Thank you everyone!! I'm up to 27 reviews as I write this (it might be more than that when this gets posted.) That's more reviews than I've ever got on an entire story, let alone two chapters!!! (Hands out yummilicious frozen yogurt to everyone.) You guys are the best, my inspiration! A special thanks goes out to my muse and one of my two best friends, Amieva, who has most likely donated ideas and information to this story. I'd love to give you guys all personal responses, but I'm sure you'd much rather read the story!
Unless it directly says otherwise, all dialogue in this chapter is in German. It would just be too hard for everyone to read it if I wrote it that way.
BTW, I don't like writing things that are totally Mary-Sue, so if this starts sounding that way, let me know.
Disclaimer: Zzzzzz Zzzzzz
Taineyah: I always knew those knockout drops would come in handy!!
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Chapter Three: Dreaming the Night Away
Kurt looked out over the empty fairground from his perch high in a tree. It was the last place he'd ever gone with the circus, and it was also his favourite place that the circus had ever gone. It was surrounded on three sides by a dense forest and was still close enough to Berlin that huge crowds had come to see his performances.
He'd always loved the isolation of the fairground. He hadn't had to be fully covered when he went outside. No curious onlookers had peeked at the trailers, trying to catch a glimpse of what was to come. No one who might see his "makeup." He'd been free here.
He looked down at his image inducer, which he'd taken off when he started climbing and left on the ground to avoid breaking it. It was funny. His entire life he'd wished for something like the inducer, something that would make him look normal so that he could wander around like a normal kid. Now that he had it and could go anywhere though, he was still hiding in a tree. It hadn't freed him, just made his bonds slightly more elastic.
Sure, he could go to school, walk around safely, but he always had to be careful not to be touched. He always had to be protective of his "watch." He had to live in virtual isolation, lest someone find out what he was and spoil the illusion. An illusion. That's all freedom was. All it could ever be for him.
A snapping twig pulled Kurt from this depressing line of thought as he dropped carefully to the ground and put on his inducer. At a frantic pace, he activated it and then waited with bated breath to see who or what was coming. A rabbit, with a twitching nose, hopped out of the underbrush and Kurt laughed slightly.
"I probably scared you." He turned off the inducer. "I should go. This is your home. I should go find a hotel."
He bent down to pick up his suitcase, and the rabbit hopped off. He watched its tail flash, and suddenly felt better. He didn't need to run away anymore when people saw him. Maybe things would seem more cheerful after he'd taken a nap and eaten something. Kurt pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and called a cab to come and take him back into Berlin.
***
Dawn lay gazing out the window of her room. She was so bored. It was Saturday, which meant that, aside from nurses, the food wagon lady and maybe one or two doctors, no one would come into her room until Monday. There was nothing on tv. She'd read everything in arm's reach.
Sighing, she grabbed her journal, which she'd been assigned to keep by one of the hospital psychiatrists. She picked up her pen, hoping that she could think of something insane to write down, something that would make the psychiatrist hold one of his whispered conferences with the nurses. The conferences usually resulted in more supervision for her, but at least they broke up the monotony. Nothing came to her, and she found herself flipping through the pages, looking at some of the things she'd written.
Entry #1 March 30
This freaky doctor says I have to write stuff here. Stuff about my imaginary friends and my feelings, so that he can read it. He says that it will do me good to let someone see how I feel.
How the hell does he think I feel? I've lost Mum and Vati and Katja. I can't feel anything below my waist. I'm in constant pain from the surgeries on my back. Is he absolutely stupid?
And the other part. To tell him about my imaginary friends. He says that they're part of my "subconsious images of myself." You'd think I was some kind of freak or psycho.
Entry #2 April 2
So... My imaginary friends. There are several of them. Flamme, Spinne, Schokolade... The psychiatrist says I have to write about them, or he'll put me on drugs to control my "delusions." Mum and Vati would hate this guy.
So, Flamme. She's a grown up and she has really pretty red hair. She's kind of weird. Sometimes she's extremely nice and other times she's almost cruel. Grown ups can be so strange. She talks to me about stuff I don't understand, like machinery and car engines. I think maybe she's an engineer.
