Strange Dreams
1873 Words
When Joey and Cailleagh left the cafe, he had a smile on his face. A smile that refused to go away. He had even stopped, turned and watched her go into the new age shoppe.
Another smile lit up his face, and he kept the image of her in his mind. His father, Joseph Sr., even commented on the smile.
He hadn't felt this happy in a long time.
None of the other women he'd dated had her beauty, which he saw as a bit elfin. Her auburn hair fell to the middle of her back in loose, natural curls. Autumn. Yes, her hair was the color of autumn.
And the eyes! Hazel, with more green than brown.
He shook his head. Whoa there, dude! He was getting lost in thinking about her. What the hell? You have a cup of coffee with one woman and suddenly you're besotted?
Besotted? Dude! Really? What the f**k?
One thing Joey knew for sure was that Cailleagh was nothing like Tamara. Nothing at all.
He also knew he would be seeing Cailleagh again.
He began to busy himself with work when an odd sensation came over him. As if he were being watched. And, several times, he swore he heard... giggling?
No, more like snickering. But, who --?
He suddenly turned around and eyed his bookcase. Did he really just hear the laughter from there? And did he just really see something moving? Shaking his head, he glanced back at his computer screen. He tried to convince himself that it was just his imagination, that
there was nothing there.
Yeah, keep telling yourself that, buddy.
Yet, he kept having the oddest feeling that there was something there, watching him. And that feeling only intensified when he heard movement in the bookcase, and saw the books move.
What the holy hell?
Carefully, he stood from his desk, and walked slowly toward the wall of books. Part of him was curious what was there, but another part of him was afraid of what he'd find. And, whatever it was, was still there, amongst the books, because he could hear it.
Planting his feet firmly on the floor, Joey reached out toward the books in question, ready to find whatever was there.
"Son?"
Joey jumped at his father's voice, his heart thumping in his chest. "Dad! Oh, Jesus!" He spun around and leaned his hands on the back of the chair nearby. "You scared me!"
Joseph Sr. just looked at his son in confusion. "I'm sorry, but what were you doing?"
Joey let out a small laugh. "I thought I heard something back here."
"Like what?" his father asked, eyeing the books. "Mice?"
"Oh, jeez, I hope not!" Joey exclaimed. "The last thing we need is f*****g mice!" He shook his head. "No, I don't know what I heard."
Joseph Sr.'s brows knitted together. He eyed his son, trying to decide, Joey knew, if he'd flipped his lid. "Hmm," he said at last. "Perhaps I should get the exterminators here anyway?"
Joey shrugged. "If you think we need to. I may have just been hearing things. The people on the floor above us, you know."
His father nodded. "Perhaps. But I think I will call them anyway. Especially with how much rain we've had lately."
"Sure, might be a good idea." Joey walked back around to his desk, watching his father turn and leave the office.
Exterminators or not, Joey still heard something moving in that damn book case all day.
The sensation didn't go away. It haunted her for the rest of the day and it accompanied her home. And she couldn't get the image of that woman out of her head.
And that was the night she had the first dream.
Cail found herself standing on what looked like a Highland moor. She could smell the fresh air, the kind of smell after it rains and cleanses the air. She was not cold, nor was she wet. She was just standing there, amid a circle of stones. Being who she was – a Wiccan’s daughter – she knew that the stone circle was sacred and held power. But, why was Cail standing inside it?
Was it a Faerie circle? Most Faerie rings were made up of mushrooms and other plant life, not large stones. But this particular stone circle felt Faerie. Oozed the feeling of Faerie.
She suddenly became aware of a presence behind her, and around her. But she could not turn around to see who was there. Try as she might, she could not make herself turn around to see who was there.
When she woke up, it was morning. Cail decided to go somewhere quiet and photograph what she saw. By profession, she was a freelance photographer and taking pictures relaxed her.
Cailleagh was walking into the café again when she saw the same woman she had seen the day before. She stopped dead in her tracks and watched the woman walk into the café. Curious, she followed her.
Why do I care? What is it about this woman that seems so... familiar?
Like... something long forgotten.
Again, Cail had the idea that the woman was Elfin in nature.
Faerie?
Cailleagh was wrong; it was not the same woman, but one who looked like her. The hair and the eyes were the same, but this one was dressed in green silks and was younger.
She ordered a cup of coffee, took her cup and started out the door when she saw the other one: a male.
Another one? What was going on?
Maybe she was going crazy?
