I missed the bus again.
It never fails. Stupid public transit is always on time when it's nice outside, so it's not like I get the chance to enjoy the day before I'm stuck in school or work. God forbid I'm on the bus after less than twenty minutes of waiting when it's boiling hot or freezing cold. So now I'm standing here with my boots halfway filled with slush. I can't feel my fingers. And I swear I have an icicle hanging from my nose. I make the mistake of sitting down on the bench, which is cold and wet, probably from some jerk driving their car too close to the curb. This place is dreary, especially in winter... like all the color's been sucked out. It's not like the dreams I can barely remember... even those have more light and substance than this place. And I'm alone, too... nobody to even talk to while I wait. Probably just as well... most people take a look at me and think "little kid," so I get ignored.
... except for the guy pulling up to the curb. Really slow, too, so I'm not getting splashed. And now he's rolling down the window... wow, nice car. Sleek and black, with tinted windows, like in the movies.
"The bus got into an accident about ten blocks away... think it's gonna be a while." The voice is young and male, pretty mellow and friendly for a New Yorker. Still, bad news is bad news.
"Wonderful. Do me a favor and send the coroner my way. And tell 'em to bring a chisel."
I see the automatic lock pop, but I just stand there. For a second, I wonder if I'm not a little too old for some pedophile. I don't look that young, do I?
"You want a ride home or not?"
Scared or not, I'm too cold to care. I open the door and slip into the warmth of the car. "I'm gonna wreck the inside of your car... I'm soaked...." I stop when I get a good look at my savior. He can't be much older than me, maybe a year or two... and he's driving a car like this?! I dunno much about cars, but this thing screams expensive. All lights and digital consoles... the glow makes his eyes seem kinda unnatural. I've never seen anybody with eyes that color... like the ocean around those tropical islands I'll never be able to afford to visit.
"... get it cleaned later. Better than letting you freeze to death. My conscience would never forgive me."
Oops, he was talking to me, and I'm busy staring into his eyes like some goofball. I can't help it though... you'd think I'd remember exotic features like his-- and yeah, he seems familiar-- but I swear I've never met him before. If I had, I'd know him immediately... what teenager has silver-white hair and eyes like that? "... thanks."
He shrugs. The inside of the car smells like new leather, both from the cushy gray seats and his black motorcycle jacket. It's kinda comforting. "What's your name?" He's keeping his eyes on the street as he pulls away, but that doesn't mean his interest is off me.
"Sora." I snuggle down into my worn windbreaker, feeling the chill melting off me. I feel sleepy and relaxed, so much that I almost miss him talking to me again. Damn.
"Nice to meet you, Sora. I'm Riku. Now, where am I taking you?"
"... home...." I think I'm having another blackout, but it doesn't matter... I've never felt so warm....
Of course I'd wake up anyplace other than my home. I never told him where it was, after all. But I kinda expected to end up back on the street... who wants some poor kid holed up in their place? So it was the weirdest thing to find myself wrapped in a blanket on an expensive couch. Wow, must be the Christmas spirit or something. I sit up, staring into the flames crackling away in the fireplace and clutching the folds of the blanket to my chest like a shield. I only let go of it when Riku presses a heavy mug into my hands. I didn't even hear him come out of the kitchen. He looks just as stylish as I'd expect, dressed all in dark, muted colors, everything probably designer. He's wearing a long necklace with a smoothly polished amber heart dangling from it. It looks really feminine.
"You scared me in the car... I thought you'd passed out from the cold at first." He sits beside me with his own mug, sipping so I won't feel quite so awkward accepting his hospitality. Food's always better when everyone's got something, I guess. I take a sip of mine, thanking the coffee gods for this black, strong brew. I don't even bother with the cream or sugar he's set on the low table; the bitterness reminds me that I didn't freeze to death at the bus stop.
"Heat makes me sleepy. S'why I burrow into the blankets when I sleep." Yeah, now that I have them. The heat in my place works maybe three days out of the whole winter, and I just got my third blanket to add to the pile. "Can I ask you something? What were you doing out in that part of the city?"
He looks uncomfortable, as if he's not even sure what to say. "I don't know. I took a detour around some construction, but instead of turning back onto my route, I just... kept going."
"Man, I hope I didn't inconvenience you too much...."
"Nah." He smiles into his coffee. "You slept right through me parking and getting out. I just had to run into the university to drop off my papers."