Then there's Spinne. He's really skinny. He's about my age and he's not all that smart. He's cool and tells really funny jokes. He's a bit of a clown.
Entry #10 April 20
Yet another surgery tomorrow. You'd think they'd have given up. But no. They have to keep cutting me open. I'm so sick of it. I've given up on these stupid surgeries. I don't think that they ever expect me to walk again. I overheard them in the hall. All they're trying to do now is stabilise my spinal column. They could do that with a goddamn brace, couldn't they? What the hell's so interesting that they have to keep cutting me up?
Entry #23 May 10
Ach! I hate this stupid place!!! I want to go home!! Wait... Apparently I don't have a home anymore. Without my parents alive, I haven't got a guardian, because they never appointed one in their will. And I'm not even allowed to go visit their grave. It's so unfair....
Dawn stopped reading. It was so unfair. The psychiatrist kept threatening to put her on sedatives to take away her imaginary friends. Why did it matter if she played pretend? Sure, she was 13 years old, but no one ever came to visit her. What was she supposed to do all day? Lie there and pray? God had clearly turned his back on her, or none of this would have happened.
She sighed and looked at the wall. At least when she got transferred to the new hospital for occupational therapy the walls would be different. Only thing was, she had to learn to get into her wheelchair on her own before she could go. It didn't look like she was going anywhere soon, but all the same, she imagined herself fully healed and walking out the door of her room.
***
Kurt looked around his hotel room. It was tiny, but at least it was clean and dry. The cold water drenching him made him shiver a little and the smell of wet, sweaty fur lingered in the air. It had decided to rain while he was waiting for the taxi and he hadn't remembered to pack an umbrella. He picked up some dry clothes from where he'd dumped out his suitcase on his bed and headed into his bathroom.
A few minutes later, steam filled the room and he stepped under the almost scalding water. The heat chased the chill away and he smiled while he scrubbed. Hot water was good. As soon as the soap rinsed away, he sat on the floor of the shower, exalting in the comfort of the heat.
A drifting kind of lethargy came over him, and his head nodded forward. Realising that he was all but asleep after the long flight and his time in the woods, Kurt turned off the water, toweled himself off and climbed into bed. He was just slipping into dreamland when he remembered that he hadn't called the mansion to let them know he'd arrived safely. Before he'd left, he'd promised to call everyday.
Wearily, he dialed his cell phone and got the answering machine at the mansion. He left a brief message, explaining where he was and cracking a joke about airplane food. All of his obligations fulfilled, he finally let himself sleep.
***
"Blau! Wake up!! It's morning!" Morgen bounced up and down on the end of his bed.
Kurt opened an eye and glanced around the room, which most certainly not his hotel room. Posters of various rock groups were plastered over the walls and clothes were heaped all over the floor. His dream-room.
"Morgen, it's early! Let me sleep." Kurt was being as whiny as he could. It was part of their game.
"But Mum and Vati made breakfast! Waffles!" She was playing the card that she knew would get him out of bed--food.
Kurt sat up suddenly, knocking her over. She giggled and brushed her short brown hair out of her blue eyes. She shoved him back, and for a few minutes, they wrestled happily. Just as it looked like Kurt was getting the upper hand, with his tail wrapped around her wrists, their older brother came in.
"Would you two quit it already? Blau, you know she's going to get you up everytime. Why do you fight it?"
In response, Kurt and Morgen laughed and darted from the room, Kurt running on all fours as was his custom, while Morgen ran more slowly on two feet. In his dream, Kurt lived out an entire day with the dream-family, hanging around at the movie theatres and parks with his little dream-sister and her giggling gaggle of friends.
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Okay, that's that. I'm sorry it took so long! Exams and such. I can drive now! Serious plot will likely be revealed next chapter, so don't miss the next installment!!!
And one last thing, before anyone else says it: I know that most cell phones don't do overseas calls very well, but Kurt's phone is a technologically advanced prototype that has a direct link to the mansion. So there!
