A sudden movement next to her pulled Annie from her dream to the bed she was sharing with Auggie. She looked over at her companion, the source of the disturbance. His eyes were open, but his breathing was steady. Too steady, she realized.
"I didn't hear a horn this time." She stated.
Auggie stayed on his back, eyes to the ceiling, but reached out with one hand. Annie took the offered hand in her own. "Sorry I woke you." He stated.
"I'm not entirely awake. You okay?"
Auggie smiled a genuine smile. "Yeah. I'm fine."
"Bad dream?" She asked.
"No, it was a wonderful dream, really. Trying to hold onto it."
"They say if you share your dream before breakfast, it will come true."
Auggie could hear the smile in her voice, but his smile faded. His eyes kept the same connection with the ceiling. "Not this time." He said, quietly.
Annie squeezed his hand. "What did you see?"
"The colors. There were so many colors. Vibrant ridiculous colors." He turned toward her and put his other hand on her face. "And you."
The tone of his voice made her heart melt. She inched closer to him. "You promised me once that you would describe me to myself."
"Mmm. God. I wish my subconscious would give me colors like that every night."
Annie waited, letting Auggie have his moment, knowing how fast a dream could slip away. She tried to imagine what it must be like to only see colors in dreams.
"We were on a mission together inside a large building. Somebody was chasing us, and we kept running down different corridors, each one painted in vibrant colors, almost like my old elementary school."
He smiled a little, putting the images together. "We kept ducking into these closets that exploded in color. Inside they were bright, and even more colorful than the hallway. I kept wanting to make out when we ducked into one, and you were so serious, wanting us to focus on the fact that there was a bad guy after us."
Annie laughed at the description.
"You looked different in each closet." He explained. "But I knew it was you. Your hair was blond each time, but it's like my mind tried to put different faces with your body - which was a petite Jessica Rabbit by the way - to complete the picture."
Annie couldn't help but shed a tear, listening to such an open confession. She watched as he squinted, as though the action would hold the images in.
"I think I woke up when I pulled back from kissing you and saw Joan's face."
"What?" Annie asked, horrified.
Auggie laughed a breath. "It wasn't any sort of subconscious message about how I feel about Joan. I think I saw the face of every blond woman I was around within a year of my accident. It was just my brain's way of giving me an image. But each time, I knew it wasn't right."
He ran his fingers over her face, settling on her mouth. "They never had the right lips."
He could feel her smiling beneath his hand.
"I have visual dreams all the time. But usually they are very simple. Faded colors and if there are other people they are little more than blobs of hair and clothes. But this one was fantastic."
Auggie's smile grew. "Besides, I enjoyed seeing Joan again."