The Dark Between Dreams | ✔️

Chapter 30 🔻 Trick of the Light

I pulled the old quilt further up over my shoulders and nestled into Dominic's chest. The movie we'd both ignored ended. Credits scrolled up a black screen.

I always felt so small pressed against him. But also so protected. I rose and fell with each of his slowing breaths. He was close to falling asleep. I, too, sighed. Amongst empty Chinese takeout boxes, the now drained bottles of sparkling cider we'd knocked back while pretending to be adults drinking fancy champagne surrounded us.

We had been celebrating.

Earlier that day, I'd ripped open an envelope with trembling fingers. It had taken me several attempts of re-reading the same paragraphs to finally process the note. But finally, I looked up from the letter with watering eyes and wrapped my arms around my boyfriend.

I got the veterinary internship. And it offered pay! It was a dream come true.

I couldn't help but smile again as I nuzzled against Dominic. I'd always relied on him; he was my strength. He'd taken care of us for years. He'd paid for everything around us, thanks to his job at his dad's very wealthy company. It surely hadn't been glamorous living, but I was glad for it. And I was glad that I could finally give back to him.

I stretched out my leg and shut off the T.V. with a toe, leaving the room in darkness. Besides a ticking clock, the only sounds were our steady breaths. There I was in my humble home, wearing my favorite pair of frog PJs, in the arms of the man that I loved. Outside sparkled the lights of Tacoma.

I listened to Dominic's heartbeat, not yet ready to join him in sleep. I'm so glad we'll be like this forever, was the only thought my tired, stupid, teenage, love-sick brain mustered.

Life was good.

Like a dream.

"Forever..." I sighed, shutting my eyes.

I blinked.

And found myself back in the dim wasteland. But this wasn't a dream. It was just Darkness. Dominic still stood silhouetted at the crest of the ancient ziggurat where a temple should be. "Skye," he said, the wind carrying his voice to me. "I finally found you." He sounded so relieved.

"Dom..." I couldn't even finish his name, for it got stuck in my throat. I took a single, shaking step across the stones.

Immediately, Vale grabbed my shoulder. "Don't," she warned. "It must be a trick of the Light. You shouldn't trust this."

My heart continued to pound. That tugging in my chest continued to beckon me forward, to close the distance between us—to fall into the arms of the man I was anchored to. "What are you doing here?" I called across the expanse. "How did you get here?"

He didn't answer me. Instead, he looked up from the chasm and crept around it toward us, tripping on loose stones every few steps. I shrugged myself free from Vale's and Webb's arms and hobbled toward him. We met in the middle, alongside the abyss. In the white Light that backlit us, I could tell it was absolutely him; his dusty brown hair, his blue eyes all wide and watery, that one dimple that marked his cheek while he smiled. Just as I remembered.

Footsteps shuffled behind me as my two hollow companions hurried to join us. Vale brandished her machete, and Webb raised his sword at the living man. I kept my spear at my side and lifted my mask.

Dominic let out a weak, breathy laugh as our eyes met. A white cloud left his mouth with every exhale, and shivers racked his body. Despite the chill in the air that seemingly only he could feel, Dominic's hand found my cheek, and he pretended to caress it despite his flesh disappearing into mine. "You look like you've seen a ghost, Skye," he said.