Once Upon A Dime (hiatus)

24. Dreams and Delusions

Running.

That's all I know how to do. My legs burn with a desire, unlike no other, to fall to the ground and accept my fate.

Except... I know that if I do, the shadow behind me will catch me and drag me down below using it's spiky clutches.

"Olivia! Darling, wait!" The shadow booms rougishly, it's hot breath somehow finding my ear. I barely have the nerve to crinkle my nose, as hot water burns my eyes. I strain my muscles to go faster, pleading with them to help me. I can hear it's footsteps, loud and obnoxious, that easily matches twice the speed that I'm going.

"Why are you running from me? All I wanted was for you to return my love, Olivia! Olivia, listen to me!"

"No! I'm not Olivia! My name is-" I raise my voice up to an extreme shout, hopefully signifying that I can take whoever dares come across my path twice, however a pale hand reaches out from the blackness beneath my toes, and captures my ankle in it's icy clasp.

I come plummeting down onto the ground, and panic takes over my whole body. I churn slightly onto my shoulder, just as the face nears me. A thin line of red escapes from it's lip, a demonic smile basking in the glory of the moment.

"Jenny!" I hear a voice scream out, if it's my voice, I'm not sure. I snap my eyes closed, and feel the ground beneath me begin to twirl and rise up out of the dead soil. Did I mention I was in a graveyard? No? Well, I was. Now, I'm whipping about in the night, feeling the contents in my stomach do dangerous flips and spins. "Jenny!"

"Jenny!"

▂▃▄▅▆▇█▓▒░Once Upon A Dime░▒▓█▇▆▅▄▃▂

 "Jenny!" An outraged voice accidentally salivates on my forehead, and I groan in disgust, turning my shoulder.

"Jenny, wake up!" The person regurgitates, hardly getting the words out before I throw my hand in the overall vicinity of it's origin, only to come up with air. I grumble away angst, and bury myself deeper into the plush cushions of my sofa.

Damn... That dream. Again.

If only I knew going to a dumb circus would haunt me so much, I'd never have gone in the first place. I would have stapled my door shut, locked all of the windows, and built up enough food cans and bags of chips in my room that it'd last me six months before I'd have to encounter any member of the outside civilization again.

I like that idea.

"God damnit, Jenny." Kenny's familiar voice rings out, a melody to my ears. I perk up at the sound of it, and force myself into a sitting position. "Finally. You sleep like a log."

"Why are you here? What time is it?" I squint, rubbing the closed eye, and inspecting about the room. Everything seems to be in it's correct place, nothing broken, clabbered, messy...

"I guess we both fell asleep here." Kenny says, blinking his shining aquamarines in my face clear of any fog. "I woke up when you pushed me off. Stupid girl..."

"Oh." I rub the back of my head, feeling an unruly bruise, and sigh out my exhaust. "Sorry 'bout that."

I let my eyes linger a second too long on his, mesmerized at their aboslute beauty, as he brings a lonesome finger up to trail down the curve of my jaw.

"What was it about?" He utters lovingly, a gleam in his eye that I feel good about putting there. He rises from his place on the floor, and joins me on the couch, letting himself down next to me. He forcibly arranges his chest next to mine, and tucks himself beneath me. Comfort washes over my body, drowning me in a sea of definite affection.