Funny Thing, Life

Part 5: Dear Murphy, Forget Your Law

   I awoke with a jerk, just before my 5 am alarm was due to go off.  I blinked a few times, striving to ground myself from the dream.  I knew I wasn't home, and didn't need to arise this early, so I closed my eyes hoping to revisit the tantalizing kiss and nearly naked man that had once been before me, but upon closing my eyes, the foreign eyed creature had me by the throat and blood poured from my many open wounds.  This was a new dream, and unlike the others of the black eyed man that visited me, it was one I definitely did not want to explore.

   I was on a luxury sofa with an arm draped over my waist, as if, in a half attempt to keep me safe.  Being impossible to sleep-in, I struggled to slip out from under the arm of my protector without waking him, but as I did, I grabbed my bag and quietly snuck to the nearest bathroom.  I called my oldest, instructing her to make sure her sister was up and getting ready for school.  I then thumbed through the Uber app to arrange for a ride home.  Yikes, this was gonna hurt my bank account, but I had to get home for my little ones and hopefully after Husband left.  He'd probably assume I was taking my morning walk.  

   I searched the contents of my purse for my travel size toothpaste.  Using my finger, I rubbed some around in my mouth hoping it was enough to get rid of my morning breath.  I pulled my hair back and used my emergency face wipe to clean up.  I swiped my wrists and neck with a Victoria's Secret rollerball perfume and slicked a line of Chapstick across my lips before doing one final approval check in the mirror.  The image reflecting back didn't resemble a woman who'd nearly had an affair.  Nor did she look like someone who was doing the walk of shame.  

   I pulled a receipt from my purse, scribbled a note, and hung it on the fridge before discreetly exiting the house.  I put on my heels as I reached the end of the driveway, and walked down the winding road until I reached the guard-gated entrance out of the community, where my ride was waiting for me.  As the driver headed toward the freeway, Husband texted me that he was out the door to work.  I assured him that I'd be in shortly and had my keys, as to not worry about locking up.  No way was I doing the "walk of shame" in front of him.  

   About an hour later, I had arrived home and just in time to get the children up and ready for school.  Once they'd left, I enjoyed a hot cup of tea and a shower.  No sooner had the water hit my face did the phone alert me to an incoming call.  I recognized the ringtone from last night and opted to ignore it.  I wasn't sure I wanted to talk to him until I could wrap my head around the events of yesterday. After clothing in a cozy sweater and leggings, I curled up, on my bed, with my body pillow and checked my phone.  No text.  No voicemail.  I tossed the cell aside and closed my eyes, falling fast asleep, thanks to the comfort of my being in my own bed.  

   I dreamt of a man in a mask of an unrecognizable creature.  In fact, everyone was wearing these odd kinds of masks, but his oceanic blue eyes peeking from behind, gave him away.  I, in a ballgown of brocaded fabric and lace, searched for a way to get to him.  Although he was just across the room, it seemed impossible to reach him.   As a sea of people continued to crowd around him, as if intentionally keeping us apart, I found it harder and harder to see him.  Suddenly the room spun. Instantaneously, he was standing before me.  No longer was his face hidden behind the mask, but he was wearing the same discerning half smile as he did in the previous dream, with his eyes swirling into a haze of blue and black until resting on the darker of the two.  The fright must've registered on my face as his smile grew in reaction.  He reached for my throat and hefted me into the air with ease.  He threw his head back and laughed as I tried to pry his hand from my throat.  I closed my eyes, tears waterfalling down my face in fear and anguish.  I thought of my girls without a mother, friends mourning over the loss of their friend and the love I might have had with the man being tortured behind this creature.  I felt myself falling briefly, then hitting the ground with a thud.  I opened my eyes to see I was splayed out on dirt and grass.  I was paralyzed.  My breathing was labored as if I'd had the wind knocked out of me.  I felt as though I were dying.  I caught glimpses of tall evergreens and bricks through each slow blink, before my eyes grew too heavy to keep open.  I forced them open one last time to see a man, slender and proper, kneeling beside me with tears in his eyes, whispering something to me, I couldn't understand.  As my eyes closed for the last time, everything became clear.  He'd whispered, "In the next life, I promise..." then, as his lips pressed against mine, everything went dark.  I pressured my brain to wake up.