Wildest Dreams

s i xt e en

I woke up, cursing at the instant pain in my hands. Sitting up, I looked the clock beside my bed; 3:41 am. Who calls at 3:41 in the morning?

I grabbed the closest thing that I could wrap around my hands before taking the ringing phone from the cradle. I sat on the floor exhausted and spoke into the phone.

"Hello?"

"Maple, it's Glen," said the voice from the opposite end.

"Glen? It's four in the morning. Something happened?"

"You were right, Nancy did have a crazy plan. We went to the police station after she dreamt that Rod was going to be killed," Glen explained and I was reminded of the dream I had. "When we arrived, it was too late. Rod is dead. He hanged himself."

I let out a gasp and my hand gripped the phone tighter.

There goes another mark that'll last lifelong.

I pulled my legs to my chest as tears formed on the corner of my eyes. Choking back a sob, I put the phone away until my composure returned.

"Maple, are you still there? I'm really sorry if you heard this first thing in the morning," Glen said, sorrow evident in his voice.

"I-I'm still here, Glen." I inhaled sharply.

"There will be a funeral later. A small one for both Rod and Tina. Nancy and I are going."

"I will too. They were our friends, I'll be there with you," I told him, resting my head against the drawers.

"Okay." He sniffed then cleared his throat. "Sorry, it's been a long night. I barely got any sleep."

"You and me both." It was the usual, but when I see how it affects someone else that I care about, it left a pang in my chest because I can't take it away from them. I was only grateful that we have each other.

"Hey Glen?" I spoke after a beat.

"Hmm?"

"Thank you and I'm really sorry."

"For what?"

"Thank you for waking me up. I was in the middle of a nightmare again. And I'm sorry because you were there when Rod, you know..."

"Maple, can I be honest?" Glen said unexpectedly and I didn't know how to respond. He opened up anyway. "I feel guilty about the things I said earlier, about how Rod's meant to be stuck in jail. If I just knew, Maple, I swear I wouldn't have said those things."

"Hey, none of it is your fault, okay? There's been a rough patch between the two of you but, if it makes you feel better, I always admired how the two would reconcile afterwards. That's what matters."

"Yeah. H-He was a good friend... and a fruitcake sometimes." I heard him lightly chuckle.

"Glen, whether you admit it or not, you got fruitcake for friends."

"Agreed. You're nutty as a fruitcake, but I..."

"But I?" I trailed off.

Glen shuffled. "I'm still friends with you. After all these years, you know, a-and I'm really thankful you're here." He yawned into the phone, making me crack a smile.

"Go get some rest. I'll see you later," I said.

"And how about you?"

I sighed. "I'm never going to sleep again. Maybe cook breakfast then get myself ready."

"You're still gonna need to sleep," he told me.

"I think you need it now more than I do. Now go, you're wasting time."