THREE DREAMS

Marissa

Marissa didn't think she would be able to sleep. She was so worried about AJ she thought that was all she would be able to think about. But other worries crept in; JR's drinking and Bianca's kiss. Marissa closed her eyes and not for the first time wished she could miraculously have her memories back and then maybe she wouldn't feel so lost.

…

Marissa was being suffocated.

Suffocated by JR.

They were entwined in bed together and he was kissing her, the weight of his naked body was crushing her. All she wanted to do was get him off of her. She pushed at his chest but he was too heavy and too strong and all she wanted to do was cry out but she could barely breathe.

Then suddenly a second pair of hands appeared and began to help her push him away. Marissa put all her strength behind it as they heaved together.

Suddenly JR was tipping over the side of the bed. She rolled over to the edge to watch him fall. Only it wasn't just the edge of a bed he fell from, it was the edge of a cliff with sharp rocks and the ocean waves crashing far below.

And JR kept falling.

She didn't bother to watch him hit the bottom, she was too curious about her rescuer.

Her eyes followed slender hands, along pale arms, past ivory shoulder, until she found herself gazing into a pair of chocolate brown eyes.

Bianca.

Marissa didn't speak. She knew she didn't have to. She simply closed the gap between them in order to steal a kiss.

The kiss grew deeper as their bodies entwined. Marissa realised that Bianca too was naked but she didn't care. Marissa was almost dizzy with the sensation of Bianca's warm skin against her own. The slender hands that had come to her rescue touched her reverently and tender lips chased away any memory of JR's rough contact.

Marissa now welcomed the weight of her lover.

She moaned Bianca's name as the passion grew.

…

Then a thought flashed into her head; AJ in the dark, alone and crying out in fear…

…

Marissa awoke with a start, suddenly guilty for forgetting him, even briefly; guilty for feeling such pleasure while her son was lost and alone.

Even as Marissa lay in the darkness the dream stayed with her. Bianca's touch still had her pulse thrumming. It had felt so real Marissa wondered if it was a dream or a memory.

…

JR

JR collapsed onto his bed, not even bothering to change out of his clothes. He closed his eyes as the hate boiled in his guts. He hated Bianca, he didn't deserve this. Marissa didn't love him, AJ was still missing and it was all her fault.

…

JR felt nothing but anger as he looked down from his hiding place high up in the clock tower. Down below was Bianca, Marissa and his son in the park, all playing at happy families. Bianca was laughing loudly and he knew she was laughing at him. Well she wouldn't be laughing for much longer.

"Don't do this!" begged the phantom of Marissa. So clearly a spectre now as he could see right through her.

JR picked up the sniper rifle that was lying on the ground under the parapet and found a comfortable position. Carefully he peered into the scope until he had Bianca clearly in his sights.

Just as he was about to take the shot AJ got in the way. Bianca knelt down to talk to him and JR could no longer get a clear view of her past his son.

"Why did you stop?" asked Marissa's ghost.

"I can't hurt him AJ"

"Why not? That's all you've been doing these past months. If there is no Bianca and no AJ there would be no one to get in the way of you and Marissa. Isn't that what you want?"

He heard the rustle of fabric as the phantom moved closer. JR's eye was still looking through the gun sight, watching AJ tip his head back with laughter at something Bianca had said.

"I can't hurt AJ." said JR again.

"Just pull the trigger JR. The bullet will tear through his little body so fast he wouldn't feel it. Surely it would be a mercy. He would be better off dead than raised by two lesbians."

AJ was hugging Bianca now and they were both laughing. AJ looked so happy.

JR pulled back from the scope. He couldn't do it. He couldn't hurt his son.

He turned towards Marissa only the phantom didn't look like Marissa any more, just a shadow in the darkness.

"Weakling!" cried the figure as the phantom's rough hands forced JR's eye back to the scope and strong fingers wrapped around his own forcing him to pull the trigger.

The air exploded at the sound of the shot.

Blood burst from AJ's chest as both he and Bianca flew back from the power of the bullet.

All JR could see was death and blood.

All JR could hear was the sound of screaming.

As he turned towards the shadowy figure still holding him down over the gun, he saw his own face glaring back. The features twisted with hate and disgust but the face was clearly his own.

He was the phantom.

That's when JR realised the screams were his own.

…

JR sat up in bed his throat sore from crying out and his pulse racing.

He looked around the room and was almost relieved to see imaginary Marissa standing in the corner. JR then noticed that she looked nervous.

Suddenly a second person stepped from the shadows.

"Weakling." hissed the figure wearing JR's own hate-filled features

…

Bianca

Bianca had been quite prepared to stay up all night answering the calls to AJ's help line but Kendall confiscated her phone and her laptop. Frankie had prescribed rest and Kendall wasn't giving her sister any choice in the matter.

All in all it had been a very frustrating day for Bianca; stuck in her bed. Although she had got a lot of work done for the gallery opening for the Miranda Centre fundraiser, calls about AJ had been few and far between.

As Bianca closed her eyes, she prayed that AJ was safe.

…

Bianca walked through the corridors of the art gallery. Either side, all along the length of the passage, were copies of AJ painting of the house. Each one had a face, with a wide smiley red mouth and a yellow splodge of hair, peering from the top floor window; AJ happy in his home.

Bianca stopped to admire the nearest painting, only as she looked the smiley face suddenly looked very sad and then disappeared. Slightly disturbed Bianca turned to the picture behind her and that face changed to look unhappy and was gone again too. It seemed the simple act of looking was making AJ vanish.

She began running down the corridor frantically trying to find a picture where the face still smiled happily from the window but it was no good. On the wall at the end of the passage was a larger version of AJ's painting. The little boy's face was beginning to look sad, but he was still in the window. Bianca quickened her pace, she couldn't let him disappear.

As she reached the painting AJ was gone, but she didn't slow down, she wasn't going to lose him.

Bianca dived into the painting after him.

It took her a moment to get her bearings within the child's painting. The splodged greenness of the grass under her feet, the stripe of blue sky high above, and the disturbing blank whiteness in between where there was nothing. In front of her was AJ's house. She ran through the cockeyed front door and hurried up the stairs, all lopsided and uneven, along the hall into AJ room all brightly painted yellow. He wasn't there. Bianca hurried to the window. From there she could see the yellow haired stick figure of AJ running across the grass towards a forest of lollipop shaped apple trees.

She floated from the window into the garden and hurried after him.

Just then there was a rumble of thunder and Bianca looked up to see the stripe of blue sky had turned into a big black cloud, it began to rain.

The painting around her began to run together as the water poured from the heavens. Still Bianca raced after AJ, the wet paint slippery under her feet, the rain making the trees she was running towards blur together in streaks of green and red and brown.

Bianca ran into what used to be a forest. She knew where AJ was now and she had to get to him before it was too late.

Still the rain poured down and water streamed past her feet in a river of grass green paint.

In front of her was the biggest tree, or what was left of it. There was not much more than a puddle there now.

"No!" screamed Bianca; falling down to cry over a slick of brown, blue, red and yellow paint; all that was left of AJ and his hiding place.

…

Bianca opened her eyes.

She knew where AJ was!

…