Lamia's Dream

Chapter 11

Beige lockers lined the walls.  Tacky motivational posters on responsibility and perseverance hung above them.  I wandered the vaguely familiar halls in search of something I couldn’t identify.  Several steps later I found myself in the cafeteria.  The competing food aromas were absent.  Instead, the area smelled sterilized, like a dental office.  The red chairs were aligned in perfect rows on either side of the tables. 

Except for one.  A girl sat there with her head in her palms.  I moved around a structural pillar to get a better view of her.  She looked up.

“You’re the only boy I know that dreams about school,” Valerie said.

"What are you doing here?”

"I'm here to apologize.  Since you won’t talk to me anywhere else."

I knew I wanted everything to be right between us.  But, instead, my anger welled up.

“Just go away.”

"I know that I hurt you, and-"

"No, Valerie, I don't think you know. Maybe you're so used to being hurt by all the jerks you've dated that you don't have a heart left, but I do.  Or did..."

I blinked a few times.  My head felt fuzzy.  The words weren’t quite right.  I tried gripping for them, to put them back.

"How can you say that? H-"

"How can I say that?  The same way you can sit in Tyler's car eating his face after he had you wander off into the woods a week before!"

Valerie recoiled.  I couldn't believe I said it.  Her head returned to her hands.

"Valerie, I..."

"Where'd it go?"

She looked up, a few tears streaming down her face.  Her make-up ran.

"Wha- what?"

"That intensity you had," she rose to her feet.

I stepped back.

"You're so intense with your emotions.  It's... enticing..."

"Oook... That's..."

She jerked my body to her.  I brushed against her briefly before she pushed me away.  My back slammed against the pillar.

"Shhh..." Valerie whispered, before I could say a word.

"Get off me!" I shouted, pushing her off.

She stumbled back a few steps, her head downwards.  Then, she slowly looked up.  She wore a wicked grin. 

"You are so..."

I glared at her, fist clenched, ready to defend myself.

Speechless, Valerie faded away.

I jolted awake. 

"What the crap,” I mumbled in between breaths. 

I sat up for a few moments.  Then, I turned my pillow to the cooler side and laid back down.  I stared at the ceiling.

Several questions swirled in my brain and I knew I wouldn’t be able to return to unconsciousness easily.  The most obvious one was the girl in my dream.   Had that really been Valerie?  A representation, at least.  To think the real Valerie had somehow entered my dream was absurd.  Regardless of how she acted, my subconscious meant her to look like Valerie.

But, the guy in my dream- the me- went way too far.  I would never say those things.  Not to Valerie.  She didn’t deserve being chastised like that.