Chapter Twenty-Five
Reality Bleeds
This had to be a dream. It all felt so impossible like falling into another world. The sounds of cars, a TV and a kettle boiling filtered in, assaulting Izzy's hearing as she slowly opened her eyes. Groggily getting up, she felt heavy as if being submerged in water for too long. Yup, it was her room from London. Everything from her DVD box sets of Supernatural to Criminal Minds were crammed into the bookcases alongside with an army of novels.
Gazing up into the eyes of her Tom Hiddleston/Loki poster, Izzy frowned in confusion. It was nice to wake up in a warm bed as opposed to the hard ground, although it did feel very mushy. When the hell had she slept on the ground? She hadn't been camping in years. Her thoughts were getting muddled. Something about soldiers and dead men walking drifted through her head before disappearing again.
"What's happening?" she questioned out loud, slowly leaving the duvet.
Flinging off the blanket, Izzy buried her feet in the soft purple carpet. Her head hurt a little. There was something she was supposed to remember. Bits and pieces kept coming through but they escaped quickly. What the hell was happening? Why the hell did she feel so confused? Running her fingers over the cold paperbacks, Izzy didn't know what was going on.
Shuffling through the room, she felt stiff and awkward, bones cracking from a lengthy sleep. The flat seemed the same, if not tidier, no grim in the corners, mail littering the floor or any food cartons. Even the hoover was out having been used recently. She followed the clattering sounds coming from kitchen, followed by a slight swearing fit. Entering, Izzy saw Thomas, his back turned and standing at the stove, trying to make pancakes.
"Ok, this has to be a dream," she grumbled, turning to leave.
"Oh, you're awake. I was really starting to get worried," said her ex-boyfriend, pushing aside his floppy brown hair "You've been out from the flu for about three days; the doctors said you'd be fine but I was starting to considered a hospital visit."
Izzy frowned, her head beginning to hurt again. "The flu?" she questioned, a vague memory of it passing through her head.
"Yup," answered Thomas, pouring the batter mix in to the pan. "Quite badly too, you kept mumbling in your sleep about some weird land."
"I did?" she said, leaning against the counter.
He flipped over the pancake with his fingers, hissing at the slight burning. Izzy rolled her eyes, picking out a spatula and handing it over.
"Hey, no helping, you're still weak from illness," he scolded good naturedly, shooing her away.
"Since when did you cook?" she questioned, going to sit on the little dining table they had.
This had to be a dream; Thomas never cooked, always ordering in things when she wasn't around. This felt real too though? What the hell had she been dreaming about while out ill? It was slowly escaping her, like water down a drain.
A man with blonde hair flashed into her head but the image quickly went away again. Who was he and what did he mean to her? It couldn't be real; this was her life, in London living with Thomas.
"I've had to fend for myself since my girlfriend fell ill, super chick can get sick sometimes you know," laughed Thomas, kissing her cheek and placing a plate of pancakes down.
"Girlfriend… but we broke up…" she said, it didn't sound very convincing out loud.
He raised an eyebrow, placing the back of his hand on her forehead.
"Hmmm, you're still a tad warm. Maybe one more day of rest. You must have been having pretty wild dreams to think we broke up," he said, turning off the oven.
"Yeah… I was a Hero, something about a king kidnapping me and an army of the dead," said Izzy, jabbing the pancakes.
Thomas laughed. "Wow, active imagination much,"
"Well, I was ill; my brain had to do something."
"Shame it wasn't new and inventive ways for us to bang,"
She lightly punched him on the shoulder. "Oh, shut up! Mind you they did get strangely erotic."
Izzy poured strawberry jam over the pancakes, trying to remember the dreams. Before waking, she was sure they had been reality, that everything in that state had been real. Friends, adventures, things born nightmares… it felt all fuzzy now, slipping away into the back of her head, tucked into the darkness.
What had she been doing in that world? Fighting and slaying monsters like some chosen hero.
