Dreamily ETERNAL

Unwanted Choice

I opened the door to my room, immediately acknowledging that the light was on, though dim but still enough for me to recognise the presence of someone.

Joyce.

What was she doing in my room?

The door wasn't locked and the question of how she made it in never crossed my mind but.... Why was this preteen cousin in here?

And, why was she checking on my phone while it charged? Had she acquired it now that I was no more to the real world?

I doubted.

I couldn't think that my mum or any other of my ‘family’ members could allow a child of her age to possess the gadget. As the confusion of her presence continued its wave, I stood still and watched her oblivious meanwhile she tapped on the device's screen like the smartphone amateur she was.

Either, she was heading to the bathroom after here or she came to check on whatever with the phone after her shower.

I wasn't sure.

The towel wrapped around her petite figure led my unconcluded idea. The last time I'd seen her, she had no braids. I should have asked myself whether she was a grown woman now but.... I just couldn't do that.

My chest only and urgently needed to know why she was in my room and what she was doing with my phone. The way she touched on it as if nervous that any time she would be found made me think that she'd probably sneaked in to check on something she would be battered for for trying to search.

For all the time I stilled to see her do her thing, she never looked up from the screen.

I don't fathom how everything went back to the darkness of deep sleep in which I had no other sweven to roll with.

When the profound unconsciousness progressed to the slumber state, the brief event that included the lass popped back into my memory.

‘Joyce?...What was Joyce doing in my dream?’

I opened my eyes.

First reaction.

‘Joyce. Hah.’

She was one of my countless cousins who'd visited mum for Christmas prior to my demise. I'd died a few months after she'd gone back to the village after a very hard plea from all parties concerned. I played no part in the negotiations because I didn't want to be friendly with the minor for whom I'd begun developing feelings. I was sixteen years older than the child and according to societal norms, Roma couldn't be involved with Joyce in any intimate manner.

I respected that and tried my best to avoid her as much as possible during her maiden visit. The typical me had processed the urge to touch her abnormally but fortunately or unfortunately, the pressure came at a time when I could contain it.

She survived becoming a victim of my paedophilia.

‘Joyce...You would have fucked her hole man! This was a dream for God's sake!’ I rolled my eyes at my mind's advice, still facing the roughness of the ceiling. This drift into dreamland had also probably turned out to be short-lived. Otherwise, why would I have woken up still facing the top wall? I couldn't even know how sleep stole me.

‘It is what it is man. Good enough you've managed to meet a darling that I see you missed so much.’

‘Shut up.’ I internally drawled, the thoughts of the little girl crawling back to my fore-thinking zone. ‘What was she doing in my dream?’ I frowned as I shifted to sit.