DreamALittleDream (15 page)

Aiden whimpered at the tight heat surrounding him, watching the flush crawl up Jake’s neck as the bigger man reveled in the burn of Aiden’s cock filling his un-stretched channel. Jake’s chest charged like bellows as he gasped for breath. He barely waited until he had adjusted before he began rising and falling, riding Aiden for all he was worth, plucking his own nipples. Aiden could only stare at the vision of masculine perfection above him, reaching up to run his hands over his lover’s well defined chest.

Jake grasped Aiden’s wandering hands, using them to brace himself as he started riding even harder. He moaned, and it was only a few more grinds when he erupted, painting Aiden’s chest with his milky white come. Some even splashed up on Aiden’s lips, and he came as soon as he licked the salty gold off. He smiled at Jake, Jake smiled down on him, and there was a single moment of complete happiness. Then Jake’s body jolted and he slumped down onto Aiden’s chest, still. It took a moment to realize that something was wrong, but when
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he did, Aiden gasped, trying to move the dead weight of his lover so he could sit up.

He’s just managed to shift Jake off and over to his side when a dark shape moved over him. The last thing he saw was a plank of wood he distantly recognized as the rolling pin from the kitchen, then he felt a blast to the side of his face. Just as everything was going dark, Aiden saw a face fill his line of vision, one that filled him with horror.

Who would protect his lovers now?

***

The last thing he remembered was painting a picture in
the kitchen, focusing on the colors of a bed of red roses
where a naked Aiden lay, when he heard a noise from
behind him. But before he could turn around, there was
a piercing pain in his neck and everything went black.

Cael shivered, looking about, but he didn’t see a thing.

It was an endless space; no beginning, no end, and a
void of nothing in the middle. He was dreaming again,
that much he knew. But never had he had a dream like
this. Where were the pictures? The feelings and
sensations?

“
Hello?” he called. Nothing. His voice didn’t even echo
back to him, like one might have expected it to. Cael was
completely alone.

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Starting to panic, Cael looked all about for a way out as
the deafening silence mocked him with the futility of the
notion. Wrapping his arms around himself, he sighed.

What was he going to do now? A sudden noise from
behind him, and Cael whipped around.

“Sam?”

Sam smiled, face whole and shining. There was no
blood, no sign that he’d been dead for almost a year.

Just a happy look on his still handsome face, the same
look he would always give every time they saw each
other.

“What is broken every time it’s spoken?” Sam asked.

Cael frowned, shaking his head in confusion. “What?

Sam? What are you doing here? Where are we?” he
asked, motioning to the barren wasteland around them.

Sam just shook his head. “What is broken every time it’s
spoken?” he repeated.

Cael took a step back. Riddles? Sam was asking him
riddles? Okay, this was strange. He felt a little like Alice
in Wonderland, but he supposed he could go along.

He’d always been good at riddles. He and Sam used to
make them up during class and pass them to each other
in the halls at between classes.

“Um, what is broken every time it’s spoken?” Cael
paused to think for a long moment, then smiled.

“Broken…spoken…Is it silence?”

Sam nodded. “What is it you ought to keep, after you’ve
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given it to someone else?”

Cael raised a brow. Another? Okay. “Ought to keep,
after you’ve given… a promise!” Cael exclaimed. “You
keep a promise!”

Sam grinned happily. “I am born in fear, raised in truth,
and I come to my own in deed. When comes a time that
I'm called forth, I come to serve the cause of need. What
am I?”

Cael paused, thinking hard. The answer seemed to come
to him suddenly, almost as though he knew the answer.

“You’re courage,” he said softly. He stared at Sam, not
sure why this all was happening. “Sam, why are you
here?”

Again, Sam shook his head. “Upon a night with no
cheer, I met man's greatest fear. It lived afar, it lived
near, it lived high and low. And yet it lived within. What
was the fear?”

Cael was feeling frustrated. “I don’t know, Sam? What
does this mean?”

Sam frowned. He repeated the riddle, but Cael still
didn’t get it. Man’s greatest fear? What was man’s
greatest fear? He thought he recalled something from
class back in high school, something about man’s
greatest fear being fear itself. So that’s what he said.

“Fear?”

Sam grinned and took a step forward. He raised one
hand and placed it over Cael’s heart. Cael froze,
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gasping at the warmth radiated from Sam‘s hand on his
chest.

“I come in darkness, but fill the mind with light. I bring
enlightenment to some, while gripping others in the
hand of fear. With me it can be a journey of inexplicable
joy and sorrow. What I will show you will often be
unreachable. Journey with me and what you see may
haunt you. Journey with me and you may never want to
return home. Journey with me and you will never know
when it will end. What am I?” Sam whispered, looking
deep into Cael‘s eyes. He was trying to convey
something, but Cael didn‘t understand.

“I don’t know,” he whispered back. Sam repeated the
riddle once more, but Cael shook his head. “I don’t
know!”

Sam looked sad. “I am what most people fear. I can
strike without warning, for I cannot be stopped. Every
day I do things to people that rip apart the hearts of
their loved ones. What am I?”

Cael shuddered and cried out as Sam’s hand on his
chest sent a spiral of ice through his heart. “Death!” he
sobbed, wanting to pull away, but he couldn’t move his
feet. “You’re death!”

Sam stepped back, and Cael dropped to the ground,
gasping for breath, trying to wipe the frozen tears from
his cheeks. Sam stood over him, the sad look returning.

“I come in darkness, but fill the mind with light. I bring
enlightenment to some, while gripping others in the
hand of fear. With me it can be a journey of inexplicable
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joy and sorrow. What I will show you will often be
unreachable. Journey with me and what you see may
haunt you. Journey with me and you may never want to
return home. Journey with me and you will never know
when it will end. What am I?”

