THE VISION IS A PLACE | ✓ {complete}

Chapter 20 : doorway

I HEAD ONTO the back porch with a steaming cup of tea. I was expecting to be alone, but I find Jai sitting in one of the rocking chairs.

"Hey little one," he says, warmly.

"Hey, mind if I..."

"Not at all. I was kind of hoping someone would join me. Glad it's you."

I take a seat on the steps and lean back against the railing that's almost completely covered in hops now. They've grown so much over the last few weeks, their spindly vines stretching out from the bars, as far as a foot without drooping. I gently guide them back, careful not to snap their delicate stems.

When I look back to Jai, he's staring down the hill to where Noah, Brandon and Aurora are.

"What are they doing?" I ask.

"Brandon's teaching Noah how to breathe fire. Turns out he really did grow up in a circus. You should have seen the show he put on last night."

"Is it dangerous?" I ask, watching Noah spray lighter fluid from his mouth to practice. No fire yet.

"Don't think so...not unless you swallow it, or spit the fluid on yourself...or aren't fast enough. And I think you can die if you inhale it...get a lung infection or something."

"Totally safe, then."

He rocks back in his chair a couple times. "...Where'd you get to last night?"

"I fell asleep by mistake."

"Is that where Addison went?"

"He was with me, yeah."

"The vibe got super mellow. You would have loved it. I thought about coming to get you, but Anna said to leave you alone."

"Yeah..." I rest my arms over my knees to stretch my back. "I didn't hear you singing this morning," I say, changing the subject.

"Jacobi meditated with me last night, so I didn't really feel the need to do it again this morning. It was actually really cool to do it before bed. Gave me really vivid dreams."

"About what?"

"I think I was in the Amazon or something. Everything was technicolor, like being in a jungle rave. There were animals there too, all speaking to each other through some sort of light language—not just through words, but in how they moved. It was cool. You ever heard this word? I think it's like, Ishina? But it's more like Ishhh-en-ahhhhhhhh. Like a really long sigh at the end," he says, getting really into trying to recreate the sound.

"I'm not sure. I don't think so."

"This one panther kept saying it over and over. He way trying to tell me something. Or she. I just don't know what."

"Like a warning?"

"No, nothing malign. It was more like...a confirmation. A sign that I'm on the right track. It felt good."

"Sounds like a really nice dream."

"Yeah...a lot different from yours, I suppose."

"What do you mean?"

"Anna...she told me," he reveals.

Oh.

"She was saying that you had like a nightmare-anxiety thing?" He says it awkwardly, not sure what to call it. But it's not like I know what to call it, either. "She didn't really go into detail, or anything," he reassures me. "She just mentioned it."