Yeah, right she thought, stabbing the pancake and taking a bite.
"Any good?" asked Thomas, starting to wash everything up.
"You used to much flour," she answered, smiling over.
"Well, we can't all be master cooks like you,"
"Especially you,"
"Hey!"
"You set fire to lettuce once, your argument is invalid."
Thomas chuckled, cleaning away as she slowly ate, stomach feeling queasy from three days of being ill. Her head went suddenly light, a wave of dizziness flowing over her. A dot of blood fell onto the pine table, shattering on impact. It appeared to have come out of nowhere. Izzy frowned, poking the spot, confused on where it came from. Another droplet joined it causing her look down.
She yelped seeing three claw mark blood shapes soaked into her shirt. The blood was dripping onto the table, a demented rain relentlessly falling now. Izzy let out another scream wondering where the marks had come from. A werewolf like creature flashed through her head, its jaws wide open and ready to sink its fangs into her soft flesh.
"Izzy, what's wrong?" asked Thomas, turning around from the sink and staring at
her in a concerned manner.
The pain faded away, along with a memory trying to surface. Izzy gazed down again noticing the blood was gone too. The claw marks were gone, replaced by two streaks of strawberry jam.
"Nothing, I just spilled the jam," she answered, clutching her head.
Thomas smiled, ripping off some paper towels and cleaning the spillage off the table.
"Still clumsy, guess you aren't ill anymore," he joked, swiftly kissing her on the lips.
Izzy frowned staring down at the dirty shirt again, running a finger over the jam, trying to remember why she thought they were claw marks. A faint flash ran through her head of a wheel and creatures almost like werewolves. It quickly went away again, running out of her memories.
"If you're well enough, we can go walk in the park, I phoned in sick at work claiming I had the same thing as you, we've both got a few days off," said Thomas, taking her half eaten food.
"You have a job?" she questioned, something screaming in her head that this wasn't true.
"Yeah, the one I got a month ago when you threatened to leave me, it's not as good as yours but I'm happy," he explained.
"I'm a waitress…" she stated, wondering why that sentence sounding like a line.
"No, you're a manager of the waitresses,"
"But…"
"Wow, you've been out for too long, we'll go to the doctors tomorrow to get you checked out,"
"OK."
She stood up, shuffling out the kitchen, stripping off the jam riddled shirt as she walked up the stairs and stepping into the bathroom. A good soak would probably stop the groggy, half sleep feeling she had.
Turning on the shower, she waited off it heat up, running a hand through her greasy short hair. The water cascaded down, hypnotising her into watching it, a strange pulling sensation entering Izzy's head. Memories of the dream started to stir again, a rainy day, a man standing in front of a crowd, ready to die. A knock on the door pulled her away from it.
"I think the waters heated now," called Thomas.
"Sorry," she called back, stripping away the rest of her clothes and getting under the warm water.
It did feel nice, although she still had the faint feeling that something was wrong. There was something important that she had to remember. It kept dancing across, never really becoming clear enough to recall and it was starting to hurt. Sighing deeply, Izzy scrubbed herself clean, peeling off three days of bed grim, trying to track down the fragments.
The world was in danger. No, that couldn't be it. The blonde man popped into her head again but she couldn't remember the features. It was only a faceless dream but it kept appearing, persisted in her memories.
"Who are you?" she whispered, clenching the tiled wall of the bathroom.
"Babe, are you almost done?" came Thomas's voice through the door.
"Yeah, sorry, be out in a second," she said, running her fingers through her damp hair.
She switched off the water, grabbed a towel and began to dry herself. Walking into her room, Izzy grabbed the hair brush and started to comb her locks. For some strange reason she kept going further than normal. It was like an extra three inches of tresses had gone missing suddenly. Izzy shook it off, knowing that her hair was usually in a short pixie cut. Grabbing some clothes, she pulled them on and walked out of the room.
