Where have you been?

Dreams and doupts

'Hey, Angel?... Jamesoooon?... James?.... JAMES!'
The blonde opened his eyes. He didn't know where he was. It wasn't his bedroom nor was it the cliff where he remembered he was last before falling asleep. It almost seemed as if he was in some dark void. But it wasn't dark. A bright light was shining down on everything, but he couldn't see what the source was. Fog trailed over the ground, but didn't come any higher than the blonde's knees.
'James?'
The blonde boy turned around, recognizing the voice he heard. There he stood. Adam. Seemingly healthy with a soft smile on his face.
'ADAM!' James cried out as he ran up to the dark haired boy and wrapped his arms around him in an embrace. Or at least that's what he tried. His arms went right through the other boy as if he was a hologram.
'What the...?' James whispered confused. He looked up at Adam to see the other boy giving him a sad smile.
'You're... you're not actually here, are you?' The blonde asked his moment of happiness abruptly crashing.
'Neither are you.' Adam replied.
'What do you mean? Where are we?' James asked.
'You tell me. It's your mind that made it up.'
'My mind made this up? So I'm dreaming?'
'Exactly.'
'But I'm aware of the fact that I'm dreaming, so I can lucid dream, right?'
'No, Angel, not exactly. Your mind made this place up, but it didn't make me up. Me talking to you is very real. You're not creating this, I am. Be glad. Originally you were gonna have a nightmare about chimpanzees.' Adam chuckled for a moment, but his smile dropped again soon.
'Where are you, Adam?' James asked, tears glistening in his eyes.
'I wished I could tell you that, Angel. But I promise I'll come back.' Adam replied.
'I miss you.'
'I know... I miss you too... I swear I'll get back to you. I'm gonna get out of here. Just be patient a little longer, I'm working on it.'
'I... I'm thinking of you, Adam, every day. I miss you so much... I love you so much.'
'I know. I know when you're thinking of me. I can feel it. Don't spend all your time worrying, Angel.'
'Adam, it's been months! Months without us knowing whether or not you're okay, whether or not you're alive! Ofcourse I'm worrying!'
Tears started streaming down the blonde's cheeks and Adam wished he could do something about it, but he knew he couldn't.
'It'll be okay, James. I'll be okay. I'm gonna get out. I'm gonna do everything I possibly can to get back to you. I love you.' Adam whispered, himself getting emotional too, but not crying yet.
James opened his mouth to reply when he was interrupted by a loud thud that came from behind Adam, from somewhere in the dark nothingness. Adam quickly looked back at the direction the sound came from and James could've sworn he saw fear flickering in the other boy's eyes.
'What was that?' The blonde asked.
'It means that it's time to say goodbye again. It's not forever though. I swear I'm coming back. Wait for me, Jameson. Don't forget me.'
'Say goodbye? NO! YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME AGAIN!' James shouted.
'I wished I could stay but I can't, Angel. Try to understand it. I have to go. And you can't keep sleeping forever either. Look at it this way, I need to leave you here now, so I can get to the real world to get back to work on getting out and coming home to you. It's time now James. I will see you again. Stay strong for just a little longer...'

James opened his eyes. He felt warm tears on his face and saw the night sky above him.
'Adam...' He whispered into the silent night. He got up from the ground and walked back home, being as quiet as possible when going to his room as to not wake Sarah and Dexter. James walked away from his own bed and instead went to sit down on the edge of Adam's bed on the other side of the room. The blonde looked at the pictures Adam had on his night stand. Most of them from when he was little and his entire family was happily smiling in them. Two were more recent though. One of Adam and James cuddled up together on the couch. Jaiden had snatched the picture without the two boy's knowing. The other recent picture had Adam, Caleb and their dad. It was taken when their father was released from prison, about a week before Adam went missing. Could Caleb be right? Did it have something to do with their dad? James took the blanket from Adam's bed and buried his teary face in it, smelling the dark haired boy's scent. It both calmed him down and made him wanna cry even harder.
'Please, don't make me wait too long, Adam. Come back soon. Come back safe.' He whispered as his eyes started to close and his mind drifted away again.

James was working on his next animation. It was taking a lot longer to make since he had a hard time keeping his mind on his work. His dream where Adam told him to be patient had been about a week ago. Since then he'd only had nightmares of the dark haired boy's suffering. Those felt a lot less real though, as if they came from somewhere else than his dream in the weird void. Downstairs he heard the doorbell. Sarah and Dexter were both working, so the blonde was home alone. He sighed when he heard Floof barking at the front door. He got up and walked down the stairs opening the door.
'Mr. Ortiz! What can I do for you?' He asked when he saw who was standing on the doorstep.
'Tell me it's not true! Tell me what Caleb told me is not true! Tell me AJ is here! Tell me my boy is safe!' The man replied panicky. James didn't have the heart to tell him anything. Instead he sadly looked down, which confirmed the worried father's fears.
'No!' He whispered tears escaping the corner of his eyes.
'Why don't you come inside, Mr. Ortiz. I'll go get you a glass of water.' James said. He helped the man into the house and sat him down on the couch before going to the kitchen to get a glass of water. He felt a little weird about being with Adam's father. Could Caleb be right? What if he had something to do with Adam's disappearance? But Adam had told him with so much confidence that he'd changed. Yet James always felt weird around Mr. Ortiz. How could he not. No matter how much he changed, he was still the man that both physically and mentally abused Adam and Caleb for years. The man that attacked his own son with a knife, twice. The man that was constantly drunk and the man that stabbed James, almost killing him. The man that drove the truck that killed the majority of the Rallison family. James shook his head. Adam wouldn't want him to think like this. The blonde peeked into the living room. Mr. Ortiz was crying softly, obviously extremely worried. Suddenly he no longer felt like this awful man. James thought about how this man worked so hard to try and pay the hospital bills for his wife, while also taking care of two kids. The man that according to Adam was so kindhearted when sober. The man that was breaking down on his couch over his lost son. James started to doupt if he really had something to do with it.
'Here you go.' James said as he handed him the glass of water.
'How l-long... how long has h-he been g-gone?' Mr. Ortiz asked sobbing.
'About two month.'
'That long!? W-why did no one t-tell me? I-I thought AJ w-was to busy t-to visit.'
'It's not easy news to bring.'
The room went silent again. James started to wonder about whether or not he should tell Adam's dad about the dream he'd had. Tell him that Adam was working on getting out. On getting back.
"That's absurd!" The blonde thought. "It's a dream! It wasn't real!"
Yet it felt very real and deep down inside, James wished it was true. He'd been finding strength in that dream. He oh so badly wanted to believe he had spoken to the real Adam, that he was okay and was coming back. It slowly started driving him crazy. The blonde wasn't sure how much longer he could miss Adam. How much longer he could live, not knowing if the boy he loved was even still alive. With every passing day, statistically, the chances were getting smaller. But Adam told him it was gonna be okay. And James wanted to believe him oh so much. But could he?