Inheritance

Part 2. Chapter 19: An Open Field

Taylor sat on the dream plains alone that night. She was hoping Them would join her, despite the fact that he had flat out told her that he wasn't going to.

She waited for him, cross-legged, in the same place she had waited for him the previous times they had met within her dreams; in a patch of wild flowers with a crystal clear, beautiful blue sky.

Her shoulders slumped and she leaned her cheek on her hand.

When she finally accepted the fact that he truly wasn't coming, she stood up, dusted the pollen and other debris of nature off her excruciatingly short dress, and ran through the fields.

Perhaps if I run, I'll run into a different man.

And so, she ran through the colorful field of endless flowers.

Tulips, lilies, roses, wild flowers, all crunched under her feet as she dashed into the royal blue yonder.

She ran.

She ran.

And she kept on running.

Until she finally realized she would run into no one, and she stopped running near a group of fluttering butterflies.

There was not a sound but for the chirping of unseen birds. She would have found it peaceful were she not so frustrated.

She slammed a heeled foot onto a flower and yelled at the top of her lungs, "why should I even want to run into another man! I have all this space to myself now!"

Taylor, while she had been resting within Eory's subconscious, had become a simple woman of simple desires.

She wanted her throne in Maribel back, she wanted to be treated like the queen she was, and she wanted dozens of men and women to dangle while she ruled, even though she wouldn't exactly know what to do with them. She was just now realizing, however, that unless she and Pollyanna found a way out of the contract they had signed—found a way out of the Crater, that she would never have those things.

It greatly upset her.

She growled and groaned at the top of her lungs and said, "this is all your fault, Eory! Why do you wish to die! Why did you sign our future away to those wretched and prissy Astral Elves?"

At his name being called, Eory phased into existence on the dream plains. He sat with his legs outstretched in front of him and smirked. "Let me ask you something instead. Why are you in here pining for that waif's attention? You wouldn't even know what to do with a naked man."

She bared her teeth and clenched her fingers in response. "You'd best not test me. Where is this new-found sarcasm and confidence coming from?"

Eory snorted as he pulled one of his legs up to his chest. "Confidence... Yeah right. I just can't help but love making fun of you when I get the chance. You're probably just lonely. I know you must be, since we share a body and I feel so lonely... Why don't you just tell him you want him?"

"Because I don't! I don't want or need anyone but myself! Now get out of here!" Taylor scooped up a clump of dirt in hand and threw it full force at Eory.

He evaporated before it hit.

Taylor pushed her disheveled bangs back and panted, "that's right! And don't come back!"

She became unhinged then.

Disgust came far easier to her than it did to Eory.

She screamed at the top of her lungs, stamped her feet, and shouted,

"Disgust!"

"Disgust!"

"Disgust!"

And she shot black magic out of her hands until the grassy and flowery earth was barren and black smoke came sizzling up from it.

She started running again through the newly scorched earth.

Until...

Someone seized her wrist and spun her around.

Only, they didn't really. She was just reliving a moment she had already experienced.

A small, blue hand was enclosed around her wrist, and he asked, "excuse me, beautiful, do you know where I am? I think I'm on the dream plains, but..."

She screamed. "Release me, you cad! Don't ever touch me without my permission!"

Them seemed impossibly charmed by her, and he let out a hearty laugh. He used his free hand to assist in holding her wrist. "Hold on, fair maiden. I mean you no harm. I'm sincerely lost."

Taylor's heart was beating madly.

Here was a man. A real man made out of flesh and blood who truly existed somewhere out in the world. She was trapped inside Eory, who was in turn trapped inside a tower, and she knew nobody else made out of flesh and blood but that detestable Kori who had locked her and Eory away.

Taylor felt flustered merely by the sight of a real man.

"I don't care if you're lost! Leave me alone, you wrinkly prune!" And Taylor ran away with her cheeks feeling hot and her heart beating so wildly that she thought it might give out.

"Wait! Don't go! Is something the matter?" Them asked as he chased after her.

She ran, and he pursued.

Eventually, she ran out of energy and had to stop running. Them caught up to her and asked her kindly, "are you lost, too? Maybe I can help you find your way."

Taylor didn't know why, but his words made her eyes sting with tears. Nobody can help us...

Taylor turned his way and replied, "you're in my private, dreamy paradise! Get out!"

Them merely looked at her cluelessly, and she screamed again, "get out!"

She slapped him hard across the face and panted with exhaustion.

She thought she would scare him away—she thought he would bolt once he saw how nasty she was, but he didn't move a muscle.

Them planted his hands on his hips and merely said, "well, I would love to get out, but I honestly don't know how. Can you help me?"

Taylor looked him in the eyes, then, with her mouth in the shape of a surprised o. "Can I... Help you?"

Them nodded confusedly.

Nobody had ever asked her that before. Deep down, she thought to herself, I... Can help someone?

Taylor's heartbeat seemed to slow, her body stopped shaking.

Suddenly, it felt like she was meant to meet this waif right here, right now. She thought she was going to live alone in Eory's subconscious until he let his guard down—which could be in a few hours, days, or perhaps never--but it didn't have to be that way with this waif around.

Taylor was nervous about meeting someone new, but she was ecstatic to think that she could try and trap him forever in her dreams so she could have a companion.

Thinking about her knowledge of the dream plains, she had a theory about how to help Them wake up, but she decided to try and keep him instead.

Taylor had never been kissed before, even though she had a great desire to be kissed. "Tell you what, if you manage to steal a kiss from me, I'll tell you how to get out of the plains!"

Them was surprised, but then he was intrigued. He gave her a mischievous smile and agreed. "Very well! Sounds like fun!"

"You count to ten, and I'll hide!" Taylor said with a wink.

Taylor spun around to look at Them as she tried to find a hiding place, but he vanished. She remembered—or realized—she was just reliving a past moment. She looked around at the wide world of her dreams and an intrusive thought wouldn't get out of her head.

I want someone to share it with me...