In Safe Hands*

by oOAnime AngelOo

(Wow...it's done...) Jim is having horrible nightmares over and over, and he doesn't know why. Can Gene help him figure out what they mean?

1.

IN SAFE HANDS

By: Anime Angel~^0^

It was happening again.

Seven year old Jim ran down the alleyway as quickly as he could, trying desperately to escape the men behind him. He hadn't wanted to steal, but when the small boy had seen their heaping plates of food he couldn't help but feel like God had put them there for him. But now, as he ran for his life, Jim realized his mistake in taking what he needed.

"Come back here you little brat!" one of them yelled, the others laughing cruelly behind him. Jim shuddered in the cold as their footsteps grew nearer...he was at a dead end.

"No...no please don't!" he whimpered, backing as far as he could into the back corner of the alley. The men were almost on top of him now, all of them grinning demonically. Why were they doing this? Judging by their size, they didn't need that food! Were they after the boy for just pure enjoyment?

But Jim didn't have much more time to think about this as he realized that the men were now standing directly in front of him, glaring menacingly. They were huge, especially to Jim, who was only about four feet tall, and very thin. The men in front of him were like giants, exactly like the monsters the boy had always imagined were hiding in the dark.

"Now boy," the biggest one hissed, grabbing the much smaller Jim by what was left of his shirt. "You're going to pay...I had to pay for that food and planned on enjoying it. You filthy bastard! You just had to go and knock it all over the ground, didn't ya?"

"Please....I'm sorry!" Jim wailed, inching away from the rough, calloused hand that was slowly closing itself around his throat.

"Really....well it's a little late now, isn't it?" the man sneered, his face now inches from Jim's. "'Sorry isn't going to help bring back my money...or my food! IS IT?!"

"No...STOP PLEASE! I--" The boy's frantic wails were cut off the man began to throttle him harshly, shaking the boy back and forth violently and all the while forcing his thumbs down harder and harder into Jim's small neck....

"C'mon wake up! It's just a nightmare!"

Jim jolted awake with a start, thrashing about wildly, and immediately found himself looking into calm, dark eyes. He blinked once or twice before finally realizing that it was his older partner's eyes that he was staring into. The boy forced his frantic movements to a stop.

"A...Ani....An...." Jim found himself suddenly unable to speak, and licked his lips in frustration. His throat...his throat felt odd. Tight almost...

He opened his mouth again, and this time words came out. "Aniki...what happened?" The sentence came out almost as a small sob, and Gene put an arm around Jim reassuringly.

"You were having a nightmare kid," Gene informed the sweat-soaked boy. He shook the blond a little, just to make sure that he was awake, and his gesture was met with a small whimper. "Hell, you almost woke everyone in the house up with all of that yelling!"

Jim looked around wearily. As his eyes shifted slowly around the room, he realized that everything really had been just a nightmare, something in his mind. But the images were still there, the images of those three men...the feel of their hands around his neck...

"Hey, you okay?"

Jim looked up at his older partner and let out a sigh of relief. "Yeah," he whispered, falling against Gene's shoulder. For a moment the boy felt the outlaw's muscles tense, but then they relaxed and instead Jim felt himself being lowered back down into his awaiting pillow.

"Well, I'm goin' back to bed then...you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine Aniki. Just don't worry about it..." Jim forced a smile. He really didn't want Gene to leave, but then again he also didn't want his partner to know anything was wrong either. He didn't want the outlaw to know that he had been having these horrifying nightmares for almost three or four nights...

With a slight nod, the outlaw grinned back. "All right then, but next time try not to be so loud!" And with that Jim's older partner was gone, leaving the boy alone in his dark room.

Subconsciously Jim rubbed his throat. That nightmare had marked the fourth one that week, but the thing was that they were always the same; the men and the fear and the pain were always there. The one that he had just experienced, though, seemed worse than the others. Worse in a way that he couldn't describe.

Everything about it had seemed so familiar, but what was it? Jim couldn't recall ever being strangled by a bunch of dirty men, so why did he feel like it had happened to him before? Then a frightening thought pushed its way into his mind: did it happen before?

