You're not Dreaming

Chapter 2

An all-out war had swept across all of Europe and Asia.

"It's just a vaccine," they said.

"It's harmless," they said.

In response to a deadly virus released by North Korea, Swedish scientists released an airborne vaccine that they believed everyone would be exposed to. It was supposed to simply affect the immune system, but it affected much more than that.

Lua turned over in her sleep. She felt warmer and cosier than when she was lying on her right side.

She frowned softly.

She was too cosy now.

Lua opened her eyes slightly and squinted.

Her eyes suddenly shot open.

"Helvette!" She shouted, jumping out of the bed, knocking the night stand over and shattering the lamp that was on it.

"Voldtektsmann! Perves! Seksualforbryter!" She shouted at the man opposite her.

He had been lying there asleep until she knocked the lamp over.

He rubbed his eyes. "Have you finished summoning demons?" He asked with a deep buttery voice.

Lua was beyond perplexed. "English?!" She shouted, unable to think of anything else to say.

He got out of bed wearing nothing but a hotel bathrobe. "Yes, English. You couldn't understand mouse language."

Lua sat by the wall looking terribly upset and feeling violated.

He pursed his lips. "I didn't touch you or anything. I just needed body warmth. I'm not used to being in my human form. It's really cold without fur."

Lua tried to muster up all of her knowledge of the English language with her brain half asleep and traumatised. "Who the hell are you," she said in a thick Norwegian accent.

He smiled. "You called me Mus," he recalled.

"Mus" she echoed. She muttered some less than savoury language to herself. "You're not the mus!" She shouted.

His face became serious. He clicked his fingers and the robe dropped to the ground.

A mouse came scurrying from underneath the bed.

Lua was mortified.

He clicked his mousey fingers and suddenly became human once again.

Lua's eyes almost popped out of her eyes and her face went red.

He nodded seriously. "Yeah, it's a lot to take in."

Lua stared directly at his crotch, gulped and nodded.

He frowned. "I was talking about my shape-shifting ability," he sighed before turning around to collect his robe. "Anyway, I needed to see if you were dangerous yesterday, that's why I didn't change back. You were carrying around an axe after all."

Lua slowly got up. "Why are you here?" She asked him.

He turned around once he had his robe back on. "Same as you. It's cold out there."

Lua was still trying to get her mind around how a mouse could be as big as he was, but she was trying to get the image of his crotch out of her mind.

"It's covered now, you can stop staring at it," he sighed, clearly not phased by her seeing him nude.

Lua was visibly flustered. "I was not looking anywhere!"

He turned around. "What colour are my eyes then?" He scoffed.

She pouted. "I wasn't looking!"

"Well," he said, turning around, "You can call me Mus."

Lua took the chance to look at his face. He was surprisingly handsome considering he had just been a mouse. He was fair. In fact, his hair looked just like his fur when he was a mouse. Sadly, Lua had problems looking anyone in the eye, never mind a half naked stranger in an abandoned hotel.

Mus stood there waiting to hear Lua's name while she stared up at him in awe of his features. He sighed. "Yes, I have pink eyes."

Lua blinked.

He offered her a hand and helped her up from the floor. "Your name is?" He asked.

"Lua," she answered.

He sighed a sigh of relief. "I was half expecting some long name like Bai Quingquing," he chuckled.

Poor Lua was still utterly confused. "What?" She muttered to herself.

Mus took her hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you, Lua." He said before leaving the room as if nothing had happened.

Lua blinked and tried to rationalise what she had seen. A man who was a mouse who was also a man and had parts larger than a mouse. Her mind came to one simple conclusion. "Jeg drømmer!" She exclaimed in relief.

"You're what?" Mus called from the kitchen.

All of Lua's inhibitions had gone out of the window. It was clear to her that seeing that strange mouse the day before and eating too much sugar was making her dream, so whatever she did now didn't matter.

Lua wandered into the kitchen.

Mus was standing by the window shivering. He clearly felt the cold more than Lua did.

"What are you looking at," Lua asked.

Mus pointed to a generator outside. "It's too cold to go out like this and I can't start the generator when I am a mouse."

"Okay, Mus," she said before unlatching the sliding door to the balcony and heading out to start the generator.

It had gotten colder overnight and Lua had left her outerwear inside, thinking that the cold wouldn't bother her anyway. It was supposedly a dream after all.

She came back inside, shivering terribly.

Mus panicked. "You're going to freeze like that!"

The lights remained off but the kettle started boiling.

Mus explained that he had turned all the lights off because he didn't want to attract unwanted attention.

He poured Lua a cup of tea and then poured some tea into a saucer and placed it on the ground.

Lua squinted in confusion. "Why?" She asked, unsure of whether she wanted to know or not.

"It's hard to explain," Mus sighed. "If I eat or drink as a human, my mouse digestive system will explode."

Lua nodded, pretending that she understood what he meant. "Can you turn into other animals?"

Mus nodded. "I hurt myself the last time I tried though. Mice and humans eat the same kind of food but, turning into a reindeer when you've just eaten meat, does something to your head and your stomach."

Lua started feeling sorry for him but reminded herself that he wasn't real.

He snapped his fingers and turned into a mouse again.

Lua sipped her tea. "You can't talk when you are a mouse?"

Mus squeaked and crossed his arms.

"Okay?" Lau chuckled, finding him pretty amusing. "Isn't your brain much smaller now?"

He glared at her with his beady mouse eyes.

This one-sided conversation made Lua feel like she had the upper hand. "You could be anything but you chose to be a mouse?"

Mus finished sipping his tea and clicked his finger. "You know that mice survived whatever killed the dinosaurs, right?"

Lua's eyes sparkled with joy. "You can be a dinosaur?" She exclaimed.

Mus thought for a moment. "Maybe?" He paused and frowned at Lua. "Why are you staring at my p***s again?"

Lua looked up, a child-like grin on her face. "Dinosaur penis."

Mus pulled a face of disgust. "I'd like to point out that I haven't stared at your breasts once."

Lua looked down at her chest and back at him. "Are you calling them ugly?" She questioned him, enjoying this 'dream' a little too much.

"How could I call them ugly if I haven't seen them?" He sighed, leaning on one of the hardwood posts. He clearly wasn't even trying to hide his nudity now.

"You want to see my boobs?" Lua asked.

His eyes widened. "I-" he shut his mouth considering his next move. "You can be naked if you want to be. It's not like this place has clothing."

Lua watched as he started shivering again. "Why isn't the heating on?" Lua asked, finally turning her attention to something other than Mus's p***s. There were gas heaters, likely intended for the outdoors, all around the main living and dining spaces. Lua ignited the nearest one.

Mus just about hugged it. "You have no idea how cold I've been here," he complained.

Lua wasn't listening.

Mus's eyebrows dropped and he sighed. "It's not fair if you're clothed but you keep staring at my naked body."

She grinned and blushed. "So you do want to see," she teased him.

He sighed and faced her. "Alright, look at it as much as you want then, since you clearly want to."

In any other situation, Lua would have turned away politely but since she was certain that Mus and his p***s weren't real, she was more than happy to show interest.

Lua came closer to it, which made Mus slightly uncomfortable. "Why is it so big?" Lua asked.

Mus opened his mouth to retort but then he thought, "I guess I have good genes?"

"Yeah," said Lua, "But you're a mouse, so…"

"I'm a human," he said, interrupting her. "I got the ability to shapeshift from the vaccine."