Wandering back out, she saw the TV on and the Xbox running a game, the buzzing sounds filtering through the whole room. Thomas had a bad habit of leaving games on, although this one appeared to be acting on its own. Curious, she stepped forward seeing a cut scene where a man were fighting across a desert.
The camera focused on the blonde man shouting something at the screen, mouthing the same word over and over.
"Izzy?" she said, watching the word form.
A cold feeling trickled down her spine. Was he shouting for her? A faint tingly sensation ran over the back of her head as she watched the man wander the sandy dunes, yelling. He looked so lost, handsome face etched with worry, yelling her name over and over. Izzy's head began to hurt again, forcing her to look away from the screen.
"Oh, sorry, babe, I left it on again, I know how much that annoys you," said Thomas, coming into the room and switching off the console.
"No, it's alright, I wanted to look," she answered, clutching her head in confusion.
"Hey, are you OK? Are the headaches back?" asked Thomas, feeling her forehead on the back of his hand.
"No, I keep feeling like I've forgotten something, it's really important," she answered, pushing his hand away.
"If it were important, you probably would remember," he said, turning off the TV.
"It was in my dream…" she said, slowly.
"Well, while we're out for the walk, tell me what you can recall about the dream."
"Yeah… that should work…
He smiled down at her, placing a bright red coat over her shoulders. Izzy frowned gazing down at the coat. A big woollen one that reached just above her knees, huge pockets and quite snug. It was the colour that prompted something else to dart through the cluster of loose memories. A fort with a few soldiers scattered around it, their weapons at the ready and ready to fight an awful enemy. Izzy shivered wondering why the coat prompted such a thought.
"Wow, those dreams really got to you," said Thomas, taking her hand and opening the front door to their home.
"They were quite strange," she replied, feeling the cold air bite into her skin.
Outside was the same as usual, the narrow little street with too many houses pushed together, the sounds of enraged drivers not too far away. The winter air wrapped itself around the dull street, taking away any colour or life. Just an ordinary London road, nothing special or dangerous about it.
"Come on, a nice little coffee shop opened just down the street from the park," said Thomas, smiling excitedly.
"I don't like coffee," she said, remembering that.
"I know. I'd be a terrible boyfriend for not knowing that, it also serves rather lovely hot chocolate, which I tested for my rather sick girlfriend," he explained squeezing her hand.
"Aw, you nerd," she said, questioning why it felt wrong each time he touched her.
"Only for you dear."
If they were still dating, why did it feel wrong when Thomas touched her? Each kiss and caress sent a pang of disgust through her. Surely Izzy loved him? Why did it feel like she was cheating on someone? There was a weird sense of guilt in the back of her head. They walked down the street, Izzy staring at the shops and people who wandered by. It felt so crowded together, noisy and full of things people didn't really need. The grey sky's blended against the buildings that stretched towards the clouds.
"So, what did this king want you for in the dream?" asked Thomas, leading her through the dense crowd.
"Oh, something about me being a hero, saving the kingdom and wanting to breed cute hero babies with me," she explained, almost laughing at how silly it sounded.
"You have a strange imagination," he replied, wrapping his arm around her.
"I know. Maybe I should write a book about it."
"Well, if Twilight can get published, I don't doubt you can."
"Thanks, that encourages me."
"Really?"
"No."
He chuckled, kissing her lightly on the lips before pulling her into the coffee shop, looking at the line.
"Hmm, I think you're still a little weak from illness, probably best if you sit and wait," suggested Thomas, nodding at a spare seat in the corner.
"Ok," she said, mind still drifting on pulling the odd dreams together.
It did make her wonder why Thomas was so interested in them but it could just be put down to worry. She did wake up thinking they weren't together anymore, which was a strange thought. There was a feeling in her gut that there was someone else in her life now. A person that really cared about her, never wanting to let her down. But Thomas had a job now and actually tidied up. Maybe there had been an affair that she forgot during the flu.