Cael took a deep breath, trying to focus. “You come in
darkness,” he murmured to himself, “but fill the mind
with light. Bring enlightenment? Show what is
unreachable? Journey with me… journey…Oh my
God,” he whispered, looking up with a dawning light.

“You’re my dreams, aren’t you?” Then he felt a pang of
despair. “Sam, Jake and Aiden die in my dreams! If the
answer is in my dreams and they die, how does that help
anything?” No, he wasn’t going to let that happen, he
wouldn’t lose the best things that had ever happened to
him.

“How do I change it, Sam? I won’t let that come true.

How do I change it?” Cael asked. He quickly ran back
through the other riddles in his mind, trying to
understand what they meant. “I told Aiden about Max,
so I broke my silence. Aiden in turn kept his promise; he
and Jake kept me safe. Now I have to have courage, to
face my fears. My dreams say we die; so is the answer
for our safety is in my dreams also? How can that be?”

Sam stayed silent, but nodded encouragingly.

Cael replayed his earlier dream, and then it hit him.

“The gun,” Cael whispered, remembering how Aiden
had showed him where Jake kept a spare revolver in the
cabinet above the fridge. Jake’s gun was the same gun
from his dream.

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Sam gave him a soft smile, kneeling down and placing a
gentle kiss on Cael’s brow. Cael blinked his eyes rapidly
to try and stop tears he could feel coming.

“You can do this, Cael,” Sam whispered, cupping the
side of Cael’s trembling face. “For love, you can do
anything.” Sam stood, smiling, and took a step back. “It
wasn’t your fault, Cael. I never blamed you for what
happened to me. Let it go, babe.”

Cael looked up, noticing for the first time how bright
Sam seemed, with a soft glow that surrounded his whole
being. And for a moment, he could see the purity of
Sam’s soul that he’d always known had been there.

“Now, wake up.” Sam said, his voice slowing and
seeming to echo down from a long way away. “It‘s time
to wake up. Don’t be late! And remember, babe, don’t
close your eyes.” With that, he faded from sight, slowly
melting back into the surrounding fog.

Cael nodded, feeling lighter than he had in years. With
Sam’s redeeming words and renewed faith in himself, he
took a fortifying breath and he let himself fade out of the
dream. Back to the real world.

And woke to a nightmare.

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Breathing through the nausea and trying to muddle through the fog clouding his mind, Cael sat slumped over in the table, trying to focus. His limbs felt heavy and sluggish, each movement taking far more effort than was actually necessary. He forced himself to sit up, physically straightening his head after it listed to the side. He wasn’t sure what he had been drugged with, but he was sure he was supposed to have been out for much longer than he had been.

Cael heard no sound coming from upstairs, the house weirdly silent save for his labored breathing. He hoped Max had left, but knew the possibility was slim to none.

Standing, he balanced himself by using the back of the chair, ignoring the gag impulse that rose as his head swam. Using a precious moment to orient himself, he focused his attention on the cabinet above the fridge, every step toward it making it feel like twenty more popped up to replace it. Finally, after what seemed like a marathon in slow motion, he made it to the fridge. The next hurdle was reaching the gun box.

Climbing the stool seemed like Mount Everest, and he almost fell off the stool when he let go of the refrigerator handle. He could feel the sweat beading up on his lip as he made a desperate grab for the just-out-of-reach box. The tips of his fingers brushed the side, and two more tries had the box tipping out. Cael barely managed to catch it with his hip before it hit the floor.

He froze, expecting any second to hear the sound of thundering footsteps coming down the stairs, but there
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was nothing. Cael waited a few more moments, then let out a sigh of relief.

So far, so good.

Shit, shit… what was the code? 1-1-0-? Shit, come on,
think! 1-1-0-… 3! Yes, 1-1-0-3!
Cael nearly cried in relief when he heard the inner locks pop and he was able to like the top open.

The black gun seemed impossibly large nestled in the gray foam holder, silently mocking him in his inability to move, daring him to pick it up. Cael could hear his heart pounding as he slowly reached out with a trembling hand to touch it, firmly keeping his mind on the thought of Aiden and Jake in danger. He had to do this, for them. The dreams said so. Resolve

strengthened, Cael took a deep breath and grabbed a hold of the handle.

Odd, it was cold. For some reason the smooth, black metal looked like it should have been warm. Maybe the thought of a gun made it seem like it should be warm, knowing how much damage the inanimate object could do. Something so evil should have its own soul to blame it on, not on those of its creators.

Cael forcibly shook his head and made himself focus.

He needed to focus. Aiden and Jake needed him. Cael flipped the safety and walked on wobbly legs to the stairs. He stopped just inside the kitchen doorway and stared at the phone on the wall. He should call the police, right? Right.

He picked up the receiver and said a small prayer of
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thanks when he heard the dial tone. Max hadn’t cut the lines. It was awkward juggling the phone, since he couldn’t bring himself to set down the gun, but finally he managed to dial 911 and caught his breath when he heard it ring through.

“911, what’s your emergency?”

“Hello?” Cael whispered. “I need help. He’s in the house and has them upstairs. He’ll kill them, he’s crazy.

Please send someone…”

“Sir, can you tell me your name?” the dispatcher asked.

“Can you tell me who’s in the house? I’m sending help to your location now. Please stay on the line.”

“No, I can't, Max will kill them. The dream said so. I love them. I have to help. Please hurry!” Cael let the phone drop, ignoring the dispatcher as she pleaded with him to stay. He had to hurry. Sam told him not to be late, and he wasn’t going to be.