Awake In My Dream

~The beginning of the end~

~~~

I was excited walking with Rhoda. At last I was going to see her home. I don’t know why I was so excited, but somehow, I was. Now a little about me, I’m not really the type of guy who really cares where you live, or anything about you in general. Not that I hated friends or anything like that, I was just sufficient with myself and this sort of made me seem a bit uninterested in friendships. Yet, somehow, Rhoda had managed to make me feel at ease around her. I had told her once, a while ago, that I’d visit her, I figured that’s what friends are supposed to do, but my antisocial lifestyle had kept me from doing so for all this while. However, I was determined today, I needed to know someone’s house who wasn’t in my neighborhood.

As we were walking along the beach, I noticed she had grown really quiet, (she had told me she lived near the sea.) I tried to start a conversation with her, still her mind seemed elsewhere. Then she turned to me, “You know, you don’t really need to see where I live.”
“Oh, come on, I want to know”, I said, “I’m your friend.”
“Yeah, until you see my house.” She smiled.
“I don’t live in a mansion myself, I’m sure I’d like your place. Plus, it has a sea view.”

She smiled and we kept on walking with not much conversation. I had no idea why she seemed so tensed today, I was usually the tensed one. I took her hand in mine, something I rarely do, just to relieve her a bit. I then noticed we had gotten to an isolated part of the beach. There were so many rocks and caves. The sea waves were the only noise here, they sung different rhythms as they drummed against the rocks. She led me over a few rocks, and we came into an open space, surrounded by rocks and the sea. At this point, I was wondering where we were headed, or if this was one of her twisted jokes.

Then I noticed a girl, coming out of the water. It was her sister, Lola. Really, I thought, such a weird time to swim, I looked at my wristwatch, five minutes past seven pm. But as she approached, I forgot about her questionable time of swimming, I was transfixed on her.
Now Rhoda came from a family of ladies. They weren’t really cautious about their looks and yet they were natural models. The type of girls who pass by and get all the guys giving catcalls. I smiled nervously, I had met her a couple of times, yet I was quite edgy around her.

“Hey Matt,” she said by way of greeting, “How’re you doing?”
“G-good.” I managed out.
She smirked at Rhoda, “Are you sure?”
Rhoda shrugged, “He said he wanted to know.”
“Well, welcome to our place then,” Lola smiled. The moon light reflected in her eyes and sort of bounced off her perfectly white teeth. Her wet hair plastered along her cheeks and neck. Her body…

…I caught hold of myself before I was caught staring. “Thanks,” I said, almost dreamily, as she headed towards one of the caves. Which place, I wondered. Now that I wasn’t looking at her, I could think straight. We were standing on the beach, and very close to the sea. The only thing else was the caves. Just then the light of a lantern sparked up from where Lola had just gone.
I looked quizzically at Rhoda, she just smiled. Before I could ask, I noticed another girl coming from the sea. I was a bit scared now. We had been here for quite a while and I had not noticed her, there was no way a person could be submerged for this long. She hopped merrily towards us.

“You must be Matt, I’ve heard about you.” She gave Rhoda a teasing look.
Rhoda smiled, “This is my sister, Dora.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said. Again, I had forgotten about our surroundings, as her image sunk into my head. She was elegant, like you’d expect from a sister of Rhoda’s. But unlike her sisters, she had a haughty shade in her eyes which gave her a coy look without her even trying.
“You too,” she smirked. “How did you manage to convince her to bring you here?” She gestured at Rhoda.
Playfully, Rhoda pushed her away. “Go away,” she said, blushing for some reason.
“Oh, I’m interrupting,” Dora teased as she turned back to the sea.
“Rhoda, you guys live here?” I asked incredulously.
“Not here, there…” she hinted at where Dora was.

I turned to watch. Dora dived in the sea and reemerged with her head and shoulders above the water. In horror I pulled my hand back from Rhoda as I noticed a huge fish tail slap the water behind her sister. Dora porpoised and plummeted into the water and disappeared. I was horror-stricken, had I just seen a mermaid?
Rhoda grabbed my hand laughing, “Now you know where I live and who I am. Let’s swim.” She said as she pulled me towards the water.

I tried pulling my hand back but my fear had taken all my strength. Then from behind, Lola came and grabbed my other hand. Together, they both pulled me towards the water, laughing.
“Stop, st-stop,” I said in a shaky voice. I tried to squirm out of their hands, but I just grew weaker and weaker. The feeling of helplessness got me exasperated, “Stop!”, I screamed and kicked and…

“…Matt, Matt are you alright?”
I squinted in the dark room and noticed my roommate standing over me. “I’m okay…”, I rubbed my eyes, “‘twas just a bad dream.”
“Good, the dream woke you,” he joked, “it’s already morning, shouldn’t you be on your way to work?”
Work, I thought, I’d meet Rhoda at work. I had promised I’d take her home today, but as I got up, I knew I’d definitely give her another excuse not to do so today too. 

The End.