Immortal Dichotomy

Chapter One: The Dream

"There's a man in a black coat standing at a crossroads
With a pad in his hand and a long list of lost souls
They say he flips a coin forged out of fool's gold
There's a man in a black coat standing at a crossroads
I hope he lets me pass by
When I close my eyesI'm gonna ride the lightning
Feel the thunder
'Til the darkness pulls me under
Gonna fly on
Wings of fire
Pray the good Lord lifts me higher
Singing, "Oh, when they call me home"
Singing, "Oh, when they call me home"
I'm gonna ride the lightning
Ride the lightning
Ride the lightning"

-Warren Zeiders, (717 tapes)

"Dude, this sucks," he said, pursing his lips and blowing the bangs away from his eyes. "I thought I'd give it a better chance than twenty pages, but damnit man; it's like torture!"

"Well baby, get a new book." His girlfriend Maddi interjected, not looking away from a textbook.

"Yeah, I have no choice but to get a new book! I just don't see how these critics gave it such a good review when there's a plot hole in every single page and the characters all have personality disorders!"

Devin swung his legs from the bed to stand up, wearing only pajama bottoms that exposed an average build. But average was okay with Maddi, she thought of his slight dadbod as a little cute, and she knew that when he asked her to – if he asked her to – marry him that she would say yes. Yes, to his average body, and his passion for good horror fiction. Yes, to his rants and opinions, and his distraction from her studies. He was a welcome distraction, besides; she figured she knew how to keep him reined in by now.

"Well, that's why you're my boyfriend, and not a critic." She said, smiling playfully and still not looking away from her book.

Devin stopped in the middle of the room as he was on his way to a dresser he and Maddi shared; he was headed to exchange the book he couldn't stand to read anymore with a copy of Revival that was written by his favorite author.

"Excuse me, ma'am, I don't believe I heard you... it almost sounds like you're tryin' to challenge me, but I see you takin' notes, so I know you don't want these problems!"

Maddi was grinning now, finishing her notes on aphasia- a neurological disorder that prevents people from being able to form words correctly. Devin walked to the dresser and threw one book down for the other, pausing to say something but thinking better of it before he started back for the bed.

"I said," Maddi began, speaking slow and deliberate, "That, is why you're my boyfriend, and not a – "

Devin dropped the book and pounced onto the bed, cutting her sentence short, gently pushing her shoulders back into the pillows and letting out a wild war-cry. Maddi started to giggle when he took her hands and pinned them against the headboard just above her head with only one of his.

"You know what the name of this game is, babe?" He implored.

"No..." She giggled back to him.

She felt a familiar warm, tingling sensation he always seemed to be able to give her shoot up and down her body as he kissed her cheek, and then her neck. Progressing to her collar bone, where he stopped.

"It's called: 'I win'" he said, using his free hand to start tickling her in all the places he knew would make her squirm.

"Nooooo! Baby! Stahhhhhp!" She cried out in un-tamed laughter.