The rain was making that constant pattering sound against the windows. Thomas watched the drops hit the glass, some harder than others, and followed their trails as they slid down.
It’s Friday night. I’ve been at that school for a month, and I still don’t know anyone well enough to hang out with them. I don’t even have anyone’s number. My old friends from my old school seem to prefer to be part of my old life and don’t talk to me, Thomas thought to himself, feeling as bored and powerless as an eighteen year old boy can feel after he loses almost everything, I could go downstairs and watch TV with my brothers. I could try and talk them into putting on something other than cartoons. I could do some chores so Grams won’t have to do much tonight. I could, but I won’t. All of those things would make Thomas think, though. Doing homework would make his mind wander to things he didn’t want it to wander to. Watching TV with Chris and Gil would just remind him of their old house and old Friday nights watching TV all together, the five of them, as a happy family. And doing chores would just make him think, and, Thomas had decided after it happened, that thinking was a dangerous thing.
What Thomas needed was a distraction, the rain’s steady rhythm was helping him turn his brain off for now, but that probably wouldn’t work for long, Thomas had learned to tell momentary distractions from lasting ones. He was a bit of an expert at distractions and delusions.
Still watching the rain he put his glasses to another side of his desk, folded his arms on his desk and let his head fall onto them. The spot where that girl’s forehead slammed against Thomas’ was still sore, but the pain gave him something else to focus on, which made it a worthwhile pain. Thomas had been able to tell the different kinds pain too.
I wonder who she is.
There was something about her that seemed so defeated and kind of cold. She had this long dark brown hair that seemed to fall like curtains around her face, she looked tired too. Everything about her screamed that something had happened and that she didn’t want to talk about it. She looked like she just wanted to fade away, right into the background.
She was beautiful though, Thomas couldn’t help but think of that, maybe not WHAM! Smack you in the face, bordering on ugly, beautiful, but that soft, quiet, subtle kind of beautiful, that you had to look for. The real kind of beautiful. Her hair, curtainy as it was, looked soft and made the green in her eyes stand out. She didn’t even seem like she was wearing any makeup.
Thomas found himself agonized at the thought of her beauty and her how she looked desperateness to hide, not just that, but everything that was her from the world.
Maybe something happened?
Or maybe, Thomas thought to himself, you just want something to have happened.
It occurred to Thomas then that her may be lonelier than her thought he was, seeing as he was starting to imagine others going through the same tragedy as him. Thomas felt it was kind of stupid, not knowing anything about this girl and already imagining her as a kindred spirit.
Thinking about her was starting to make Thomas feel stupid, so he stopped and listened to the rain some more. Thomas was good at stopping thoughts from coming.
He rested his chin on top of his arms and started watching the rain again. He could see his reflection against the darkened window. It was blurred, and streaked with rain. It seemed to him like that was the Thomas that he’d become, blurred and streaked, almost unrecognizable from the old him.
The constant pelting of rain against glass started to lull him to sleep and, stumbling a little as he went, Thomas stepped over clothes strewn across the floor and fell onto his bed.
He could smell summer around him, in the grass and the flowers. There was a blanket of silk underneath him that felt warmed by the sun. Thomas rolled over, slightly, and spread his arms out so his back could get some of the heat too. There were some more swishing sounds of someone moving on the fabric coming from his side. It didn’t totally matter to Thomas what it was, all that really did matter was the sun and the familiar smells of grass and forest around him. Thomas felt like he was getting the best rest he’d had since the accident, it even felt like that never happened, Thomas was so calm. He turned onto his back again, not daring to open his eyes just yet. All of this comfort and everything he thought he smelled and heard was probably just the residuals of a dream. If Thomas opened his eyes it would ruin it, was what Thomas thought to himself.
And then there was a soft sigh in his ear and someone moved their head to his chest and curled their body against his.
Thomas’ eyes snapped open and it wasn’t until after they got used to the bright light that he decided, definitely, that he was dreaming.
Thomas, with the girl asleep on him, was in a big clearing. The sky was that perfect kind of blue with puffy little clouds sprinkled in it. The grass looked as soft as the silk blanket they were lying on. It was all so perfect but, Thomas couldn’t help but feel panicked and really wanted to know where he was, who she was, and why he was there with her.
Thomas touched her arm, then drew back quickly, suddenly surprised by how soft and real she felt.
“H-hey…” Thomas said and drew up all of his courage and tried to wake her again. When her eyes still didn’t open he gently moved her arm from around his hip and slid his body out from under her head, trying to not make her drop on the ground. She sighed again, when Thomas moved away, and adjusted her position.
Thomas sat cautiously on my heels and studied her, apprehension and curiousness mixing together. This was the first time he’d woken up next to a sleeping woman. It was his first time hearing the soft sighs that came out of them and his first time seeing the soft way a sleeping woman’s lips parted and how her eyelashes curled against her face.
The girl, or woman, was wearing this really old fashioned dress that looked like it came out of a Medieval times movie. Her dark hair was in a long braid, tied in with a dark green ribbon matching her dress. There was something familiar in her soft face that tickled the back of Thomas‘ mind.
He cupped his hand around her shoulder and tried shaking her lightly. She twitched and rotated away from his touch. Groggily, she opened her eyes and yawned. Her light green eyes fixed on Thomas, her eyes still glazed with sleep.
“Hey, it’s you,” she half sighed and brushed her hand along her forehead, making it click for Thomas who she was.
“You?” He crawled away from her, and felt his face grow warm and blush. “Why’re you here?”
Sleepily she moved onto her back and arched, stretching out after a long nap. “How am I supposed to know that? It’s a dream right?” she laughed a little, giggling slightly, seeming so different than she seemed in school. Her hair was out of her face, she didn’t seem stuck in the shadows and her face looked…free.
“This has to be a dream,” she turned to look at me again, “you wouldn’t be wearing that if it wasn’t, right?”
“Umm…” she laughed again, when Thomas looked down. “Crap, what am I wearing?”
Her eyes crinkled and she had to clutch her stomach while she laughed. “You’re wearing…I think you would call those tights and a tunic.”
“Haha. Very funny.” Thomas winced and blushed again.
“At least the color looks good on you.” she propped herself up on one arm and looked fully awake. “Makes your eyes look even bluer. Hmm…? Looks like I’m wearing something weird too.”
She looked so happy and peaceful, Thomas couldn’t help but scoot a little closer to her, drawn to it and her. “You seem calm.”
“Of course I am.” she touched his knee, softly, then pulled away slightly. “This is a dream. A good one,” she sat up so she was eye level with Thomas, “I never have good dreams.”
That confused him a little. “Wait.”
“Hm?”
“Which one of us is dreaming?”
“Good question.” She said, but smiled anyway. “I don’t think it matters anyway.”
“Any clue where we are?”
She looked around, confused but not worried, then gathered her skirt and stood up. “Let’s find out.”
She extended her hand to Thomas and waited for him to take it.
!
