Let's Play Pretend

Air

-Open your eyes, Jenna.

And so she did. For some reason she found herself laying in a green meadow, with little flowers all around her. Pink, and red, and blue. This didn't seem right? There was a fleeing thought of snow, but before she could really get hold of it, it had vanished.

-You're dreaming. Well... In a way.

Eddies face was slowly manifesting in front of her. It looked sickly, and seemed to somehow be burning on the inside. An Eddie-o'-lantern. Except that the fire was blue. But now that she thought about it, he had always looked like that... Hadn't he? That was how Eddie was supposed to look!

-It's good to see you. I am sure you have missed me?

She nodded. The moment he had said it, it was clear to her how sorely she needed to be with him, and how painful separation had been. How she had longed for his touch, and felt like she would die without it. But... There was something off about those feelings. A flash of amber eyes that... weren't Eddies. But who could they belong to then?

-Fighting back, are we?

Waves of his dissatisfaction hit her like strokes of a whip. She felt compelled to make him happy, but she did fight the instinct. Something just wasn't right here. The need to comply felt both so very hers, and so alien at the same time. And she remembered the weight and warmth of a hand at her hip. A hand that didn't belong with this voice. This commanding voice that was everywhere around her and inside her at once. Tempting and terrifying.

-You can't escape me in here, you might as well just give in to me. You know it will be easier, don't you?

It would. She knew it would, but there was something inside of her that rather wanted the pain. He... He wasn't him, was he? And this was a dream. He had said she was dreaming. She tried pinching herself, but her fingers went straight through her arms. She tried calling for help, but no sound came. And there were invisible hands running through her hair and...

Eddie had disappeared. Had gone quiet, and the whips with him.

And a faint voice she though she knew was calling her name, as she lay sobbing an heaving for air on the soft grass that was slowly turning into cobblestones.

-Jenna. Shit... Come on, Jenna.

The hands in her hair had a voice now, and it had a name, she knew. He lifted her as though she weighed nothing, and she knew the name was Aiden. The memory of the evening rushed back into her head as though it was water and the dam had broken, and it washed away the dream and the memories of it.

-Aiden?

A sigh of relief could be felt through his arms and shoulders.

-Yeah. It's me. When I got back from taking my call, you were gone. I figured you'd just gone home, but then I found you lying here! What happened?

She wasn't quite sure. Her head was still swimming with alcohol, making her seasick. And dream mixed into reality. She knew... She thought she knew that she had heard Eddies voice, right before she blacked out. Or was it after? Until she could be sure of anything, it seemed better not to mention. She was very drunk, after all. This was for sober Jenna to deal with. And sober Jenna was nowhere to be found tonight.

-I don't... know.

The only things she knew for certain right now was that sleeping on cobblestone in the snow is not high up on the list of "brilliant ideas that will make you feel good", and that the toxic waste she had been slinging back was about to burst back out into freedom.