"Must be the TV I've been watching lately," the boy said to no one in particular, dismissing his previous thoughts and slowly drifting off to sleep, this time a more peaceful slumber.

Gene sat down with a heavy thud at the kitchen table that morning, groaning. It had been the fourth time that he had been rudely awaken during the night, and the lack of sleep was really getting to him. That morning alone he had slept in far too long (even for Gene) and the girls were already gone....shopping, working, or whatever it was they did.

"Dammit," he mumbled, resting his head on the table. For the last four days he had awaken to the same sounds of his young partner thrashing about, and each time he had laid awake for hours on end, just listening to the boy. But that night...that night had been different. Jim had seemed more frantic, and instead of the usual murmurs the boy had begun to scream.

But it wasn't the fact that he was losing sleep that frustrated the outlaw, it was the fact that he had no idea what to do about his partner. There had to be something wrong -- something causing the nightmares -- but what was it? Gene just had no idea how to handle the situation, besides comfort the boy and wake him up from the dreams.

"Hey Aniki...sorry 'bout last night."

Gene rose from the table with a start at the sound of Jim's soft, tired voice, and whirled around. There, standing in the doorway to the kitchen, was the blond. Wonder how long he's been standing there...

"It's okay, kid. I mean, I have nightmares too ya know." The outlaw sat back down, and motioned for Jim to come over. "You wanna talk about anything...? I mean, is there anything wrong?"

Jim shook his head. "Nah, I'm fine." He grinned. "Just the usual bad dream that all kids get. I think it's from watching that horror movie, you know? The one we saw last week." He rubbed his chin for a moment. "The....The...."

"The Revenge of the Mummy!" Gene laughed, recalling the dubbed, black and white film that he and his younger partner had gone to see just a few days before. Remembering that night lightened the outlaw's mood a bit, but Gene couldn't help but wonder about his young friend. A movie seemed a good enough excuse for having bad dreams...but was that really what the kid was having nightmares about? Jim had seen worse movies than that, WAY worse movies than that.

"Yeah...that one!" the boy said after a moment of thought. Jim sat down next to the outlaw, and smiled again. "So you gonna go get us a job today?"

"Sure...whatever. Do I have ta?" Gene inquired, knowing the dumb question would throw Jim into a frenzy. Maybe it'll get him to act normal.

"Duh...we're FLAT BROKE. If you wanna eat tonight, you gotta go get some money, baka!"

Gene groaned, an actual, annoyed groan. He was exhausted and really would have preferred just staying home that day, but his young partner looked at him expectantly. At least he's not upset anymore...

"Fine," he said finally, smiling for the boy's sake and getting up from the table. "You look...I'll work."

"Got it!" Jim got up as well and headed off to find his laptop.

"I dunno Gil, what do you think is wrong with me?" Jim whispered softly, running his gloved hands swiftly over the keyboard. He had to be quiet, for his partner was in the next room.

"Well, what are they about, Jim?" Gilliam inquired in his usual monotonous voice. The small computer/cylinder was currently sitting on the desk right next to Jim, his large eyes following the movements of the blond's quick hands.

"Men...and...and strangling. I think it's when I'm younger." Jim ran a hand through his matted, light hair, and let out an exhausted sigh.

"Well, what do they do? Are they the ones that strangle you?"

"Yeah."

"And then what happens?"

"Then I wake up...." Jim shook his head. "Every night it happens...it's always the damn same! I can't sleep either, once I wake up I really never get any rest after that." The boy shut his eyes, and after a moment opened them again. "Damn, it's really bad when your vision starts to blur, ain't it Gil?"

"I suppose so, Jim, but these nightmares could be from a number of outside influences. According to past records and tests, dreams, good or bad, are caused by what you see during the day. Sometimes, images in a dream are things that your brain has learned to ignore. For example--"

"Gil, do I really need to know all of this?"

"Well, there may be something here that can help you," the small pink cylinder said a-matter-of-factly, waving his mechanical arms slightly.

"Fine...go on..."

"As I was saying," Gilliam continued, "If you see a flower along the street, your brain learns to ignore it because you see it every day."

