The Bartender and The Injured

Chapter Eighteen: Kaylee

Chapter Eighteen:

Kaylee

As far as weird dreams go, this was by far the weirdest.

Luke and me, sitting on a porch, enjoying the sunset, definitely in a country home. There were trees to one side of the house, and pure country to the other side. It seemed like you'd be able to see all the way to the horizon without having to face any civilization.

Luke had his arm around me, I was leaning my head on his shoulder.

And then it got weird. A little girl with pigtails and a white frilly dress walked up to me and held her arms out. Behind her was a tiny boy, with overalls and a straw hat. He was grinning, ear to ear, and I stared as he, too, held his arms out.

I picked up the girl, whose name I knew to be Lily, while Luke took his arm away from me to pick up the boy, clearly Lily's brother, named Evan. How I knew was beyond me.

The weird part was that, in my heart, I knew that they were not our children. They were in the sense of the love we felt for them, Luke and I, but not biologically. They weren't ours.

And I woke up crying.

Luke

Kaylee's whimpering woke me up. I was still in pain, but the pain was nothing compared to pure panic I felt when I heard Kay's cries.

She was still under my arm, the way we'd been when we fell asleep, but she was shaking now. Tears crept by her cheeks and she began to whimper again.

"Luke...Evan...Lily...why? Luke....They're not ours, Lukey boy. Why?" she whispered.

What the hell? Not ours?

Her crying was becoming intense and I decided that now would be the time to wake her.

I slowly touched her cheek, ignoring the pain I had to go through to do so.

"Kaylee, baby, wake up," I whispered.

"Uhh," she groaned. Oh hell.

"C'mon baby girl, you gotta wake up," I said urgently.

Her hand reached for her face and I could tell she felt the tears on her cheeks.

"Ah, shit," she mumbled.

I chuckled nervously. "Are you awake now?"

She opened her eyes slowly and turned to face me on the bed. I had to move my arm and carefully surrounded her.

"Did I cry too much?" she whispered.

"No Kay, I was just worried you were having a nightmare."

She frowned, looking thoughtful for a minute before speaking, "I don't know if it would count as a nightmare, actually."

"What do you mean?" I asked, curiosity biting at me.

She quickly snapped out of her reverie and shook her head. "Nothing."

"You okay Kaylee?"

"Fine, thanks for waking me up though," she said, smiling. "How'd you sleep Luke?"

"Well it was fine until the end. You started whimpering out names and I woke up when I heard mine."

Instant blush. Ah, life is sweet.

"You said Evan and Lily, too. Something about not being ours," I added.

She blushed a little more before digging her face into my chest, much like the last time we spent in bed together.