She jumped in the car. She drove and found herself, not someplace quiet, but at a bookstore. She walked in and went directly to the books that had to with myths and legends. By this time, she realized what she’d done and wondered why she was looking at a book on legends of faerie-folk. She felt herself redden at this and put the book back.
Those people had reminded her of something faerie, something elfin or other worldly.
But... that means something. Something drew me to the Fey.
Turning away from those books, she came face to face with another that had to do with Scotland’s myths and legends. Her eyes blinked several times as an image flashed before her eyes of the stone circle. A vague longing hit her, and that fresh scent of rain-washed air and green hills assaulted her nose.
She grabbed the book and bought it.
She ended up at home, pouring into that book. The pictures inside made her feel the same things as seeing the strange woman and man, like something left behind, as well as the sense of knowing. It made her feel happy.
Cail could suddenly hear bagpipes in her head and they made her cry, not out of sadness, but out of joy. The knowledge was not forthcoming: still just a heartbeat away from revealing themselves.
Just beyond her grasp.
She turned the page. A picture of green, rolling hills in the Scottish Highlands stopped her cold. A small circle of stones winked at her. The stones -- not monoliths like Stonehenge -- puzzled her at first.
Then, she could hear singing. In Gaelic.
Staring at the picture, remembrance tickled her brain: she know that place! Cail had been there before! But, when? That she knew of, she’d never been to Scotland in her life.
Was she wrong? Was it a memory suppressed?
Would Moira know?
Moira was from Ireland, not Scotland, but still, perhaps...
And somewhere, a Faerie king smiled.
Joey still couldn't let go of that idea that he was not alone in the office.
He was starting to feel suffocated by that notion.
You're going nuts, here, buddy.
Still...
So, he gathered up some of his papers and headed out to the work tables out in the open area. Maybe he'd feel better out there.
If only. That closed feeling left him, but he still felt eyes on him.
This is just too f*****g weird.
He shook his head, deciding that perhaps they did need an exterminator. He was about to sit on the stool at the work table, when someone -- or was that something? -- moved out of the corner of his eye.
His head whipped around at the sight, or whatever it was. He carefully walked over to the place he had seen it move. Near the copy machines in the corner of the room near his office.
Trying to be stealthy, he went toward the machines, hoping to catch whatever it was hiding there.
Or whoever.
"Mr. Royo?" a feminine voice came from behind him.
Joey nearly climbed the light fixtures at the sound of their receptionist's voice. He let out a small yelp and then immediately felt idiotic. "Melissa!"
The small woman was looking at him like he'd flipped his lid. "Are you okay, sir?"
He let a chuckle left his lips. "Uh, yeah. I just thought I saw something moving around back here."
"Oh, okay..." But she didn't seem to be too sure about his explanation.
"I'm fine, really," he smiled at her.
She gave him a slight smile that didn't seem to reach her eyes. But she went about her business nonetheless.
Keep this up and the whole place is gonna think your cracked, there, buddy.
He shook his head, went back to the work table.
But he knew he had seen something.
Another dream plagued her that night, and Moira would have fallen over backwards if she knew what Cail had dreamt.
The dream was very different from the first one.
It seemed to Cailleagh that it was more like a strong memory, but once again she was standing in the stone circle on the moor. This time, a man stood with her. Then, there were two women and she recognized them. The two younger ones, the man and woman, were the ones she had seen at the café. The older one was the regal woman she had talked to at the shoppe. There was no mistaking it now, they were triplets, and, yes, their ears were pointed.
Pointed ears? Really?
“What do you want?” she asked.
For you to remember, they replied.
But what was she to remember? Try as she might, those memories that Cail knew were there would not surface.
Remember! They chanted and danced. Memories in dreams!
Memories in dreams? Of course the older sibling had said that to her when she spoke to her in the shoppe. But what--?
She was suddenly aware of another male presence around her. He had leaned in, kissed the back of her neck, sending chills down her spine. She turned to face him, kissed him deeply, longingly, hungrily with a passion she had never felt before.
Then, she looked at his face.
Joey? Surely not!
An ethereal laugh drifted toward her ears, sending shivers down her spine.
She pushed against him, but the laughing would not stop, making her skin crawl. Then, she realized the laugh was not coming from him. Rather, it was coming from... where is it coming from?
She suddenly sat up in bed, eyes wide, breath heaving from her lungs.
Oh, Goddess!
- Writer