A blind woman bummed into the chair beside Izzy, forcing her out of these thoughts. The woman's cane fell onto the floor, clattering against the cold tiles.
"Here, let me help," said Izzy, picking it up and placing it back in her hands.
"Thank you dear," she said, smiling lightly, white orbs glinting in the fluorescent lighting.
The woman took the cane back but her other hand darted out and grasped Izzy by the wrist,.
"No problem," Izzy replied, noticing that the woman was gripping her wrist quite tightly.
The blind woman only smiled more; she was beginning to creep Izzy out. Izzy wondered if it was rude to take back her limb before the blood circulation went.
"Are you alright ma'am?" she asked, growing a little concerned over the pressure in her arms.
"You have to remember, figure out which is the true dream," stated the blind woman, before letting go.
Izzy frowned, rubbing her wrist noticing something else drop from the woman's person as she felt the coffee shop. Leaning forward, the object shone gold, waiting on the dirty floor. Picking it up and inspecting it, Izzy felt a familiar pang while gazing at it. A ring, nothing fancy, plain gold apart from the 'F' stamped in the middle.
Instead of chasing the strange woman down, she put it in her pocket with no real reason to do so.
"Hey, I've got the drinks," said her very attentive boyfriend.
"What the hell is going on?" whispered Izzy, toying with the ring in her pocket, having ignored Thomas.
"Are you alright?" he said, staring at her in concern.
"Fine," lied Izzy.
"You've got that faraway look, the one you get when you're trying to work something out,"
"Something strange is happening; I can't put my finger on it,"
Thomas handed over the steaming hot chocolate and opened the door for her. They walked in silence to the park, Izzy deflecting the worried stares he cast her way. The drink remained untouched in her hand as they stepped through the gate, winter having claimed the park as its victim. She paused, staring up at skeletal tree, barren of any leaves, damp and depressed.
The imaginary prompted more confusing memories that she was weren't real.
"Maybe these dreams got to you more than you thought," said Thomas, rubbing her between the shoulder blades.
"Maybe," she replied, taking a sip of hot chocolate. It was rather delicious, the best she had in a while.
"Was something the creepy king did in the dream? Did he say what was after the kingdom?" he asked, stirring his coffee some more.
"No, he just… kept dodging the questions, never really said what the danger was," she explained, wondering why he was so interested.
"Any plans on tackling it?" he said, trying to sound casual.
"Why are you so interested?"
Thomas shrugged, taking her free hand, trying not to look her right in eye. It did feel odd that he asked a lot of questions. Usually he didn't take much interest at all, sitting in front of the TV and playing games.
"It just sounded cool is all," he answered dismissively.
A collie bounded up to the couple, barking and wagging its tail at Izzy, jumping to and fro with excitement. It seemed familiar with her, perfectly friendly right off the bat. She smiled down at it, earning more pleasant barks.
"Hello," she said, patting the happy hound on the head.
It barked a little more, jumping up and quickly licking her face, before running off into the woods.
"That was weird," said Izzy, wiping away the slobber on her cheek.
"I wonder where the owner is," said Thomas, looking around the park but barely seeing anyone in sight.
"It seemed to know where it was going," she stated, feeling the ring in her pocket again, running a finger over the letter.
It almost felt heavier after the dog disappeared as if to weigh on the conversation. She started to think the universe was trying to tell her something and doing everything its power to do so. The blind woman at the shop…
What dream? What had to be remembered? It was entirely possible that she was just a crazy old woman sprouting nonsense. But something hinted at the fact it was routed to truth. What the hell was it?
"You look pale, maybe we should head back," suggested Thomas, tugging at her arm.
Izzy remained standing on the same spot, still toying with the ring, trying to track down whatever was wrong in her head.
"The dream…" she started to say.
"Yeah, what about it?" asked Thomas, looking irritated.
"I had friends there, people who were in trouble from more than just the king."
"They weren't real, even they were I'm sure they could handle themselves against Logan."
