The Parasites That Live in The Cracks

33. Dreams

Bree

  I opened my eyes, but there was nothing. Just black. Was I blind?

  I squeaked and rubbed my eyes, but still nothing. Then I remembered... I was in the secret hide-out. With Chayton. Without Jamie.

  But Jamie was still alive! And he needed my help! I sat up and began groping around for a door or light.

I tripped over something soft and warm and I fell down with a grunt.

"Bree? Was that you?" Asked Chayton groggily. I nodded, then realized he couldn't see me and said, "Yes, sorry."

"It's okay... What are you doing?"

"I have to get out of here."

"No... The vampires are still out there! You have to stay here for now. Why do you want to leave? Do you need anything?" Chayton flicked on the light and looked at me, trying to read my expression.

"Perfect they're still here I have to go now!" I said, looking for a door. If they were here they could take me to Jamie! Now Chayton just looked scared.

"Bree! Are you okay? Why the heck do you want to go?" He asked forcefully, grabbing my shoulders to stop me.

"They have Jamie! I have to help him!" I whispered shakily.

Chayton was silent for a minute, just looking at his hands. "How do you know?" He asked tiredly as if he’d seen this coming and wasn’t looking forward to sorting it out.

"He came to me in a dream. He said so." I said firmly. “Wait!” I suddenly yelled, catching something he’d just implied. “How do I KNOW? Does that mean it’s true and you knew? And didn’t think to tell me?” True, I didn’t know for sure until he’d said that, but it couldn’t be a coincidence that the vampires had him and I’d seen the background of Sanguis. 

Chayton sighed. "I think that's wishful thinking... How could he have survived that fall and the vampires? No, I do not know that he’s alive and I highly doubt he is."

"But I saw him! He was in Sanguis." I said. “And quite honestly I wouldn’t put it past you lie about it just so you can have me!”

Chayton looked at me with a mixture of sadness and pity. "Do you know what I think this is, Bree? Really, you are being desperate for any way that Jamie could be alive. Please just trust me." He asked quietly.

  “I saw him.” I insisted. 

  “It’s your mind. There’s no way he could have survived. It was just a dream.”

  I felt tears coming to my eyes. If that was true… Then Jamie was gone… And maybe Chayton was right. I was only dreaming wistfully and deluding myself.

  How could Jamie be alive? And would I really want him to be?

⇎

It was two weeks later. We were still in the hideout, just to be safe. I think I was depressed now, I mean, not even ice cream can fix this. I’d tried, but after about five hours straight of movies and eating all the flavors of ice cream I could get my hands on, I gave up.

  I looked like crap, after not taking care of myself well enough. I ate, sure, Chayton made me. But even with that, I’d lost a lot of weight that I just barely had. I hadn't taken a shower or even brushed my hair since I got here. Plus I looked and felt like the walking dead because I refused to sleep. I always dreamt about Jamie, he always seemed so real and alive... It hurt to wake up.

Chayton was doing his best to make me happy, he gave me everything he could to make me happy. Movies, treats, he even offered me a puppy. But nothing worked.

Chayton walked in and saw me just sitting there, staring into space, trying to keep my eyes pried open. He sighed and sat down next to me, putting an arm around me.

"Come on Bree... Get some sleep. I'll stay here with you." He said and started stroking my hair. It sounded tempting... But I didn't know...

  “N-no...” I mumbled, rubbing my eyes and clumsily grabbing at a coffee on a nearby table.

  “Why not? You look, sound, and move like a zombie. You need to sleep.”

  “Because… Jamie… Dreams.” I had to force my mouth to move in any other action than a yawn, and thinking enough to form a sentence was near impossible given that my brain felt foggy.

  I tried to take a gulp of the coffee, which I was living on now, but only dumped it down the front of myself. With a sigh, Chayton plucked the cup out of my hands and set it back on the table. “Go to sleep Sabrina. If you don’t sleep soon you’ll start hallucinating and then you can’t just wake up, it’ll stay.”

  I took a minute to try to grasp the concept, but it wasn’t much use, too much fogginess in my head for thinking.

  “You know what, here.” Chayton handed me the coffee back. “Whatever, drink it if you’re so stubborn about this.” He sounded oddly not annoyed for what he was saying, but I didn’t really care. 