"You're in college?"
"Yeah, just started. Psych major, NYU."
God, I just had an inferiority complex. Sure, I skipped a year of high school, but I also missed a year because of my health. So I broke even. He's in NYU; I'm struggling just to make it through my senior year of high school. Add in my current state of living and I feel like a freaking charity case. Would he be this nice if it wasn't less than a month to Christmas?
"What about you?"
Oh god, here it comes. "I... I'm still in high school... senior year."
"A senior? I thought you were younger than that...."
I groan. Not again... I can't help being short! "If I had a dollar for every time I've heard that...." I could afford the rent for my little hole in the wall for the next century.
Riku chuckles. "Sorry, but you do look really young. Seventeen, right?" I nod. "Only a year younger than me, then."
I look up from my mug and immediately wish I hadn't. He's looking right back at me, curious and not the slightest bit threatening, and yet I feel like my heart is in my throat. I wish he wouldn't do that... his eyes make me feel like I'm burning inside. I know my face is burning, and I hope he just writes it off as a result of the warmth of the room. "I... I really should go... I need to get home...." No, I don't. No school tomorrow, no work, no pets to take care of, no one to miss me... all I'd be going home to is a spartan, dismal nest.
"Sora, you can't. The snowstorm really has the streets clogged up... it's just not safe out there. Besides, it's late."
Late? How late? I look around for a clock and my jaw drops. It's almost quarter after one in the morning! I was asleep for that long, in a stranger's apartment? I feel so out of place here it's not even funny. "It's not late... it's really early...." Oh, that sounded weak....
"Sora. Just stay the rest of the night, and I'll take you home myself at a reasonable hour. It's no trouble, I swear."
"But...."
"Please?"
I sigh. I don't know why I care, but he was nice enough to help me, so how could I hurt his feelings by refusing? I finish my coffee, using the chance to wonder what I'm getting myself into. "Okay. Thanks, Riku." I set the mug down and curl up on the couch again. At least he doesn't protest my choice of sleeping arrangements, just getting up to take the mugs into the kitchen.
"You're welcome. Sleep well, Sora."
The last thing I remember is Riku turning out the lights, plunging everything into darkness.
Darkness....
For as long as I can remember, I've had two different kinds of dreams. One is the bright, beautiful vision of worlds so unlike this that the sight of them blinds me. I've seen walking cards as tall as a man and a hero in bright golden armor. I've summoned a laughing genie and swum in oceans that I can breathe like air and navigate with the flick of a dolphin's tail. Those are wonderful dreams whose glittering sparks fade so quickly after I wake, leaving me with only the thinnest threads of memory. But those tiny flickers make me smile, even if I find myself wishing I could hold them longer.
But the other dreams... those I wish I could forget. The ones that I wake up from only at the sound of my own screaming. Even when I'm awake, I feel their claws and fangs tearing at me, hurting me, drawing blood until I'm afraid to look down for fear I'll see it pooling around me. So many horrible, inhuman monsters, oozing darkness until it chokes me... but it's the one that looks the most human that always makes me scream.
Those eyes... I can never remember them, but their memory haunts me all the same. Those eyes wake me up from my comfortable nest in Riku's apartment.
"Sora?"
I feel his hands on my shoulders. He's looking right at me, alarmed by my screaming, and I'm terrified to meet his eyes. If I do, they'll glow with hate and then I'll know for sure that I'm trapped in my nightmare....
"Sora!"
Riku's shaking me now, not hard enough to give me whiplash, but enough to make me stop screaming and stare at him. My face is wet, and he's dabbing at my eyes with the sleeve of his robe. My throat feels tight; I open my mouth to say his name, and nothing comes out. Nothing at all.
"You were screaming in your sleep. It was a nightmare, wasn't it?"
No, it's my only nightmare. The one I see at least once a week. I'm still shaking, and I don't think I'll ever stop unless I hold onto someone. He's the only person there, so I resist the urge to throw my arms around him. I just lean against him and cry, trying not to think about the first thirty seconds or so, when he sits there as still as stone. I know I'm confusing him, probably alarming him even more, but I don't care. It's the first time in years I've had someone there when I woke up from those dreams, and I need the contact before I lose my mind.
Still, it's better when I feel his arms slide timidly around my shoulders. I don't bother counting the seconds he holds me until I finally fall asleep again. Time lasts longer that way.
TBC