Sleeping Beauties

Sleeping Beauties

By Tamela Miles

Sleeping Beauties

Copyright: Tamela Miles

©Tamela D. Miles 2013

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Cover design by Robin Ludwig Design Inc. http://www.gobookcoverdesign.com

Dedication:

For my family, friends, and all of those who still believe that it’s beautiful to give your whole heart when you love.

The Trifecta

“It was so small. I couldn’t feel a thing,” Nicola complained, grinning before taking a sip of her fruity wine cooler. Nicola Macias was not the type of woman a man would want to disappoint in bed because she was very, very vocal about it the next day. She, like the other two attractive women seated in her den, was forty-two and knew exactly what she wanted from men and from life.

“He failed the grope test, remember?” Chloe pointed out in her matter-of-fact way from her position on the far end of the plush sofa. “You said he didn’t feel like he was, um, well-endowed. You had to know this guy would be a let-down.” She nodded to emphasize her point, moving aside a few errant strands of dark brown hair that had escaped her casual top-knot.

“I hope you used protection. You know you lay down with dogs, you get up with crabs and all that,” Laurie remarked dryly. Chloe and Nicola both broke out in giggles and Laurie cracked a smile at her two oldest friends.

For over twenty years, they had been known as the Trifecta.

Where one went, the other two were bound to be close behind. Chloe Arden, Laurie Halvorsen, and Nicola Macias were all in their early forties, beautiful, and, if not exactly wealthy, were well-off. Chloe worked at the local hospital as a child development behavior consultant and Laurie also worked there as a nurse. Nicola was a clothing buyer for a large, national department store. They were life-long residents of Caddo, a small northern California town, except for the few years they had all spent living in L.A., attending the California State university.

“Wouldn’t dare go without protection,” Nicola said airily. “Do you even have a need for condoms and such? Is there still a drought over there?”

“It’s been awhile,” Chloe admitted. “My relationship is still pretty new.”

Laurie simply kept her mouth shut, neither confirming or denying.  

Chloe was petite and curvy with long dark hair and olive skin while Nicola and Laurie enjoyed life from higher up, both tall and slim. Laurie was the blonde of the group because every trifecta needs a beautiful blonde. They would all gladly admit that time had been kind to them, though Chloe found the new roundness to her curves a little disturbing.

The Trifecta had never been the cheerleading type in high school, preferring to stick to the drama club and the school library. The library was where their fascination with sleep began.

“Ladies, do we dare dream together tonight?” Nicola asked.

“It’s always a good night to enter the dream realm,” Chloe said, taking a sip of her wine

cooler. “Laurie?”

Laurie clapped her hands together in excitement. “It’s decided, then.” She needed this tonight. They hadn’t been dreaming together in weeks because they each had so much going on in their busy lives and she was missing the connection. Each one experienced vivid, incredible dreams on her own but there was something extraordinary about them dreaming together.

They had discovered the dream realm one rainy night in freshman year while sleeping in Chloe’s bedroom in her parents’ little house on the outskirts of Caddo. Books hadn’t prepared them for the experience of linking their lucid, dreaming minds together in a place they called the dream realm. 

Nicola kicked off her black satin heeled slippers and settled into a comfortable position next to Chloe on the sofa. Laurie left the big chair, stretching out on the jade green carpet next to them. They each grabbed a soft blanket from the arm of the sofa, left there for these occasions.

Chloe could feel her eyelids getting heavy. “See you there,” she said softly, beginning to drift. Nicola and Laurie soon followed and moments later the only sound in the room was the ticking clock.

****** 

“This is...awesome,” Chloe said softly, looking around the small nightclub where she had awakened just a few moments before. Coming into the dream realm was like waking up from the longest, most peaceful sleep after a night spent drinking. Things possessed a certain clarity, a vividness with nothing to suggest that she was actually asleep and none of this was real.

Laurie took in everything, noting how the smallest detail of the club exactly mirrored her real life memories. “Ladies, we’ve outdone ourselves tonight.” She gave a small whoop.

“Unbelievable, but this is Carlos and Charlie’s twenty years ago,” Nicola exclaimed. She looked down at herself, then gave her friends a quick glance. “Look what we’re wearing.” She gestured at the throng of people coming into the entrance of the nearly empty club.  “Look at them.”

The hair, the sequins, and the black spandex most of the young women wore was a dead giveaway that they had dreamed up a past in the dream realm from over two decades ago. Carlos and Charlie’s nightclub on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood had been closed for roughly the same amount of time.

“Ladies room,” Nicola suggested, as the club began filling up. They followed her to the front of the place and squeezed past a crowd of young girls grouped around the entrance to the restroom. Once in front of the mirror, Nicola smiled in delight. She pulled Chloe to stand beside her and Laurie followed.

“We look smokin’ hot,” Chloe said, checking out her twenty-one year old face and body in the reflection. Her tiny black dress left little to the imagination, clinging to every curve. She loved seeing her younger self but she felt the crazy urge to cover up a bit.

