Count Over

And she dreamed again, but this time it was different.

Initial Beginnings

She and hers were at the home of his parents, which he was still living at. It was for dinner and a great deal of this dream took place a the table, but there didn’t seem to be any eating involved.

They had played ‘musical chairs’ after the meal, one person vacating a seat to retrieve something or another and a different taking their place in what would be more preferable to a location they wanted to sit. This continued for quite a span (it is hard to gauge in dreams, isn’t it?) but eventually, I exchanged seats to move closer to his father to talk, turning my seat to face him, rather like an ‘L’. What I didn’t realize was that he was at my back ‘L _’. My hand was dangling over the back of the chair and he came closer, leaving his arm beside mine, noticeably so that I was able to feel the pressure of it against my skin. He began to play with my fingers.

I was stunned, but I allowed him to gently massage my fingers, playing with my ring. He twisted it around my finger, marvelling at the light that bounced off the facetted lines on the metal. As I relaxed, I played with his in turn, running my finger-pads along his nails and knuckles, smiling at the soft bumps etched into his skin.

His step-mother came up to me after a few moments of our mock hand-holding and asked me to tuck his sister into bed. She had been having trouble sleeping and there were several things that I would need to settle her for the evening.

She showed me where the cart was (the exact same as the linen carts at the hospital.. potentially skewed and connected dreaming, I daresay) and I grabbed two j-cloths and 2 gaily coloured fleece blankets from the shelves. I made my way down the long hallway towards her bedroom– the last door on the left.

I knocked and entered a little surprised by what I saw. Her room was entirely pink, but the bed was the only piece of furniture in the room. She had pictures of dollhouses and stuffed animals on the walls, but nothing that lined her floor save the frame for the mattress. It was at an angle when I entered and walked immediately to her side.

‘Hey hun, I’m here to tuck you in!’ I placed the j-clothes by her head under the pillow and spread the two fleece blankets over her quilt, asked if she needed anything else. She shook her head and put on these mittens with large, light-up eyes and fabric made of towel. I was skeptical but held my tongue as this was obviously part of her evening ritual. I straightened her blankets and sheets beneath but it was only when I lifted the covers that I saw that she was wearing an enormous pair of running shoes, solid in build and firm in sole. Though this was incredibly peculiar, I do not recall asking her about such, so I finished tidying her bedclothes, smiled and wished her good-night and made my way out the door.

I walked past the door across the hallway, poked my head in and saw a man passed out over the foot of the bed, nude buttocks exposed to the air with his feet standing on the ground. I remember raising my eyebrow and continuing forward back towards the dinner table.

The next room I entered was Aeyn’s brothers. Everywhere in that room were small glass figurines… lining the shelves, lining the floor leaving but a two foot circle at the side of his bed so he would avoid crushing them when he rose from his sleep. I stood in the doorway watching him mess about with one animals, polishing it with a finicky precision.

He looked at me and smiled, and started to come to the doorway. One of the glass bears against the far wall came to life and using the boards at the bottom of the wall, so not to disturb the other animals, made his way to follow his master.

But him and I began to laugh and the animal ran around again back to his place.. but he didn’t stop there. He continued around and around, ever increasing in his speed until finally his master said ‘that’s enough now’ where he went back to his seating position. We made our way out of the room but Aeyn was coming back up the hallway with a box of kleenex in his hand.

‘You didn’t do a very good job, you know.’ He said, somewhat scathingly. ‘She’s having problems sleeping but you didn’t bother to find out why. She sees eyes in the darkness when she goes to sleep!’

We both made our way around the large dining room table, me going straight thereafter and him sloping right to enter the kitchen.

I walked towards a large picture window where there was situated a counter to lean up upon, accidentally stomping once and looking apologetically at the floorboard I had trounced upon. He joined me rather close.

‘I’m sorry, I know that wasn’t the right thing to do. That was silly of me.’ I said quietly so only he could hear.

‘What..? You’re apologizing? You aren’t angry? You are kind.’ He reached for my hand.

I looked him in the eyes and he leaned forward.

I woke.