The Boy From My Other Life

5 | Questions for Moon-boy

Friday arrived with all the enthusiasm of a tax audit.

Mira stared at her alarm.

The alarm stared back.

Neither of them were happy.

Eventually adulthood won.

Unfortunately.

By eight-thirty, she was sitting at her desk trying to convince herself she cared about spreadsheets.

She did not.

"Mira."

She looked up.

Ciara stood beside her holding a paper bag.

"What?"

"You look like you lost a fight."

"I did."

"With who?"

"Life."

Ciara nodded thoughtfully.

"Reasonable."

Then she handed over the paper bag.

Mira peeked inside.

A blueberry muffin.

Her favorite.

"Oh."

"Before you get emotional, I bought one for myself too."

Mira immediately closed the bag.

"I wasn't going to get emotional."

"You absolutely were."

Unfortunately, that was also true.

~

The morning passed faster than expected.

Emails.

Client revisions.

A meeting that could have been an email.

Another meeting that should have been canceled entirely.

Normal office suffering.

Mira found herself sketching while waiting for feedback on a project.

Nothing serious.

Just random doodles in the corner of her notebook.

Flowers.

Coffee cups.

A sleepy cat.

Then her pencil slowed.

She frowned.

Looked down.

And froze.

A hand.

Again.

Long fingers.

Dark sleeve.

The same hand she'd drawn the night before.

Her stomach tightened.

Not because the drawing was creepy.

Because it felt familiar.

Too familiar.

Like she'd sketched someone she knew.

Someone she'd seen.

Even though she hadn't.

Quickly, Mira flipped the page.

Nope.

Absolutely not.

Her brain was being weird enough this week.

No need to encourage it.

"Whatcha drawing?"

Mira nearly launched the notebook across the room.

Ciara blinked.

"...Should I be concerned?"

"Maybe."

Ciara sat down.

Immediately interested.

The universal sign of a friend about to become annoying.

"What happened?"

"Nothing."

"You almost threw a notebook at me."

"It startled me."

"By existing?"

Mira pointed accusingly.

"You sneak."

"I walk normally."

"Debatable."

Ciara laughed.

Then, thankfully, changed the subject.

~

Mira met Darren for lunch because he had a lot of free time from a cancelled meeting.

Simple plans.

Good plans.

Thr table was covered in papers.

Markers.

Sticky notes.

A notebook.

Darren looked up.

"Oh good. You're here. You really didn't want me to pick you up huh."

Mira stared.

"What happened here?"

"Research."

"No."

"Yes."

"Darren."

"It's organized."

"It looks like a detective lost a custody battle."

Darren looked offended.

"That's harsh."

"It is accurate."

Mira dropped her bag and walked closer.

The notebook sat in the middle of the chaos.

Curiosity immediately betrayed her.

She opened it.

Then blinked.

QUESTIONS FOR MOON-BOY

Mira looked up slowly.

"No."

Darren looked extremely pleased with himself.

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

She laughed despite herself.

"You're ridiculous."

"I prefer thorough."

Mira continued reading.

1. Are you real?

Reasonable.

2. Why are you in my wife's dreams?

Less reasonable.

3. Do you have hobbies?

"...Darren."

"What?"

4. Are you employed?

Mira covered her face immediately.

"Oh my God."

"What?"

"You cannot ask someone if they're employed."

"I absolutely can."

"Why?"

"Information gathering."

"He isn't applying for a loan."

Darren leaned back in his chair.

"I need background information."

Mira laughed so hard her stomach hurt.

"Let's eat, detective." And they both let out a belly laugh.

~

The rest of the day disappeared into work non-sense.

Darren still insisting via text that Moon-Boy sounded like a superhero with disappointing powers.

Mira insisting that wasn't the point.

Neither convincing the other.

The familiar rhythm of them.

The thing she loved most about being married.

Not the grand moments.

The ordinary ones.

The silly conversations.

The jokes nobody else would understand.

Mira stopped replying to finish work, but Darren kept on bothering her with texts.

"When's the next full moon?"

Mira read the message while packing up to go home.

The question caught her off guard.

She didn't reply.

Three days from now.

Sunday.

The next full moon.

The next dream.

The realization sat strangely in her chest.

Something somewhere in between.

A feeling she couldn't quite name.

Ping! Another message from Darren.

"Picking you up later. Don't argue."

Mira immediately smiled.

The tension broke.

Gone.

Just like that.

She calls this "the Darren effect"