continues his dream. "Well, there was this star shape thing that glowed like a real star does, and I got to hold it."

"That sounds really neat."

He finishes buttoning up his shirt, but his collar remained a mess and his tie untied. He stands up from the bed and makes his way over to the vanity. His wife finally lifts her gaze from her screen as she watches Mel walk across their room.

"It gets strange, though," he says, picking up his wife's brush. With how thick Mel's hair is, he can't afford to skip a morning without untangling his dark, red hair, no matter how short he were to cut it. "After I held the star in my hands, a voice started talking to me."

"What did he say?" His wife suddenly appears behind him. Her glasses no longer softly glowed blue as she gave him her full attention.

Compared to Mel, Qiana is a giant. She's a tall, large woman who appeared to be twice the size of Mel. She's plus size, while Mel is made of bones and skin, but neither of them ever minded how different each other was built.

She's a very dark woman with very round features. Even with her short hair, which is black and textured. Mel, on the other hand, is dark too, but not nearly as much as his wife, and he has rather square features.

"I don't remember," Mel answers. "I'm not sure it even spoke any of the same languages as me if I'm being honest."

With his hair brushed out, he turns to his wife so she can fix his collar for him and tie his tie. Mel knew how to do it himself, but Qiana insists to do it for him. Not that he minded, though. It was the extra touch of love in the mornings that started his days better.

As she picks up his tie, she giggles at the sight. "You think your boss is gonna like this one?" She asks.

He looks down at her hands to see his tie for the first time. A neon pink tie decorated with yellow, rubber ducks. It was a father's day gift from his oldest, Uri, when he was 15. He laughs at the tie, too.

"Hopefully. They've been out for me with the dress code violations more than usual recently."

Once she finishes tying his tie, she gives him a quick peck on the cheek. Mel turns back to the vanity and quickly gathers the last of his items. His wallet, and a little mushroom chain he likes to wear. Work doesn't allow him to wear accessories like it, but he tends to hide it well under his labcoat.

Mel turns around and begins his way out of their room, falling into thought once more about his dream. About the voice. Qiana meets him by the door and hands him his EyePhy, noticing he almost forgot it.

"I think it might've been Spode," he admits, taking his glasses from her. "In my dream, I mean."

"Spode's talking to you in your dreams now?" She asks.

To Qiana, a lot of Mel's beliefs were nonsense. She was born Christian and in her teens converted to atheism, so religion never really fit with her, much less those that didn't even follow an agenda. And though she tried her best to be supportive of her husband's strange beliefs, it wasn't uncommon for her specitcalism to show in her tone.

"I'm serious! It makes sense. If Spode's on a higher level than us, it would make sense that Spode speaks in a language we can't comprehend."

She hummed as if she understood. "What would he want to tell you, though?"

"It," he corrects, slipping on his glasses. The two silently walk to the front of their house as Mel thinks, trying to remember what words he did make out.

*"Help. Help me."*

He finally answers, "I'm not really sure."

"Well, if you figure it out, tell me, OK?" She opens the front door for Mel. "Have a good day at work, Meita."

The two share a kiss before Mel leave the house.

"Love you, mi alma," he calls out.

"Love you," she calls back just before closing the door.

Mel walks down the path of his house and along the sidewalk to the subway station. But his attention is fixed on the blue, cloudless sky above him, and his mind replayed his dream again and again. He just couldn't shake the feeling that there was some sort of significance to that dream of his.

That Spode really did reach out to him.