The Eden War - Book 3 of Re-Forge

Adara

Adara slept because she enjoyed it, not because she needed to. She dreamed of her favourite male in the whole universe. There would never be another Hymie, and no avatar her mother made could ever replace the original to her satisfaction. Her dreams involving Hymie were always passionate and loving.

There always seemed to be closeness and touching in those dreams, and she felt content just to share his company. The conversation was never a big thing in her thoughts as getting verbal commentary from Hymie was like pulling a fishing rod away from Joshua when he had it in the water. She thought: "It didn't matter, I will talk enough for both of us." Then: "Why would I think of quietness as a negative? How bizarre."

Oddly, depending on your point of view. Adara's dreams of her true love became distorted, when suddenly, Hymie's friend, Steve's, face popped up when all she wanted was to be immersed in her Hymie fantasies. As the night progressed, Adara's dream time with Hymie was more frequently intermingled with Steve Pritchard, vying for her attention.

When she dreamt of Hymie on the beach with her, Steve would be there, pretending not to look at her with those, eyes. Adara thought: "Why does he pretend to ignore me completely. For some stupid reason, his behaviour in my dreams is so annoying." Adara tried to analyse her weird dreams but failed then she thought: "If this continues, dream Steve is going to push Hymie out altogether. Being so annoyed about it is making me pay even more attention to Steve and less to Hymie. How dare Steve pretend to ignore me. How dare he attempt to control the content of my dreams."

Adara didn't even know why Steve was in her dreams in the first place. She put it down to the fact that her life outside Eden was non-existent, and that Hymie had discovered he loved fishing and that Steve was Hymie's life friend. She thought within her dream: "Wait, was Steve jealous? But who is the target of his jealousy...? Is it Hymie liking me or me liking Hymie? Does he think I will take Hymie away from him?"

She awoke to the sound of her phone, and as much as she wanted to stay in her dream and work through whatever the hell was going on in there, but she realised there was no way her Mum was going to let her sleep in on such an important day. She groaned as she rolled out of bed to answer the call.

Eden said: "I wonder why you like to sleep. What is that all about anyway?"

Adara answered: "I just like doing it. I get to spend time with Hymie in my dreams. I don't care if they're not real." She sighed: "I just miss him Mum, but ever since I severed my link to you, I'm becoming confused about things. I mean, you're the only SP that really loves a bio-human. Worse, you are 'lovesick' over him. How is that even possible when you don't have hormones? You built me to be raging with hormones, and you built me for Hymie, but something is wrong in me. I think he may be fading in my heart... losing his appeal."

"Now that I think about it, it's probably a good thing after seeing that asshole Sector Leader lizard try to feed him to me on one of our own plates."

Eden said: "Well, it's true that I built loving him into you, but you still have a choice to put it behind you and move on. Anyway, that's something for you to decide much later. My advice is to put it aside for now, as there are essential things afoot for today."

Adara Replied: "It's payback time for Gecko boy and his cronies.

Eden said: "Today is the day for you to show the universe who you are, and just so you know, I'm ready to act. This whole scenario has been hard on all of us, but the wait is over."

Adara said: "I'll have a shower, then dress casually. Before you say anything about not needing a shower, I like the feel of the hot water on my skin and the smell of perfumed soap. Besides, it will be good to smell the scent of perfume before the gagging scent of the arena, and I'll finish up with another shower when all the drama's over."