Dreams

I was sitting at the top of a water slide, but the water was turned off. I was deliberating whether it would be worth it just to try the slide anyway when a voice behind me spoke.

"THIS is what one of your good dreams looks like?" I turned to look at Kaden, and he pressed a button on the control panel beside the slide, turning the water on. The water pushed at my body, trying to shove me down the slide. Kaden got into the twin tube beside me.

"Care to race?" He asked. I joyously agreed and let go of the sides of the slide, shoving myself forward. The water in the pool swarmed over my head when I reached the bottom. When I started to get desperate for air, I suddenly remembered I could breathe under water. I swam to the edge of the pool and happily floated, considering what I wanted to do next.

"You really are strange." Kaden laughed from the pool side. The pool turned into a small creek and I was sitting on the slipper stones, floating just a little, letting the water rush by me. I let my hands hover on the surface of the water to feel the ripples. I was at peace here, and could sit watching the water eddy and tumble over stones forever.

Kaden walked into the water beside me, not disturbing a single drop.

"Do you think you dream of this because it makes you calm? Because your anxiety keeps you on alert all the time and this makes you feel peace?" Kaden questioned me curiously. I tilted my head. There was a possibility. Water always did make me relax, so I wasn't surprised this would be a happy dream for me. I opened my mouth to answer, but the large gashes on Kaden's chest distracted me.

"Are you ok?" I asked with horror.

"Oh, you probably don't remember what happened out there, do you? Here..." He touched my head lightly as he settled into the water. The memories came rushing back.

"Is everything ok out there? Are you dying? What about Brie?" I felt the panic building and Kaden shushed me.

"Everything's ok. Brie's safe. We're all in the car. You're asleep, you agreed to help me heal remember?" As he responded one of his wounds closed up. I dimly remembered agreeing to something. I sighed and looked up to see the trees overhead gently swaying in a light breeze. Their shadows danced on the water's surface.

"I can't believe I let you knock me out." I made a face.

"Why do you dislike me so much?" Kaden asked. I shrugged, watching a leaf fall to the water and float down stream.

"It's not that. I can't trust you. I don't really trust anyone." I gaped as the truth fell out of my mouth.

"But people always adore me." Kaden pouted. "Especially women, I have a way with ladies. Well I usually do." He complained

"It's probably just your good looks and the fact that you're a ridiculous flirt." The truth popped out of my mouth again. I grimaced, and clenched my jaw at my inability to shut up. Ignoring Kaden, I watched the water swirl around a trailing branch in the water.

"But you don't feel the attraction. You're not drawn to me the way others are. You don't even respond to my flirtations." Kaden pointed out. I shrugged again.

"I'm not...normal." I stated simply.

"No, you're not." Kaden replied, intrigued. I noticed more of his wounds had healed. I let the conversation lapse and let go of my hold on the rocks below me. Laying back, I floated down the river.

The twists and turns made the water flow faster, it raced me down hill to the end, spitting me out in an old temple filled with stone mosaic pools and fountains. I sat on the edge of a pool with my legs in the water, stirring my feet lazily. Kaden walked up beside me and sat down, mimicking my movements. We sate quietly for some time like this and the next time I looked at Kaden his wounds were almost gone.

"Our time's almost up." Kaden sighed. "Before we go, I just wanted to tell you: thank you." I nodded at him.

"You know I have no intentions of harming you or Brie. I really am on your side." He looked at me earnestly, pleading with his eyes for trust he would not find.

"I want to believe you, and despite all the aid you've given that I still owe you for, my mind can't help but be skeptical, thinking of all the ways you might betray or manipulate us. You said it was noisy in my head. My mind never shuts up, it's always calculating and feeding me information, always in 'disaster mode' dreaming up the worst case scenario. I'm sorry. I'm just not hardwired to operate on blind faith. I always have to be on guard and it is exhausting, but it's who I am and I've come to accept it." I watched the water ripple from the fountain and my disturbance.

"How can I earn your trust then?" He pleaded. I looked at him with pity, and the dream faded out. I woke up with Kaden's head still in my lap, my arm resting on his shoulder, his hand still locked around my forearm. I looked down and saw his sad eyes looking back at me. It filled me with guilt, so I avoided his gaze, looking instead at his chest, which had completely healed.

"Not human-remember?" He chuckled wryly.

"Oh thank God! Are you guys ok back there? I was talking forever but you never answered and I got worried." Brie sighed with relief. "We're almost at the lab now. I wasn't sure if I should wake you or what." I pulled my arm from Kaden's grasp and stretched, shifting my weight. Kaden sat up, sensing my discomfort with his physical proximity. All of my muscle aches and pains were gone, and I felt like I had a full, peaceful night's sleep. Something I hadn't experienced in years.

"How long have we been out?" I asked, shocked.

"Oh about fifteen minutes." Brie replied.

"Wow Talk about the benefits of a Lukoie induced nap." I murmured.

"Right? I've never slept better. Or at least felt like I did. And I was in a weird position all night." Brie responded, laughing from the front seat. Kaden smirked.

"I never said the process wasn't mutually beneficial." He informed us dryly.

"It's like a symbiotic relationship in a way, it's very interesting and I don't want you disappearing on me when all of this is over, young man, I still have questions!" Brie started rambling again and I sighed loudly.

"Alright, alright, we're here anyway guys." Brie announced, pulling into the parking area of a tall, boringly official looking building.