Izzy whipped her head up, staring into her boyfriend's eyes, a realisation passing over her.
"I never mentioned his name," she said.
Thomas's hand tightened around her upper arm and began biting his bottom lip like a criminal caught in the act/
"I'm sure you did mention it, back at the house," he said.
She took out the ring, staring at it harder, trying to pull together the memories around it.
"Where did you get that?" demanded Thomas, not letting up on his grip.
She blocked him out, the threads beginning to slowly pull themselves together, mending her memories.
"Figure which is the true dream…" she muttered, under her breathe, feeling the realisation wash over.
Gazing sadly up at Thomas, she dropped the hot chocolate on the floor. It sprayed across the concrete, soaking his shoes. As he stared down in annoyance, she reached forward and kneed him in the stomach. His grip slackened, letting her escape out of it, darting back out of his reach. Groaning, he bent over, clutching his stomach and stared at Izzy through angry eyes.
"What are you doing?" he gasped, reaching out to her.
"We broke up," she said, the truth slowly revealing itself "a year ago. You don't have a job and mines crappy."
"What are talking about? Izzy you're still sick, let me take you home," he said, through clenched teeth.
"No, I'm not. I'm remembering," she said, head hurting quite badly, this isn't real. This is what is wrong."
Thomas lurched forward but she dodged out of his grip, glaring at the man who lied to her.
"You're not even real!" she yelled, beginning to run away.
"Izzy come back, you're not thinking clearly," yelled Thomas, following close behind.
She ignored him, running towards the road that cut through the park. The memories began to filter in, telling of the reality that she had truly been in all this time. How the hell was she going to get out of here? From the corner of her eye, Izzy spotted the park attendants house just at the gate, covered in scaffolding. Running across the clear road, she jumped over the fence, grasping the first piece of metal and began to climb.
"Stop! Izzy, you'll hurt yourself!" shouted Thomas, making no move to follow her up.
Grunting with effort, she reached the top, gazing down at ground below, watching her ex-boyfriend helplessly stare around. Everyone came back, Darius, Walter, Ben and Swift.
"You aren't remembering something that's real, this is reality," called Thomas.
"No, it's not! I forgot my real friends, the people who love me for a dream! I have nothing in this world, not even you," she shouted back, her heart twisting from forgetting the tragedies that had happened. How could she forget Swift? Or Ben? What the hell caused her to think it was all a dream?
"How is climbing up there going to help?" asked Thomas, clenching and unclenching his fists.
"I'm going to fall, hopefully it will work like it does to other people in these scenarios," she said, mostly to herself.
It had to be true, that this was world was the fake one, sure still had its horrible memories like being used and losing her parents. But that's where it ended and Albion began. Izzy still clung tightly to the rail, staring at the unwelcoming ground below. There was a small part of her that told her this was a crazy idea and wrong.
No, this has to be right, she thought, beginning to loosen her grip.
"Stop! What are you doing?" demanded Thomas, looking utterly helpless.
"It was nice, for a while, to be in a world where everything worked out," she stated "but it wasn't real. I had a terrible life here. I lost a lot of things. But now it's time to wake up. Leap of faith some would say."
Izzy gazed around the park one last time, feeling what felt like the real winter air course through her hair. She listened to the sounds of distant cars, the city in full works and the life that coursed over it. It wasn't real but a pleasant reminder on what it used to be like. For a dream, it was a pretty decent fake, even though it would go for good now. Izzy let one hand go, closing her eyes, feeling the fear begin to fade away. But she realised that this wasn't her home anymore and there are people relying on her.
"Bye," she whispered, letting herself fall forward, becoming wrapped in darkness as she tumbled to the ground.
Yeah, no note at the front. I wanted to explore how far the Darkness would go in order to mess with the group. Izzy could be seen as a weak link since she craves seeing London again. I don't think its beyond the Crawler to construct something to fuck with her.