In White Robes

Chapter 9 - Dreams

The dreams keep coming. This time through the darkness, through the endless ocean around me, I see the arm. Reaching for me. Lusting for me.

Slowly it moves, inching closer to touch my skin, and when it does, the darkness loses its thickness and becomes vaguely light. I can almost breathe but I am still wanting more air.

From behind the arm, a body fades in view. Gradually it is being completed, by what I do not know. I want to know if it is my mind creating images for me to see, if I'm seeing what I want to see, but the answers slip my thoughts.

Then I think: is this really what I want to see?

A body, a figure coming into my sight, like an angel gliding in from the heavens. Though this is not heaven. It is an ocean—my chains.

The body looks like mine. Just smaller. Younger than what I am now. This new version of me begins to reach out and smile. And I smile back, strained beneath the water's pressure.

"He was the angel," says the child. All of a sudden the water grows warm, almost burning, and the color of the ocean turns orange.

The little me is ripped back into the water, and then there are screams blasting my ears. I reach out in desperation, trying to get him back, yelling for him. The smell of smoke rises to my nostrils.

"Wake up," came a voice. I didn't budge.

"Hey, hey." Something poked my cheek. Again and again.

"Wakey-wakey, eggs and bakey . . ."

When my eyes opened, I was not blinded like usual. The light in the room was dimmer than before. It was kind of soothing, being able to look around and not see tiles of white flash and shimmer.

Tabby was above me, but not just standing over me. After I tried to wiggle my body awake and felt strained in doing so, the realization came to me. I was on the bed and so was Tabby, sitting on top of me with his knees on either side of me.

"What are you doing?" I questioned, wiggling again but he didn't move.

"He's awake!" Tabby exclaimed—I assumed he was talking to Avery. His voice was somehow childish. "See, I told you I could help him. He wasn't gonna die on my watch."

"Yeah, yeah, can you get off him now?" Avery sounded shaky. "He, uh, probably doesn't like that. You know?" I looked over at him. He was pressed up against the glass, staring calmly at me and then spitefully at Tabby. Was that a hint of jealousy behind those beautiful eyes?

Tabby waved him off and focused back on me.

"So, what happened? You got to see the Man in Black, right? How cool was that?" He wouldn't stop talking. "What did you talk about? Hmm? What did he say? Hmmm? Oh, oh! Did you meet Koko? He's creepy. I don't like him. Hey, are you still awake?"

From right here I was just staring at him, probably entirely blank in the face. I could smell him, too. He was surprisingly fresh. Smelled like cookies with a little bit of sweat. Not what I would expect at all.

"You threatened me. What do you expect me to say to you now?" I sat upward. Tabby followed my movements, repositioning himself comfortably on my lap.

"Water under the bridge," he said.

"You had a knife!"

Tabby sat there and giggled a little. Oddly enough I didn't mind the gesture. There was always sadness in the air, depression lingering between myself and Avery. Now that we had Tabby in here, there was something different about the emotion in our room.

He was like a beacon of positive light.

Aside from when he had the knife.

"Seriously," Avery began, his voice quivering angrily, "get off of him."

"Why~?" Tabby stayed on top of me, craning his head to see Avery. Both of them fought with their eyes. "What's the matter, deer boy? You're looking awfully flustered right now."

"Just—just get off of him, okay? Please."

"So polite! Aww, fine then." He started pulling himself off of me, getting to his feet. He did a couple short stretches when he landed on the ground. "Darn, I was enjoying his warmth. It's cold in here."

"I don't care . . ." Avery trailed off.

Finally able to move, I sat up to straighten my back. Relief poured over me as my muscles relaxed and my legs stretched. My body was still sore from Koko's attack earlier—I guessed it was the same day it happened.

Carefully I turned on the bed so that my legs hung over the side. Before I could stand up, Tabby cut in.

"Your nose!" he said. "It's bleeding."

Instinctively I went to check if he was right. And right he was; there was blood seeping from my nostrils. I could both taste and smell it, a nasty combination of sweet and sour.

"Oh," was my reply. I went to wipe it off with the back of my hand and then froze. Tabby had leaned into me again, his face just inches from mine, and he waited for an instant.

"Here, let me get it for you." The next thing I knew, his tongue was softly caressing beneath my nose, licking the blood from me and then swallowing it down in a quiet, satisfied gulp.

I couldn't move.

Or think.

Or speak.

It was just me falling into a world of dead silence as Tabby looked me seductively in the eye, blood on his tongue, sweetness on his breath.

From the other side of the glass barrier, Avery was whining.