THE COLOUR OF LOVE (Wattpadprize14)Completed

Chapter 3 - Dreamscape

The nurse smiled kindly at Cole as she hooked him up to the wires which attached the sticky pads to different parts of his body.

“I know you’re not very comfortable, but I do hope you’ll be able to get a good night’s sleep for most of the night, and remember you’re being monitored every minute, so no harm will come to you during your nightmares.”

“Thanks, that’s very reassuring,” he said kindly, while fidgeting and trying to get comfortable.

He listened for a moment as he heard the machines click into action; the dull mechanical sound of technology whirring around, monitoring his heart beat and pulse rate and recording his brain waves.  But somewhere deep down inside, he felt his heart begin to race as he was strangely excited to slip back into the dream world he’d left behind so abruptly last night.  He knew there was a million to one chance he would dream that same dream again and fully expected his wife to appear and beg him for help with those sad, bleeding eyes he saw every time he fell asleep.

~~~

Cherrie was late for her appointment, half an hour late to be exact. Her day at work ran late in every way, trying to tie up loose ends before she left the office, then losing her car keys, only to find that she’d left them in the ignition of her car in the staff car park.  Leaving the office later than normal, she hit the rush hour traffic, struggled to find a parking at the doctors rooms, ran all the way into the reception, tripped over her own feet as she entered, and breaking the heel off her shoe, was convinced she had twisted her ankle in the process. What more could go wrong?

The receptionist jumped up to help her, and after assuring her that her ankle was fine, offered her a cup of tea to help her relax. She welcomed the tea and drank slowly letting the warmth help her relax.  When she was shown through to her room for the night she felt a little calmer and after putting her full weight onto her foot, realised that her ankle was fine, even though it felt a little uncomfortable, but no swelling or discolouration had appeared.

The herbal tea had a calming effect on her ragged nerves as it had been one almighty, stressful day at work. She found the sticky pads quite irritating as they often caught a stray strand of hair on her temple or forehead, but she persevered.  She knew that the nurse did not have an easy job connecting the wires to her head with her mop of long, dark curls.

“I hope the tea will help you sleep better this evening, Miss Summers, and don’t worry about being late, just try and relax and get some sleep.  You really look as though you need it tonight.”

The nurse had a worried frown on her face as she said goodnight and left the room.

Cherrie closed her eyes and tried to blank out all of the day’s stressful moments.  She tried hard to think of nothing, but thoughts of what she should have done, or done better, or managed her time better, kept chasing each other through her head.  She moaned loudly.

“Miss Summers is everything alright? Are you comfortable, well, as comfortable as can be expected?” The nurse’s voice came over the speaker in the corner of her room.

She opened her eyes and nodded in the direction of the camera.  Settling back into the pillow she tried again to empty her mind and sleep.

~~~

Cole woke up suddenly, feeling as if something had fallen on him.  As he lifted his head, he found himself face down in the grass.  He must have fallen but he could not remember going for a walk. He stood up and dusted himself off, checking for any damage or bleeding. Satisfied that he was okay, he took in his surroundings and was rather surprised to find himself at an intersection.

He looked left and saw nothing but a long, long road disappearing into the distance, and ahead of him was more of the same; just more of the same road, becoming a speck on the horizon, but it seemed to just hang in the air.  He could see nothing below or around it, only empty space.  How on earth was that possible?  He glanced at the road on the left again and yes, it too, was hanging in mid-air.  There was nothing, just empty space, no colour, no depth, no beginning or end. He thought he was hallucinating.

The road on the right seemed more interesting as it was winding off into the nothingness. Thinking he would just go with the flow of this hallucination and not being able to see round the next bend, he ventured down this road hoping there would be something that could explain where he was and how he’d got there.

~~~

Cherrie blinked a couple of times at the bright light that was glaring behind her closed eyelids.  She shielded her eyes against the glare as she opened them.  She was standing in the middle of an intersection. 

She turned around slowly, taking in all her empty surroundings.  Yes, there was nothing but a blinding emptiness. In the middle of the intersection she was standing on was suspended in mid-air.  Was this the empty space she was looking for in her mind? Had she somehow found that peaceful, thoughtless space she’d been searching for?  Oh what bliss! Could she now just fall asleep without thought? Or was that asking too much?  Well, she was going to make the most of it while it lasted and she would kill anyone who tried to take this empty thought, empty space from her head right now.

Without thinking she took the road that went left and walked into the emptiness, not thinking, not feeling, just walking.

“Wait, you’re going the wrong way!” a voice suddenly screamed at her.

She swung around to see the figure of a person running towards her.

“No!” she shouted, “No! No! No!” She stepped to the edge of the road and looked down into the empty space that had no beginning and no end.

As the figure approached, she saw that it was a man running towards her.  Nervously she retreated.  Who was this man? What did he want with her? Why was he shouting at her to stop? In this empty space in her head, how could he tell that she was going the wrong way?

When he was just a few feet away from her, she shouted at him, “No! No! Stop!” She cried out in frustration, “You can’t be here in my head! Go away! I won’t let you steal my empty space.” Cherrie backed away from the oncoming stranger, fearing her peace of mind would now be ripped away from her.

~~~

Cole was aimlessly wandering down the winding road, when he felt a strange tugging at his back.  It became so intense that he had to turn around and his feet took on a life of their own, and started back in the direction from which he’d come.  His pace quickened and he felt a sudden breathless need to hurry.  He broke out into a run. It felt like he was running for his life, and then he saw her.

She was going the wrong way. Why he felt that she was going the wrong way he couldn’t understand, but he knew he had to stop her.  As he got nearer, he screamed at her to stop.

“Wait, you’re going the wrong way!” He called out to her in desperation, unable to comprehend why he needed her to stop, but the urgency to stop her was overpowering.

She’d shouted back something about him being in her head.  She seemed irrational and frightened. Again, that neon sign sprang to life in his head, ‘HELP HER.’

He tried to close the gap between them as fast as he could but as he got close to her and was about to reach out to her, the words, ‘I will help you,’ got stuck in his throat as she took a flying leap into the emptiness.

“Oh God, no!” he cried, and sank to his knees. “I failed again! Why, oh why am I always too late?”

Tears rolled down his face as he pounded his chest with his fists and stared into the empty space she’d jumped into.