Within Temptation

One (Wake Up)

At night, he dreamt of Paradise.

Not in the actual sense of the word, it was a place filled with blurred out faces and waitresses delivering their favorite drinks. Each patron sits in silence some stare off into the distance their eyes full of longing. Others are focused on the items in front of them or at someone sitting in the booth alongside them. It is within these walls he remembers her. His best friend, his closest confidant, Corrine August. A girl from Dallas, Texas who won the heart of another of his friends, Ben Bruce.

In Paradise, he recalls being the one in power, the club belonged to him. Within its walls, your dreams came alive. Your darkest desires brought to the surface. Your sins brought to light whilst you indulged their every whim. His dreams showed him how Corrine stumbled inside. Her skeletons came in the form of a drunken one-night stand with Danny Worsnop. He fell for her when he had no right to, not that it mattered. He had been an Incubus, a child of Lilith, he served Lucifer. Paradise gave his master souls. He had the power, all he needed was a Queen.

His dreams gave him more. They showed him nights with Corrine, of holding her in his arms, kissing every inch of her body. She would moan his name; his darkened heart knew she belonged to him. She began to transition, but there was one problem. She still had feelings for Ben, it was those feeling that turned his dreams into one single nightmare. He remembers Corrine driving a dagger into his chest and then nothing.

This led him to his current state, waking up drenched in a cold sweat. His hands shaking, sweat matted his short black hair to his face. He looks outside at the L.A. skyline trying to regain his breath. He checks the clock on his phone, two in the morning which made it around eight in the U.K. Hearing her voice helped him, he pulls up her contact info pressing the number to call.

"Can't sleep?"

His breath hitches in his throat at the familiar melodic voice. Fans had taken clips and full videos of the two of them performing together. Their voices blended together in perfect harmony. He can hear the sound of a baby cooing in the background, Orion Bruce. Corrine and Ben's son who had come completely by surprise. Corrine loved every second of those nine months. He tries to speak, she sighs.

"Is it the dreams again?"

He closes his eyes, has he become that predictable? Say something! He hisses at himself.

"Yeah." He croaks out. His throat is unbearably dry, he gets out of bed heading in the direction of the kitchen for a glass of water.

"It seems like you've been having them for quite a while. You're not working yourself too hard, are you?"

He hears the motherly concern in her voice. With Orion's birth Workaholic Corrine took a major step back. She distributed shop responsibilities equally amongst herself and her employees. Even Ben asked for time off here and there to be present in his son's life. He'd be the first to admit that he'd been throwing himself into his work, touring and recording nonstop. He wanted to avoid nights like this.

"I may be, we're working on new music." He rubs the back of his neck.

"Andy." She says sternly.

"If I exhaust myself, I don't dream." He admits. Corrine shouts for Ben, asking for assistance with Orion. He knows why and it makes him feel even worse. Taking his glass of water back into his room he sits on the edge of his bed putting his phone on speaker setting it down on the nightstand. With the glass of water in his hands he begins to take small sips letting the iciness cool his throat. He hears muffled voices on the other end of the phone, soon a door shuts. Corrine must be in her home office.

"What are these dreams about?"

The question hangs in the air, he bites his lip suddenly nervous to tell her. How do you explain to your best friend that you've been having dreams about her? Dreams of holding her in your arms skin-to-skin making love to her as her back arches screaming your name. How could he say that eventually she drives a blade through his heart. Shaking his head, he pushes his doubts aside. This is Corrine, she wasn't like most girls. She wasn't the type of person to judge you.