Kitty's Keeper/No Clean Blades

X

It didn't take long for the forest to swallow up the castle, nor did it take very long for the forest to fade to yet another abyss. Jeremy went with it, his only word of parting an inaudible 'goodbye!'

Kitty waved him off. They were going to miss him, but not enough to feel sad about his departure. Jeremy was only an idea, after all. A dream. There was a good chance that they would forget his very existence as soon as they were awake.

A weight pressed upon their shoulders. John's voice slid into their mind.

Turn off your mind, relax, and float down-stream...

Turn off...? No! They needed to wake! They needed to return to the waking world, not sink deeper into sleep! To sleep here would be to sleep forever, to—

It is not dying, it is not dying...

Kitty couldn't say why, but that assurance gave them pause. Mayhap they were thinking in extremes. John wouldn't hurt them, he said so. This was just a dream, a very fun and delightful dream and they'd love to stay a little while longer—

"No! I want to wake up!"

Lay down all thought—surrender to the void...

The weight was heavier now, smothering their body as well as their mind. They crouched, knees buckling, then finally bending and sinking to the suspiciously soft ground. A point of light winked into existence, likely the way out, but Kitty made no moves to reach it.

It is shining, it is shining...

>   *   <

Kitty sat up. Their bottom was damp. With what, they could not tell at first, for the world was still consumed by pitch. Fortunately the sensation from their hands was quick to join the bottom's discomfort. They lifted a limb, rubbing their fingers together before their face as if they could see them. The substance between the digits was slick and slippery, creating soft bubbles.

Soap. The ground was covered in soapy water! Or the ground was soapy water? No, no, they would sink if the ground was water...

Kitty's surroundings began lightening by degrees. This illumination, wherever it came from, did not invite a new vibrant world with it, only a lighter shade of black and clumps of translucent bubbles. There was nothing. There was no one.

"That ignorance and haste may mourn the dead..."

That was John! Kitty turned in all directions, but could not see him until he skated by, wetting Kitty's legs with a wave of soap.

"It is believing, it is believing..."

The siren turned sharply, then skated circles around Kitty.

"But listen to the color of your dreams,

It is not living, it is not living..."

Finally, he slowed, coming to a stop at Kitty's right.

Kitty drummed their fingers on the ground. "John."

John doffed an imaginary cap. "Kitty."

"We meet at last."

"So it seems."

"I have a couple of questions."

John gestured to them. "Proceed."

They presented their soapy palm. "What happened to the floor?"

"What hasn't happened to the floor?"

Their hand returned to their side. "Fair point."

John gestured to them once again. "Proceed."

"What about me? When will I be free—?"