I took the coffee back and gulped it down, just to find that it only made it harder to stay awake.

  “Sorry princess, but you need that sleep. The sleeping powder in there should help.” I heard Chayton say as though he were in a tunnel, far away from me.

  I vaguely felt myself fall and hit something soft, before I opened my eyes, surprisingly not tired.

And then Jamie was sitting in front of me again, Black hair messily brushed forward and blue eyes shining. "Sabrina! I missed you, you haven't slept in so long... Are you okay?"

"Jamie are you alive? Everything, everyone, says you can't be..."

He looked at me for a long minute, furrowing his brow. “Is that really what you want to believe?”

"I want to! But how could you be? You fell off a roof into a mob of crazy vampires, each of those alone would have killed you. Is there a way?"

  “You aren’t sleeping? Because you see me every time?” He asked, ignoring my questions. 

  “Yes! I’m not sleeping, because every time I see you and then wake up without you, everything just sucks even more!” 

  “What would make you sleep? And eat more?” 

  “If I knew. If you could prove that you died or didn’t, if I had truth and maybe hope.”

  He looked at me gently. "You’re sure? You want the truth?"

  “Yes!” 

  “I’m alive. I’m okay. You just need to stay safe and get away from Chayton, okay?”

  Oh. My. Gosh.

  "Really? Oh, Jamie, I'm going to come to you now I promise, where are you?"

  "Bree... You can't come to help me... Please don't… Just take care of yourself, get away from Chayton. For me." He looked so sad and worried saying that.

  "Why?"

  "I don’t want to be helped." He sounded so sure, so calm, that I almost believed him… But I couldn’t. He was in Sanguis, I knew it. 

  “You’re in Sanguis. Aren’t you.” 

  He didn’t respond. Just gave me a long look. Not exactly sad, but both contented and pitying.

  “I’ll get you out.” 

  “No. You won’t. I don’t want out, Sabrina. Please trust me on that. Just stay safe and sleep every night.”

I started to cry and hugged Jamie. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry... I will sleep every single night and talk to you as long as I can. I promise. And I will find a way to get you out..."

Jamie hugged me back and kissed my head. "Bree, if we ever were together again... Would you still want to be with me?" He asked.

"Yes, I would. And also I want to be a werewolf with you." It was true, I did. I realized that that would take care of most of my issues, the vampires wouldn’t want me anymore.

He smiled. "When do you want to change?" I wasn’t expecting his agreement so soon, wasn’t there supposed to be a lecture on I should be sure, here are all the side effects, there’s no going back?

"As soon as I can, so I can be free of those vampires wanting me as queen. And so I don't look way older than you forever."

Jamie's smile broadened. "I can change you now if you want."

"Really? How? Please do!" Could he really? Was this all just a wistful dream? Oh well, one way to find out.

"A little part of each of us is here in the dream, which isn't really a dream by the way. So I can change you now and it'll take longer than normal but you'll change in real life too. You sure though? There's no going back. There’s only one way to die, which isn’t fun, and sometimes living isn't fun either..."

"I'm sure." I knew there would be at least a little of the you-sure talk.

“Just be one hundred percent sure. You’re never going to die, basically, and it’ll hurt a lot. Oh, and if you got captured you could be tortured for the rest of eternity and you’ll never die.”

  “I’m sure.” I was sure because once I was a werewolf I could rescue Jamie. And it’d prove that he’s alive.

"Ok then, just one thing first." Jamie drew me into a tight hug. I wrapped my arms around him, pulling him closer to me in a comforting embrace. When we finally broke apart we were both grinning happily.

"Now... Ready?" Jamie asked.

"Yes," I said firmly.

"This will probably wake you up because it's going to hurt... It usually lasts only an hour but for you, it could last up to three, since it has to spread more since it's through your dreams. I'm sorry to hurt you but I know this is what you want. I love you Bree, can't wait to see my wolf sweetheart."

  He took my right hand and gently as he could bit my wrist. Yup, it hurt... I could feel an unworldly pain starting at my wrist and spreading into my fingertips and up my arm. "Thank you." I whimpered slightly and Jamie faded as I woke up.

All I'm going to say is that the pain is even worse in real life, and Chayton looks absolutely furious right now, from the few seconds I had my eyes open before everything went all blurry and I blacked out.