Deadly Dreams Chapter 2

         When I come to I’m laying in a hospital bed. My wrists and legs are strapped down, and the feeling of anger over comes me. I try for several minutes to move and fight the restraints before giving up and just laying there. Half of me is tempted to try to find Merik, but I know that it will only worsen the condition I’m in. So instead I lay there and wait for a nurse. After a couple a hour one finally comes into the room, with the doctor no less.

       “Excuse me, but may I ask why I’m restrained?”

       “Oh you’re awake Ms. Wolfe. We restrained you because of the spasms you were having, purely to protect you.”

      “Yea, that’s what they said when I was 13. For my own protection, well you might want to know that I’m fine.” I think for a couple seconds then an idea pops into my head.

      “To be honest I don’t believe in those delusions I use to have and they’d almost gone away until I was given a new therapist. He put me on this drug that makes me kind of daze out and see things again and he always makes me tell him about what I see. I bet it’s those meds he has me on that gave me this. Honestly I don’t remember anything past sitting in his office talking to him about one of my dreams.”

      “Hmm, I see. What does it feel like after you take these pills.”

      “Well at first I’m fine, but as time goes on I start to feel tired and start to fall asleep in random short burst. Usually I fall asleep for the rest of the day if I take it in the morning. He said it shouldn’t have any side effects, but it seems like my delusions come back after I take the pill instead of keep them away.”

     “I see, well I will be observing you and if I think you can go without any medication then I will make a note of it.”

    “Thank you. May I be untied now? I’ve been so bored laying here.”

    The doctor has the nurse undo the restraints, and I smile at her appreciatively. Then I turn on the T.V. and get ready for the most boring next couple of days of my life. In a hospital there really isn’t anything to do other than watch T.V., talk to the nurses, and make up little games. Since the doctor is monitoring me I can’t go check on Merik which is driving me crazy. Three days of just sitting around is almost too much for me to resist the urge, but finally my therapist comes in after lunch.

    “Hello Lily.”

    “Hi.”

    “I’m glad you’re doing better. How do you feel?”

    “Well considering I haven’t taken those God awful pills you make me take in the last couple days I feel pretty great. No delusions either, like I have been telling you.”

    “Now Lily, I make you take those pills for your own good. Right now you might feel good, but they will come back and we will have to hospitalize you again.”

    “Like hell you will, if you would just realize that I’ve out grown that you wouldn’t do this to me. You just want more money from my parents though, you’re just a greedy prick. News flash, now that you don’t have me doped up I can think clearly, and I will refuse to take the crap you’ve been giving me. The doctor will tell you the same thing, he told me that I should have started to go back to the way I was before after the first day off the meds. It’s been three, who do you think is going to win this argument?”

    “He is simply a doctor, I am a therapist. I can see that you are not stable, and this little show you’re putting on doesn’t fool me for one second.”

     I want to punch him for seeing right through me, but I just laugh at him. There’s no way I’ll let him see my armor crack. If I lose this then Merik is on his own, possibably he’s already dead. To lose Merik is worse than anything else to me.

    “That’s quite enough, she said she was fine and I believe her. Look at her, she hasn’t looked this good in a very long time.”

     My head shoots up, and I see my mom standing in the doorway. Behind her is my dad, his face flush with anger. The therapist quickly moves away from my bed and to my parents. They ignore everything he tries to say though, and my mom comes to my bed.

     “The doctor told me how good you were doing, and told me everything you said. I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize that you felt this way. If I’d known you were ok without those stupid pills I wouldn’t have made you take them. How do you feel baby?”

      “Fine mom, I feel really, really good actually. All I want to do is get out of this hospital though, it’s so boring here.”

      “I know honey, we’re working on that. Just one more night here, and then we’ll get you back home.”

       My parents talk to me for a long time and catch me up on everything at home, which isn’t a lot. After a while they get restless and decide to leave. Once again I’m alone, and I decide to go to sleep. When I wake up its close to 2 in the morning, and I decide it’s time to visit Merik. It’s risky, but since I’m no longer hooked up to the machines and the nurses are all too busy to come check on people, I decide to try.

Merik where are you now? I’m coming for you.

       It takes a while, but then I feel the tugging in my chest and open my eyes. Once again I’m in the dirty prison like place. Looking around I find where Merik was before and gasp.

      “Merik?”

      “Lily you’re back. What happened? Are you ok?”

      “I’m fine, what did they do to you?”

      “They decided that if I wasn’t going to bow to them they’d start to break me down. It’s ok though, they won’t be able to do that.”

       I glance around and realize that all the other prisoners are gone. Not even one of them remains, just Merik. A shiver runs down my back imagining what happened to them.

      “You’re not ok, your hair is getting more white. I’m not stupid I remember what you told me. Silver when you’re healthy, white when you’re dying.”

      “I’m not dying, I’m just not healthy. They’re poisoning me with small amounts of iron. Not enough to kill me, just enough to make me weak.”

      “It’s the same thing Merik, eventually you’re body won’t be able to take it anymore.”

       Even as I lecture him though, I go to him and hold him close to me, careful not to injure him anymore than he is. The iron restrains are burning his skin so badly that I know he must feel it but instead he just smiles at me.

      “I’m starting to see you. It’s been so long since I’ve seen your face.”

       Slowly I wrap my arms around him and sit there next to him, my arms burning. The burning starts to lessen though until it all  together stops, and Merik feels solid in my arms. Opening my eyes, I see Merik staring at me. His eyes are so particular, examining every inch of me.

       “You’ve grown.”

