Dream Catcher

Chapter 5 - I Love Him, Right? (Part 3)

After a few minutes, he switched from stroking
my back to running his hand up and down my
side like he knew I liked. Slowly my tears
stopped flowing and I took deep breaths,
sniffling.
He stopped and I pulled out of the embrace. I
couldn't look him in the eyes.
"I'm... I'm sorry," I stuttered out, embarrassed.
"Shhh, relax it's fine. Do you want to tell me
what happened? I'd like to know really. If you
don't that's ok though," he looked away from
me sadly.
I sighed. "I know you believe a lot of the stuff I
tell you, unlike most people. But you really
aren't going to believe me this time."
"No, I will. Eli, you have insane dreams. That's
what happened wasn't it?"
I nodded reluctantly, and looked down at my
legs which lied in oddly comfortable positions,
one stretched out behind Trevor, the other bent
and lying in his lap.
I felt the tears coming on again, and I bit my lip
trying to fight them back. I watched Trevor's
fingers hesitantly caress the inside of my thigh,
sending tingles down my leg to my feet and out
my toes. What was into him today? , I thought. He
wasn't as shy as usual. But then, as quickly as he
performed the action, he removed his hand and
placed it back in his lap. His face almost clearly
showed he was having second thoughts about
what he had just done, though he tried to hide
it. Poor kid.
I held out my hand, palm up, and Trev took it,
looking deep into my eyes.
"Ok," I said, letting out a shaky breath. "Ok, I'll
tell you. But no laughing."
"Of course," he said looking down at my fingers
and running his fingers along them, listening
intently like he always did. His hair fell into his
face.
After another deep breath, I recounted my
nightmare in the "Dark World", careful to leave
out any mention of the boy or the feelings I had
felt for him. When it came to the part I couldn't
cut him out of, I replaced 'boy' with 'person'. I
really didn't want to offend Trev right now.
"...it was the worst nightmare I've ever had,
and I don't have that many." I spoke slowly,
trying to contain my tears. "I wanted to die."
"Well," Trevor started slowly looking scared
and shocked. "It's technically like a 'daymare'.
'Cause it was a day dream right?"
I laughed at that and he smiled to see me smile.
"Yeah, I guess so," I said, sniffling again. He
rubbed my leg with the hand I wasn't holding
and smiled up at me.
I shook my head and said, "What's gotten into
you?"
"What?" he asked, looking confused.
"Never mind," I said, blushing scarlet. If he
didn't clue in, maybe, just maybe, our
relationship might not be as boring as it had
been.
"Alright," Trev sighed, looking slightly upset.
I nervously looked around the room, then said,
"Um, Thanks."
"For what?"
"For coming. And letting me cry on you. And
listening. And a lot of stuff." I sounded so
stupid.
"Oh, well that's nothing."
"What time is it anyways?"
"Almost three."
"Wow... How long did you wait?"
"A half hour. They wouldn't let me out of
school."
"Well good for them." I said smirking at him
playfully. He smiled so much I could see his
teeth. He was glad I was happy again.
Either the doctor had impeccable timing, or he
was listening outside the door, because he came
in as soon as our conversation had ended.
"Hello, uh, Eli, right?" the doctor said walking
into the room briskly, glancing at the clipboard
he had picked off the wall.
"Yes," I responded, looking up at him as he
stood at the end of my bed. He looked like one
of the doctors off the soap operas my mother
used to watch on TV.
"And you are..." the doctor trailed off, turning
to Trevor. Trev turned around to look at him,
still holding my hand.
"Trevor." he said almost pointedly. He must
have a dislike for doctors or something.
"Ah, so you are him. You're mother is waiting
in the lobby and demanded that you see her
and be taken home." the doctor winced as he
said it and rubbed his arm. Trev's mom had
likely hit him. When that woman wanted
something she could be quite scary until she got
it. I tried to avoid his mother a lot. She scared
me. And I was pretty sure she didn't like me.
Trevor turned and looked at me reluctantly.
"You should go. I don't want your mum
storming up here." I said, cautioning him.
"You're right. Always are," he said smiling. He
looked pensive for a moment, then leaned in
and kissed my cheek lightly. As he shocked me
with his lack of timidness for the fifth time
today, I was glad I had washed up.
He let go of my hand and stood up, facing me.
"I love you." he said reflexively.
"You too." I said smiling shyly. "I'll call you
later ok?"
"Yeah," he said as he walked out of the room.
I turned my attention back to the doctor who
was watching Trevor leave, smirking and
nodding his head pensively. After a moment his
attention turned back to me.
"So... three things before we talk for a bit. One,
that boy is so sweet. Don't you ever give him
up." the doctor began to lecture me. Why did
everyone keep telling me that?
"Two, Do you have any idea where he went?"
the doctor gestured to the bed next to me and
waited for me to answer.
"Nope. I went to the washroom and when I
came back he was gone."
"Thank you. And thirdly, you seem to be in
good physical condition, so when we are done
talking about mental conditions, you are free to
leave. You're dad said he couldn't get out of
work and as long as you were fine you could
walk home."
"Alright," I answered, bored. But I was also
kind of scared as to what he meant by 'mental
conditions'.
The doctor sat down on my bed and looked into
my eyes. He clicked a pen and prepared to take
notes on his clipboard.
"Alright," he responded. "Before we start I want
you to tell me what happened to you from your
point of view."
I looked at him puzzled for a minute, then I
decided I would tell him the same thing I told
the nurse. A vague truth.
"I was daydreaming before class. You know,
doodling and stuff. Then I looked at what I had
doodled and then I blacked out. I think I had a
nightmare. Then I woke up here."
The doctor wrote down my words on his
clipboard. "Mhmm. Ok, can you tell me
anything about your dream that you remember?
Anything weird, or things that stood out?"
"He was in it." I said blankly, pointing at the
bed next to me. "And there was this creepy
man. I don't know if he was trying to kill me or
scare me. And there was lots of fire. And lots of
nothing. And he," I gestured to the bed again,
"pulled a snake out of my stomach." I didn't tell
him any more. After crying my eyes out and
spilling my guts out to Trevor, I couldn't cry
again when I told the doctor.
"Interesting," was all he said. I waited patiently
for him to speak again.
"When we were trying to figure out what had
gone wrong, Trevor told us that you have very
vivid dreams a lot. And that you don't get
enough sleep. Is that true?"
It was a weird question. "I think I get enough
sleep. I'm just tired all the time is all." Probably
the wrong thing to tell a doctor , I thought
afterwards.
"Alright, Eli. Since you have these dreams a lot,
and also because your father is concerned about
your state of well being, we're going to send you
to see a special sleep and dream specialist for a
while." He spoke slowly, annunciating each
word like I was stupid. Wonderful , I thought
sarcastically. I get to see a shrink . I rolled my eyes
when the doctor wasn't looking.
"Here are your prescription papers and the
address and whatnot, ok?" the doctor said
handing them to me.
"Yeah, whatever," I said grumpily. The doctor
shook his head.
"Make sure those get home, alright? You're free
to leave when you're ready."
"Ok. Thank you." I said gruffly as I got up and
left the room, heading down the hallway. It was
going to be a long walk home.