4.
~ She was running through the dark forest. A maze of menacing, nighttime trees with green moss covering them. All of them looked alike and she was becoming lost. The mist was rolling over her and threatening to pull her back in. Like some monster from a child's story.
There were things roaming in the woods. Shadowy specters who crept just outside of her field vision. Hiding and waiting to bite her.
She was running away from the encroaching mist when she could finally see the lake with the red row boat. She had to reach the red boat. She would be safe once she was back on the boat. Whatever creatures lived in the woods, they could not touch her there.
As she reached the shoreline, hands were on her. Cold, dead hands coming from the ground and pulling her legs.
"No! Help!" She screamed as the hands started to rip the skin off her body.
~ Arthur was pulled out of sleep by wild screams in the middle of the night. He was on his feet quickly, racing to her room.
"Now, now!" Erma was saying as Ariadne was crying in the corner. "You had a bad dream that's all."
"No! The men... men coming out of the ground!" Ariadne screamed looking at non-existent phantoms on her bedroom floor.
"Ariadne!" Erma cried trying to sooth her. "It's alright!"
"No!" Ariadne screamed. "Let me go!"
Ariadne slapped her nurse then. Hard on the face.
"Get away from me!" She screamed.
"Erma, it's alright." Arthur said going to Ariadne and holding her hands so she could not to hit the older woman again. The poor nurse was stunned by the slap.
"I have her." He said as Ariadne was crying in his arms. Barely able to catch her breath. "Go back to your room, Erma. I'll look after her tonight."
"Yes, sir." Erma said trying to hold back tears from the slap. "She's such a nice girl. I don't know why she's acting like this."
~ For a long time, Ariadne cried as Arthur held her. Her face buried in his chest until she gave out from exhaustion.
"You need to go to sleep." He whispered into her hair as he guided her to her bed.
"Don't leave me." She murmured as she let him tuck her in. Her big eyes were helpless and frightened.
Arthur was too tired to argue. It had been an exhausting night already. What if these night terrors continued? What if the meds no longer worked like they did before?
"Alright." Her said curling into bed next to her. He spooned her small body easily as she sniffled out a sob.
"Your going to be fine." He whispered wrapping his arms protectively around her. "I promise."
"I have to get out." She said faintly. "The mist, it's everywhere. I'm only safe on the boat."
Arthur felt his brow furrow into a scowl.
"What are you talking about?" He whispered I her ear.
"I'm lost. I need to find my way out. Every time I leave the red boat, they grab me. I can't find my way out. It's like a maze, all the trees. Then the mist comes." She whispered. Her voice sounding far away and dream like. "I have to find Arthur." She said breathlessly.
"Ariadne, I'm Arthur. Your safe. I'm right here." He whispered in her ear.
"I have to find my way back. I have to get out before the mist takes me." She said before falling asleep.
~ Arthur didn't return to his own bed that night. It was too comfortable to stay curled up with Ariadne. He felt like a pacified cat. Content to be lazy in a comfortable spot.
He finally woke up to a finger gently poking him around his mouth and nose.
Arthur opened his eyes to see Ariadne smiling down at him. Morning rays of sunlight streaming through her bedroom window. A vase of fresh, pink roses on her night stand.
"You look happy when you sleep." She said simply with an innocent smile.
He chuckled.
"That's because I was dreaming." her said taking hold of her hand as she was running her finger over his forehead.
"Your always mad when your awake." She commented.
"I'm not mad." He said softly. He was content to lay here looking at her. The radiance of the morning was on her face. Surely, this was bliss to wake up to her face each morning.
"Things are just easier, when we dream." He said making himself more comfortable in her bed.
"What did we dream about?" She asked. Her words clumsy and child like.
He sighed.
"We dream about what it was like before." He said. Not phased as she curled herself, kitten-like into his arms. Snuggling her head on his shoulder.
"What was it like before?" She asked.
"You were with us. We were friends." He said sadly.
"What happened?" She asked as if he were telling a story.
"You... you got a little lost." He said running a hand over her arm, breathing in the smell of her shampoo.
"I'm lost?" She asked.
"Yes." He said trying to swallow hard.
"Sir?" Came Erma's voice. Arthur jumped at seeing Erma standing in the doorway of Ariadne's bedroom. The sudden awkwardness of being in bed with Ariadne washed over him.
"Breakfast is almost ready." She said stiffly. An unpleasant look on her face.
"Oh, okay." He said folding back their covers and leaving her bed.
"Come and eat, Child." Erma said taking Ariadne's hand.
She went with her her nurse, trusting as always. The older woman throwing him a filthy look.
~ "Sir, I made my feelings known about taking advantage of this girl's condition." Erma said once Ariadne had starting eating and Arthur had dressed. His pristine suit making him feel more in control of his uncontrollable home life.
"I didn't take advantage. We just slept in the same bed, that's all." Arthur said feeling his face flush.
It felt inherently wrong to even see Ariadne in a sexual way now. Since becoming lost, Ariadne was childlike and innocent. It was wrong think of her that way.
"She had that nightmare and felt better with my staying." He told her.
"I know you care for her, Sir." Erma said compassionately. "I see everything you do for her. It's far more then most husbands would do for their wives. But she's not in her right mind. She can't give consent."
"Erma!" Arthur said helping himself to coffee and roughly slamming the pot back into the machine. "I deeply appreciate the fact you are protective of Ariadne. I'm very grateful for everything you do for her." Arthur said. "But I would never take advantage of her like that. Maybe if this never happened to her... we would be together, but..." He couldn't finish because Ariadne had started to cry.
"Sweetheart, what's wrong?" Erma said running a hand over Ariadne's hair.
"He's mad." Ariadne whimpered shying away from Arthur.
"No, I'm not mad." Arthur said softening his rougher voice. He sat next to her and took her hand.
"You know I'm not happy when I'm awake." He said with a smile.
She stared back at him with her large tear stained eyes and sniffed.
"Your happy when we dream together?" She asked sadly.
Arthur nodded.
"Yes, When we dream together." He whispered.
~ She was laying down in the red, row boat. The cold water surrounding her. The mist covering her. She felt a sharp wave of hopelessness wash over her. Causing an unnamed pain deep in her body. She was crying as she could feel herself slip away.
~ "Sir?" Erma said one morning. "Ariadne has not been eating very much. Her appetite is off and she's been very lethargic and not herself."
"Is she sick?" Arthur asked.
"No fever." Erma said. "I normally see this with older people. When they start to go down."
"What do you mean 'go down'?" Arthur asked.
"I think she's dieing, Sir." Erma whispered worriedly.