Jim sighed. "So? What does that have to do with my nightmares?"

"Well, as I was going to say, when you dream, it's your brain's way of acknowledging that flower really existed. Only, in your dream, the flower may appear with other experiences during the day, and seem more extreme. And...that's the end of the record that I have."

"But I didn't GET strangled yesterday, the day before, or the day before that! How could my brain be 'acknowledging' that I got strangled when I didn't?!"

"Well--"

"And besides! I really doubt my brain would ignore getting strangled!"

"I was just trying to provide you with information that might have been able to further help you discover what is causing your unusually frightening dreams." Gilliam crossed his arms almost a bit indignantly, causing Jim to smile sheepishly.

"Sorry, Gilliam. I'm just frustrated...that's all."

"I am sorry, too, that--"

"Nah, ya don't need to apologize." With that, Jim continued his search for jobs, rubbing his eyes occasionally to get rid of the blurred vision that was constantly plaguing them.

"AHA!" Jim let out a triumphant cry as the screen in front of him loaded, revealing tons of jobs. "ANIKI! GET YOUR ASS IN HERE!" he yelled.

"Yeah?" the outlaw said, trying his hardest to conceal a yawn as he entered the room. "Gots any jobs up yet?"

"Yup! Just choose the one..."

Gene took a moment to eye the jobs, and then wrinkled his nose.

"Jim....these are all low paying scum jobs," he said simply, looking at the boy next to him.

"What?!" Jim took another look at the screen, wiping his eyes, and he too realized that all the jobs were indeed for the scum of the town. On the screen was everything from plumbing to prostitution. "But...but I don't understand. I could have sworn that I typed in differently!" Jim slammed his head down on the table with a loud thump, and sighed. "Dammit Aniki...what's wrong with me?"

Gene didn't say anything, and instead watched his younger partner intently. The boy seemed unusually disturbed by this mistake, and was currently scolding himself over and over...

"DAMN! That's ALL I have been doing lately! SCREWING UP! Stupid stupid stupid..." Jim looked up at Gene, and for the first time the outlaw noticed that the boy's eyes were bloodshot. Must be the lack of sleep...

"Hey Jim, it's probably just because of the nightmares you've been having...don't worry about it!"

Jim's eyes suddenly widened. "You...you know?"

"What, that you've been having nightmares the past few nights? Yeah! You're pretty loud there, kid."

"Yeah yeah..." Jim's voice was suddenly calm, and soon he was up from the desk. "Why don't you look for jobs...I feel really tired."

"Didn't get enough sleep last night eh?" Gene almost laughed, stopping when Jim winced. What the hell is up with this kid? I gotta find out what those nightmares are...

Jim shook his head slowly.

"Nah."

"And...you still don't want to talk about it?"

Jim turned away from his older partner. What could the outlaw do? "....I'm fine."

Jim turned over once again under the unusually cold sheets, trying his hardest not to let his eyes close. It had been a hard day -- again -- and the other half of Starwind and Hawking was beginning to wonder if there was truly something seriously wrong with him.

"Let's see...." he murmured out loud. "I could let myself go to sleep, then wake up Aniki and have him wake me up a few minutes later... or I could just stay awake all night and not get any sleep anyways." He sighed. "Stay awake....have nightmares.....stay awake....have nightmares...."

After a few minutes of chanting this, Jim felt his eyelids grow heavy. Soon the familiar feel of sleep crept up on the boy, and before he could force himself awake, he was fast asleep.

I had to pay for that food, the all too familiar voice said as Jim realized that he was back in the alley again. And now you're gonna pay.

To be continued....

*sigh* I needed to write something else so I wrote this...pretty quickly actually. It is still in its 'unrefined' form...which means I might be adding/editing to this chapter later. Oh well! There will be more...why is Jim having these dreams? What do they mean? Will the next chapter suck more than this one? Find out when I get the next one done! If of course I get it done. With the mood I am in right now, it could be days....months....years.....okay maybe not that long. Please review people, and drop me a line! Thanks Hanmyo for the nice e-mail! And um...I think that is all I have to say now...