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Chapter 38 - When We Sleep

Chapter 38 – When We Sleep

Dreamer

I dreamt of my glade. Not the dark and diseased city that inspired my stories the past decade, but the whimsical quagmire that first appeared in my youth. The sprouting cyclones tickled my feet and powdery obsidian speckled the ground.

How I'd missed this first conceived cosmos.

I looked around, hoping to find my charming albeit bald unicorn, but instead, I saw him.

He who had hidden behind the shadows that very first year. He who had visited in random forms—sometimes a grotesque monstrosity, sometimes a winged demon—but always, always hidden in the shadows.

Tonight though, he was not cloaked in gloom. The shadows did not obscure my vision and I could finally see him. He was skeletal yet massive. His four limbs were covered in scales and feathers, his broad girth was armored, but his belly was coated in downy grey. A bony cranium with coal eyes and spiky teeth sat on jagged quills, linking his skull to his body. Green froth dribbled down his chin.

He was... extraordinary and after being absent from my dreams the past decade, I was eager to finally meet him. I ran to him before he could vanish again.

"Hello. You are back," I said, reining in my excitement to not startle my guest. He seemed on edge. Slowly and deliberately, I moved closer to the perfect miscreation, reached for the smooth dome of his skull and kissed him.

I felt him shudder at the touch of my lips. I trailed a finger along his serrated jaw and told him, "There is no need to hide, my beautiful beast."

But then he jumped back, turned around and scampered away from me, urging the dark woods of my universe to shroud him from me.

No!

I pulled at the hem of my skirt that was annoyingly attached to the terrain. Even the miniature twisters tugged my dress, seemingly restraining me from following the beast in the copses.

"Damn it! Let go," I ordered the clingy windstorms as I yanked my skirts. "I have to go. I cannot lose him again. I cannot lose Ice again!"

Ice?

I frowned, wondering what compelled me to say that. Regardless, I was going to find my elusive beast. If both earth and wind would not let go of my garment, I was willing to run after the creature naked.

I had started unhooking the snaps of my tunic, smirking at the idea of outsmarting surreal nature, but just as I was about to step out of my garb, I woke up.

To a heavy dose of apprehension. The sensation was intense and palpable. It was oppressive and I felt it smothering me where I lay.

I quickly got out of my bed and checked my phone. There was a message from Yvonne and three from my boss. I would read them later. There was nothing from Ice. I dialed Francis' number, the one Ice had used to contact me last night, but the phone just kept ringing.

A sense of dread crawled down my spine. And déjà vu. He was not going to disappear again, was he? My head started to hurt and I felt like throwing up. I ran to the bathroom, grateful that the need to hurl stopped, took a quick shower and headed for the Weavers.

Ice was not going to disappear on me again.

I was a few blocks closer to their place since I moved next to the diner. I didn't bother driving and just sprinted to their street. I needed to exhaust some of the anxiety rolling off me in sickening waves. I needed to calm down so I wouldn't act like the crazy girlfriend demanding an explanation why he didn't answer my call. That would've been ridiculous. I didn't think I was officially the girlfriend. I didn't even have his mobile number. So why was I rushing to check if Ice hadn't flown out of the country again?