“Yeah baby!” Nicola had no problems showing off the goods in a snug white dress. All three wore ridiculously high platform heels.

Laurie looked herself over thoroughly in the mirror, smiling. She loved being in crimson red. “This is definitely around summer of ’92. Look at my hair. Remember my platinum blonde stage?”

Chloe gave both of her friends the once-over, nodding in approval. “Too bad none of this is real. But, we can make it another memorable dream experience. Let’s hit the bar.”

The three women exited the club’s ladies’ room, heading over to the bar. The place was now packed, a surging crowd talking loudly, drowning out the soft background music. After they ordered drinks from the bartender, someone they didn’t recognize, Chloe found her gaze drifting over to the dj booth in the corner. Tonight’s dj apparently wasn’t there yet. She felt a pang of sadness. She didn’t truly expect to see Noah in the dream realm but it would have been nice. 

As they sipped their drinks, Nicola nudged Chloe’s arm. “I wish he was real,” she said, nodding her head in the direction of a dark corner in the back of the club. They both focused their attention on an attractive man with long
, straight blond hair, fair skin, t –shirt, and jeans strumming a guitar.

As if he knew he was being stared at, he lifted his head and smiled, locking eyes with Chloe. She felt the immediate connection down to her toes. He stared back at her for a long moment before returning to plucking his guitar strings.

“That would make for some outstanding dream sex,” Nicola said with a laugh.

“I wonder how much of that is the alcohol talking,” a deep voice commented from down the bar. He was tall and muscular, with short black hair and a mischievous smile. He wore his blue jeans and black shirt very well and he knew it.

The three women looked at each other in surprise. Interaction with background people rarely happened in their dream realm and so they had learned to simply ignore the imaginary population. This was no man to ignore and Nicola was the first to respond to his obvious flirting.

“Oh, I don’t need any alcohol to say what I’m thinking.”

He left the bar stool and slowly moved down to their end of the bar. “Hello, ladies. I’m Alexander and here’s what I’m thinking – I’m thinking that you bitches are going to return my property or I will fuck you up.” His voice was like warm honey and hypnotic.

Chloe’s mouth formed a perfect “o” and she looked at Laurie quickly who shot her back a look of equal shock. Nicola wore a quizzical expression. “Excuse me?” she said.

“You think that you’re in my part of the dream realm by accident?” Alexander shook his head slowly, his face never changing the pleasant expression. “You three are impressive but you’re nowhere near my strength in this dream realm. I brought you here to retrieve something that belongs to me which has been missing for some years. Return my Book of Secrets. Now.” The last word was clipped out harshly.

“Who the hell are you?” Nicola snapped angrily. Laurie and Chloe exchanged a dark look.

“I told you – Alexander. This is my dream realm and I control everything that goes on here. I mastered the power of dreaming years before any of you were even born.” His tone was almost conversational, belying the determined glint in his dark eyes. “I’m a lot older than I look.” He suddenly grabbed Nicola’s arm and got right in her face. “The Book of Secrets is not for little girls to play with.”  Just as quickly, he released her, stepping back to look at the three of them. She rubbed her arm, glaring at him.

“We lost that book ages ago,” Laurie said snappishly, waving a dismissive hand. She didn’t know how this guy had become a part of their dream fabric but she wasn’t about to be intimidated. Part of her wasn’t even sure of he was real.

“Find it,” Alexander said softly, danger evident in his tone.

“We don’t even know where to begin looking,” Chloe exclaimed. “That was something we lost over twenty years ago.”

“Then, things don’t look promising for you three.” Alexander turned his gaze to young woman with dark hair standing not far from him down the bar. “Let me demonstrate.” He moved to take the  young woman in his arms, smiling down at her. She returned his smile and he leaned down to kiss her. He grabbed her head in both hands and a stream of bright light exploded from her.

She began to struggle as his being absorbed her light. She turned to dust in his arms. It was over in a few moments and  not one person in the club looked as if anything extraordinary had just happened. Chloe clutched Laurie’s arm in fear and Nicola inched back closer to them.

Alexander turned his eyes on them as he brushed the powder substance from his clothing. He glanced at his watch. “You had better get moving. I’m giving you until sunrise to get my book.” He gestured at the pile of human dust near his feet before moving away from them and disappearing into the crowd of club patrons.   

“Scary but cute.” Nicola spoke in a soft, dazed voice, looking for some sign of him in the cluster of people. She knew it was a mistake to be attracted to someone so brutal, someone who probably wasn’t even real but there it was.

“Too bad his head is a clown car,” Chloe remarked dryly. She turned her attention back to the matter at hand. “We read about all of this before we, um, misplaced the Book of Secrets, remember? It was some really crazy stuff about a dream king and how his book of precious secrets controlled a lot of his power.” 

They had bought the book for a few bucks from a second
hand bookshop during a trip to Santa Monica around the time they had first moved to Los Angeles to attend the local university. It was old, musty, and difficult to read but what they had understood from its pages had helped make their lucid dreaming even more awe-inspiring.

“No way. You honestly think that we just met the dream
king?” Nicola asked in obvious disbelief.