Run For Your Life

Beautiful

Song: Only in My Dreams by The Marías

May 6

It's after midnight now. The rest hadn't returned to the motor home and Stanley has yet to fall asleep, despite being exhausted. He just can't stop thinking. Well, more like hearing. It's not as if he can help it, but they keep him awake. They whisper and they itch and it's almost like they're trying to take over. Maybe he should just let them.

The boy flips over in the bed and eyes Bill, who seems to be awake too. At least he's not alone. "Hey." Stanley's voice is barely a whisper.

Bill suddenly becomes aware of the wide awake boy. He flips on his side as well, their noses centimeters apart. "How do you feel?"

Stanley loves the gentleness of his voice, but he still finds it strange that there's no stutter when it comes to him. "My brain is too loud. I can't sleep."

"What do they say?" Bill lets his eyes fall from Stanley's. Instead they bounce to each feature, taking in every detail.

"They say that I'm too weak. That it'd be better if they took control."

Bill's eyes find the other's once more. And what he sees is so much more than just two eyes. "Do you listen?"

"Sometimes I wonder."

"It's not true, you know?" Bill needs him to hear this.

"What's not?"

"That you're weak. It's not true. Some people are more complex than others. If my powers are easier to use and control, then that must mean your powers are far beyond any of our understanding."

Stanley's hand finds its way to Bill's and holds on tight. "Maybe I'm just too stupid to figure it out."

"I don't think that's it. I think you just need time."

"Time for what?"

"Time to understand."

Stanley scoffs. "To understand what?"

Bill smiles. "To understand how rare and special you are."

Stanley's hand finds its way out of his as he sits up. "I don't think I'm special. We all experience this."

Bill shakes his head, sitting up as well. "But that's just it. None of us experience the same thing. Yet we have always been able to link with our powers, while yours seem to be complicated and unique and something so much more."

Stanley only groans at the voices, which have grown louder. He sets his head in his palms, trying to wash them out. "If I'm supposed to be so much more, then how come all I can create is chaos while you create beauty?"

"We don't even know what you're capable of yet. And you've yet to see all I'm capable of."

The younger lifts his head, eyes full of curiosity. "So show me."

Bill only shakes his head. "Absolutely not."

Stanley gets closer, taking both of the man's hands. "I need to know."

Bill creates a new world around them, though it's the same ocean he always shows. Stan shakes his head at the views. "Show me what you show them. How do you make people cower?"

"I don't want you to cower." Bill's voice is gentle.

"I'm not afraid of you. I just want to understand you more. Maybe it'll help."

Bill looks anywhere but at Stanley as he changes their world once again. Only this time there's no sand or sun. In fact, there's nothing at all. "You need to tell me if it's too much."

Stanley looks around, remembering the one time he had seen this before. "Okay." The boy promises, voice faltering already.

"I show you beauty because it's all I can think of when it comes to you." The beach is back, but it morphs into mountains, and then jungles, and then to canyons and more. Bill takes a deep breath as he lets those views drift away. His eyes are closed as he imagines his parents. He sees his brother's open skull. But then his mind seems to take it a step further by imagining Stanley there as well, body mangled and skull just as mashed.

Only Stanley still sees nothing but darkness as Bill prepares for what he's about to do. "But when it comes to others." Bill's eyes open and the view changes once more.

Death, terror, pain, war. The images flash so fast that Stanley become dizzy in this fantasy world. Though it doesn't scare him. It wows him. It takes his breath away. But it also helps him understand that these powers aren't just meant for good or bad. There's a choice in the scheme of things and maybe that means there's just no good left in him for creating such beauty.

But then the images stop and he's left back in the room, face to face with Bill. That's when he realizes there is a bit of good left in him. And maybe there is a way to create more than what he's been doing. If Bill can jump from calm to horror, there must be a way for him to muster up the strength too. Maybe he is just far more complex. Maybe the voices play a role in that.

Bill grabs a hand full of Stanley's curls. "See? I don't just create good."

"There's something beautiful in that, though. Wouldn't you say?" His eyes have grown white, which alarms Bill. Only then he hears a slight hum, that rings in his ears and through his head so sweetly. Then he hears the same ocean waves that usually appear when he warps the reality around them. Only this time he's not doing that.

Bill grows curious and switches only his view to a jungle. Only the waves continue to crash and there's no birds chirping and frogs croaking or any sound similar to that of a jungle. And that's when he realizes that while yes, he can create the illusion to the eye, Stanley had always been the one creating the sounds.

"There's something beautiful in you." Bill's eyes water as his lips connect with the other's in a desperate manner.

The sounds go away as Stanley's lips are muffled, but that same feeling remains in each of them. That same curious, wonderful, incredible feeling that somehow connects them even further.

There's definitely beauty in that.