The Haughts

Dreamscape

*Matthew*

I open my eyes. I'm back home lying in the bed next to Nic. I get up and look in the mirror. I look exactly as I did before the accident. I look around, confused. Wasn't I just age 25 in a prison cell passing out from blood loss? How did I get here and why am I a kid again?

*Nicole*

I roll over. The pain in my side is gone. I look down and I seem to have shrunk.

"What the fuck?"

I look around me. I'm in my old bedroom. It smells very strongly of strawberries. I feel my hair and it's sticky. I laugh.

"What's so funny?"

Mattie is standing across the room looking at me.

"You got strawberry sparkle lip gloss in my hair again."

He laughs and I remember that we are separated.

"How did we get here? I was just laying in bed at home with my cat Strawberry sitting at the foot of the bed. I think I passed out from lack of blood."

*Matthew*

Nic is as confused as I am about how we are here.

"Maybe we were taken back in time to get a second chance."

"If that were the case then wouldn't Smells-a-lot Cootie (their old nickname for Jessica Clootie) be yelling at Sam? It's too quiet."

I listen. Nic is right. The only sounds are our breaths, though our room seems the same. I look out the window into nothingness. I then try to open the bedroom door. It won't budge.

"It's like the only thing that exists is this room and what is in it. Like we are in some sort of alternate universe."

*Nicole*

Of course Mattie would fiure it out before I did. We weren't back home as children again, we were in a dreamscape. We look around, unable to find any way to speak. It's been 15 years since we have seen each other but it feels like eternity. Mattie is the first to break the silence.

"Wait, did you say your cat's name is Strawberry?"

"Yeah. Your two favorite things in the whole world were strawberries and sparkles and I sure as hell wasn't going to name her Sparkle."

"You know, I still carry that lip gloss you gave me for our birthday."

"I remember. It was given to me for Christmas and I gave it to you because you loved it and I knew it wasn't my style. It was strawberry flavored with sparkles in it. I gave it to you early and you would wear it to bed and get it all over the pillows which would result in it getting in my hair. I hated the sticky feeling. We were always late for school because I had to take extra time to wash lip gloss out of my hair."

He smiles.

"I've missed you, Nic."

"I've missed you too, Mattie."

*both*

We hug and all the memories of our childhood plays in our heads. For some reason, none of the memories since that horrible day are playing. It's like they are blocked from communication, only to exist in our heads. We sit on the edge of the bed for a while, remembering all the great times we had together. We lean our heads together and hum the lullaby Jonathan used to sing to us. After a while we slip back into a deep sleep, leaving each other behind.