       “Ha, well it has been a good 6 years since you’ve seen me.”

       His eyes run over me more slowly this time, and my face starts to burn. He’s never looked at me like that before, and his stare makes me shy. Before he’s told me he loves me, but that was without looking at me. Now that he can see me I’m embarrassed for some reason.

       “I’m glad you came. Tomorrow they are going to cut off my hair and the top of my ears. I don’t know how appealing I will be to you anymore after that.”

      “They’re what?!”

       My heart stops and my stomach drops. The idea of them cutting his ears, just to get him to obey is too much for me. I’m not sure if faeries are different from humans in healing. From the way Merik says it though, I know that it’ll be extremely painful and won’t grow back. Moving his hair aside I look at his elfin ears and imagine them cutting the tips off. It’s sickening and so barbaric.

     “No they won’t. I’m getting you out of here now.”

     “How? What if they can see you as well. What if they capture you? You can’t do this, if you do you’ll end up like me.”

     “I’d rather end up like you then not try to keep them from hurting you more than they already have. Don’t worry about me, I’ll figure out how to do it.”

     Before he can protest anymore, I go to the door and slowly open it. There’s a guard a few feet way looking off towards the meadow. He obviously would rather be enjoying the food and laughter with everyone else then be guarding a prisoner. Slowly I walk up to him, when I know he can’t see me I go back to where Merik is being held and look around for something iron. When I find an spear looking like thing, I pick it up and go back to the door. Merik watches me silently the whole time, his eyes never leaving me. This time I’m more careful as I go towards the guard. I know that he can see the weapon I have even if he can’t see me, so I stay behind him until I’m so close I could reach out and touch him. Then taking a breath I raise up the spear and stab it through the back of his head. I expect a scream or something but all I hear is a sizzling sound as he drops to the ground. Quickly I look through his pockets and find the keys to Meriks shackles. Grabbing them I run back to Merik and start to release him. His face is blank, as he tries to help me. Once he’s free I help him to his feet and practically drag him out.

    “We aren’t going to get away like this I’m too weak.”

    “Stop talking like that and just keep going. I’m getting you out of here even if it kills me.”

    We fall into silence, and I keep on dragging him forward, away from the meadow and deeper into the woods. His face is contorted in pain but he keeps going with me. I know we don’t have time to stop so I just keep going until I’m too tired to keep running.

    “We’re almost to the human outskirts, they won’t see me but they might see you. I’m not sure how this works with you.”

   “They’ll just think I’m crazy anyways, let’s keep going. I’m scared they’ll catch us if we don’t.”

    There’s a feeling on the back of my neck, and somehow I know they’re looking for us. Pushing on, I practically carry Merik the rest of the way into the city. He directs me down alley after alley until we’re deep into dark court territory. The feeling of belonging that I felt when I was younger surges over me. My whole body feels alive and I feel more power to move forward. Merik has passed out by now, and it’s extremely difficult for me to keep dragging him, but I follow my instinct and keep going. Several guards stare at Merik, but don’t dare come close. Finally I get to the room Merik and I would play when I was younger.

    “My Lord, I’ve brought Merik back. Please help, he’s extremely weak from the summer court.”

     The kings stares at me, and I focus on being visible to him, and I know I’ve accomplished this when he gasps. He stares at me for a moment then jumps up and rushes to Merik and I. He takes Merik from, throwing away all air of superiority.

     “Get him to the infirmary now.”

     Men rush to aid the king, and I stand there watching them watching unable to move. They all pass me as if I weren’t there, and they take Merik away. My stomach flips and I want to go with him, but even as I step forward I’m stopped.

    “Explain yourself. How did you know where to take Merik, how did you end up with him? Who are you?”

     His words are fast, angry, and jumbled. I want to tell him to go to hell if he wants to be rude but instead I take a deep breath then look up at him. With a face so similar to Merik it takes me a moment to collect my thoughts.

     “Merik and I have known each other for many years. I’m what he calls a dream traveler I guess. When I found him in the Summer queen’s court he was already very injured. When I got the chance I snuck him out and brought him here. They’ve been poisoning him with iron so he’s too weak to do it on his own. He directed me here until he passed out from the pain, and then I felt my way to here.”

     “I see. So a human dream traveler brought my son here. It sounds rather far fetched, how do I know you aren’t one of the Summer court’s minions?”

    “You don’t, but Merik does. That is all that matters. I must go now though, I have to return to my body. Regardless of how you feel about me I will return to see Merik.”

     He says something to me and rushes forward, but I’m already drifting from that world and back to my body. When I finally hit my body I feel heavy and awkward but not in pain like before. Without meds I have more power over myself, and more power to control when I come and go. Glancing at the clock I’m shocked to see it’s already 1 in the afternoon. I slept through most of the day, and my body tells me that it obviously noticed missing lunch. Groaning I roll over and push the nurse button and wait for my day to begin. It seems like it’ll take an eternity for the day to end even though it’s just a few hours. Until I go home and go to bed tonight I won’t be able to see Merik and stop worrying about him.

     “Good morning sleepy head. You sleep like a rock you know that?”

    “Ha yea so I’ve been told. I hate to ask but can I get something to eat? I missed breakfast and lunch.”

    “Yes of course honey I’ll be right back. Oh by the way your parents will be here for you around 4.”

    “Thanks.”

    “You’re welcome, I’ll go get you something real quick.”

    Roughly 4 hours just waiting for them to come get me out of here. Dear lord that’s too long. Merik could die while I’m here waiting. Please grant me the patience to wait, and don’t let him die. Please…