4.
~ Ariadne rarely dreamed anymore. Her time with the dream sharing had made her own dream world strange and elusive. She wondered why, after the meeting with her father, that she had never dreamed of Sammy the way Cobb had dreamed of Mal. The little boy with the willow thin body never invading her dreams like some kind of spectrum just out of grasp.
Until now.
That was what he was now. Only a spectrum. One she could see, but barely. A half-life person she couldn't touch or go near. A wild animal that would fly away if he knew she was watching him. If she was near.
It was snowing and dark outside. She was trying to be quite as she approached a thin little boy in the swings. Sammy's back was turned away from her. As he was trying to push himself harder on the swings. As if he was still waiting for his big sister to come back and push him.
Cat like, she stalked behind him. The adult Ariadne approaching the child her hadn't thought about in years.
Off in the distance, she could hear a knocking. A knocking that threatened to come and swallow them whole.
'Don't scare him.' She thought. 'Don't scare him, or he will disappear.'
Sammy's thin little body was inadequately dressed against the winter night. He looked so sad and lonely on the dark play ground. The little ghost boy pushing his swing sadly. Not seeing her. The swing making a squeaking, squealing sound.
She would never let her children be out in the cold dressed as poorly as he was this night. Never allow them to be so thin or sad looking. She wanted to grab Sammy. Take the thin little boy back to the large apartment she shared with Arthur. A place where everything was warm and safe and there was lots of food and other kids to play with. Sammy would like it there. He could play with Darcy all day and color with her. She would fix him a big dinner and Arthur would call him his son because Arthur liked having sons.
All she had to do was grab him.
"Sammy?" She whispered as she was so close to seeing him. That menacing knocking coming closer and closer.
The thin little boy stopped his swinging and froze. His back to her so she couldn't see his face. He put both feet on the ground and stood up to face her. She could scarcely breath as he slowly turned around and she saw his face.
~ Ariadne woke up screaming.
A high, animal like scream that didn't stop as she woke to her darkened bedroom and didn't know where she was. Her mind still at the playground and the horrible sight of her brother's face in that haunted moment of time.
"Ariadne!" Came a voice from her side as she couldn't will herself to stop screaming. Her fear was too real, to close. The ghosts were all around her, and they had grown teeth.
"Ariadne." A voice said pulling her close as she cried and cried.
"Miss Annie!" She screamed and her nosed was buried into clean smelling pajamas and a strong lean body that would defend her against anything.
"No, baby." A man's voice said kindly. "It's Arthur."
"His face! Sammy!" She cried as she couldn't breath right though her tears. "Sammy!"
"It's alright." Arthur said as he shushed her. "It was just a dream."
~ Arthur had woken to a horrible screaming thing that ripped him from his death like sleep. His lovely wife was screaming like she was being attacked. A strange fear holding tightly to her as if it had claws.
She didn't seem to understand that he was there. That he was comforting her.
"Ariadne." He said smoothing out her hair as she cried herself out to exhaustion. "It's alright. It's alright."
She fell into a dreamless sleep after that. Her eyes shutting and her body drifting off before he could ask her who Sammy was.
~ "I think I'll have someone put a security system in the apartment." She announced early that morning as they were getting dressed.
"Been saying that forever, what made you change your mind?" Arthur asked.
"Well, that solicitor." She said vaguely. "If the doorman let him in, who knows who else gets let in? We should have done it right after what happened with Becky."
Arthur hung his head slightly. He was still hurting over what his ex had done to his wife.
"Good idea." He said instead. "I'll go to the security office and see what they can do."
"No, you have to meet with your business manager." She told him. "Besides, I want to do it." She told him.
"Are you sure?" He asked. She nodded.
"Mrs. Mills has the children. I'll be fine. I'll even take that phaser you gave me for valentines day. One of the most romantic gifts I've ever gotten, by the way." She added in a sarcastic tone.
"It's a Taser and be careful with it. Don't shock anyone who just cut's you off on the street." He said kissing her cheek as he tied his neck tie.
"Looks like something out of Star Trek to me." She said applying her make up in her vanity mirror.
"Your so cute when your trying to piss me off." He said leaning down for another kiss and she giggled.
"Who's Sammy?" He asked when he pulled away.
"What?" She asked with a scowl on her face.
"Last night you had a nightmare, kept saying the name Sammy. That and Miss Annie. Who are they?" He asked.
"I don't know. You know better then anyone how crazy dreams can be." She said. "So anyway, I'll price everything and maybe get them to come over right away."
"Alright." Arthur said with a shrug. The nightmare not important enough to press the issue. "I might be home late."
"Going to see your mistress?" She asked and smiled at him.
"Oh, no." He chuckled as she stood and readjusted his tie. He kissed his wife softly and pulled her closer. "No, I'll see her tonight." He whispered. She laughed at their privet joke.
She felt his hand wander to her belly. The pregnancy they had only told their close circle of friends about and was not pronounced enough to make their guest known. She smiled as she knew they were both thinking about the new baby.
"How's he doing?" Arthur whispered.
"Fine." She told him. "He's fine. You better go. I have to make sure your other kids are fed and taken care of before Mrs. Mills gets here."
~ Ariadne's plan was brilliant. She would play off the money she had written to her Dad as apart of the security system. That she took out cash because they gave her a misquote.
The security people were very pleasant to her and happy to come and measure out their apartment for alarms. Even installing a very discreet security camera in the hallway outside the door. Hooking it up to a small monitor that could be hidden in the closet.
She was shocked how fast they had set everything up and even installed a series of panic buttons through out the house if someone forced their way in.
"Press this and our people will come over." The strong man told her in his sexy accent. Ariadne felt her blood pick up at the sight of him. Her body's reaction to the pregnancy she would take out on Arthur later.
The security man with the large biceps handed her the panic button the size of a lipstick. "But if someone breaks in, they will be met with a lot of loud noises. Trust me, burglars and the rest of them, they will not want to stay around when there are ear splitting alarms going off. The alarms will also turn on the lights and that will help to scare them off to." He said looking over Ariadne in a way that made her blush.
~ "That was fast." Arthur said wearily as she met him at the door with the baby and showed off their new security system. "What was the total damage?"
She lied easily.
"Oh well, it was more then I thought. They gave me a misquote. I had to write a check for cash." She said and told him the new figure.
"Whoa." He breathed looking over the security camera. "A lot more then something like this should have cost."
'Of course he would know how much a security system cost.' She thought, angry at herself.
Arthur shook his head.
"They did a great job." He concluded at last.
"I know. You would be so proud of me to." She said bouncing on her toes as she held Dominic. "The guy they sent over was totally hitting on me!" She said with a happy smile.
Arthur chuckled.
"Well, that is good news." He laughed kissing her. "Dinner almost ready?"
"Yes. Just waiting on you." She told him sweetly. Happily tormenting the Point Man.
Arthur became suddenly serious.
"After dinner we need to talk about a few things." He whispered.