I Want To Dream Now

Chapter 6

"I really don't want her here, Robin."

"I know."

Robin grabs the last piece of cheese from the platter, stares at it for a moment before throwing and catching it in his mouth. Success.

"She said she changed, but do people really change?"

Robin smirks at her, almost a hungry smile.

"What?"

"Charlene, I think you can forgive your own mother."

Charlene shakes her head. "No."

"What could she have done that was so bad?"

Charlene gulps, squinting her eyes tight for a moment. She turns to Robin then, with a clenched jaw.

"I don't think you want to know."

Robin sniffs a laugh. "I sort of asked, didn't I?"

Charlene doesn't smile back though. Her shoulders remain extremely stiff and uneasy.

She starts panting.

"Charlene?"

Then she begins coughing, non-stop.

"Make it stop," she gasps. "Oh, I can't breathe!"

"Hey," Robin says, as softly as possible but there was a shake to his voice. He pulls an arm around her shoulder. "Don't forget you're in a dream."

"A dream?" Charlene spits. "Why then are my problems following me?"

"Calm down."

"I don't know if that's possible anymore," Charlene admits. Her voice is tense, but not necessarily bitter. "If she can follow me here, taunt me in my own sleep...."

"Just zap it out."

"Zap?"

Robin nods, almost with a guiltiness.

"Okay, zap," she sneers. Charlene stares at Robin while her eyes grow huge. "Wow. Magical. Gone!"

Robin's chin perks up. "Gone?"

Charlene's fake grin disappears easily. "Not gone, you idiot, but sure. Lets just forget about it."

"Charlene, just because it is a dream, that doesn't mean you can't tell me stuff. Okay, I don't know how much I should believe it, because lets face it, being in a dream is like being smashed."

With that, Charlene grunts a laugh. "Maybe another time, but thanks."

Robin grins widely. "Oh, well, I guess I achieved there. Fuck yeah."

Charlene's forehead creases. "Did you just curse?"

"Uh, no?"

"You did," she whispers.

Robin yawns out. "Sure, I told you, you would eventually figure me out. Moving on..."

"No, no, no," Charlene laughs while shaking her head. "There has to be more."

"More what exactly?"

Charlene presses her lips into the most mischievous smile yet.

"Charlene," he pleads.

"Secrets," she tells him with a sinister glint in her eye. "Robin, I will figure them all out. You mark my word, little boy."