Chapter 3: Dreaming of You

In the moments it occurred, I was never entirely sure if I was simply dreaming, or if somehow I was caught between a rift of the two worlds I was torn between. I remember feeling the cool night air on my face as I lied peacefully by the lake above the lair. Everything was so serene, so calm as I batted my eyelashes happily.

Suddenly, noises in the distance caused me to sit upright, swinging my head around to try and locate the origin. After a moment, the noises grew louder, turning into awful cries..someone was screaming my name. Over and over, I heard them yell for me, almost as if they were trying to warn me.

I peered into the trees across the lake, spotting figures moving in the shadows. As they approached, my heart began to pound, realizing that it was my true family..Donny had been the one crying out for me as his brothers searched frantically among the trees. I reached my hand out, quickly standing, but when I tried to speak, there was no sound. I pushed hard on my vocal cords trying to squeeze out Donny's name, a scream, a yell, anything to get his attention..but my attempts were failed. No matter how hard I tried, I could make no sound.

I thought to myself, then, if I could not call out to him, I would simply run to him, falling in his arms. Oh how good it would feel to have his arms around me once more. I moved my feet beneath me, tears welling in the corners of my eyes. At my first attempt, I thought I would finally be with him again, but the longer I ran..the further away he seemed to be. I felt panicked in that moment, my body unable to aware him of my presence. I was there! Right in front of him! Why couldn't he see that? Why couldn't I show him that?

I moved my legs faster and faster, somehow thinking if I kept at it long enough I would triumph, running to him with a smile on my face..but it was no use..Suddenly, everything around me began to grow darker, seeming to melt away to reveal nothing but an eerie black, surrounding me as a single light shone upon me. I was alone in that moment, left to face everything I had ever feared. Panting, I opened my mouth, letting out a blood-curdling scream, finally able to hear the sound of my voice again, but this time, there was no one there to hear it.

My eyes flew open as I shot up, grabbing my chest as I gasped for air. Sweat was running down my forehead in little beads, and my shirt was soaking wet from tossing and turning, causing an unnatural fever in my dreams.

I placed my palms on my forehead, taking in a deep breath as I looked around the room. Donny had so graciously let me borrow his room for the night, offering to sleep on the couch if it would make me comfortable in this world. I smiled a bit, thinking about how sweet it was of him to to that for me. After all.. I was used to sleeping in my Donny's bed with him every night. The only difference now was there was no one for me to hold..

Unable to go back to sleep after the occurrence of my awful dream, I decided to have a look around. Sliding my feet around to the edge of the bed, I climbed out of the covers, walking silently over to Donny's work desk. I chuckled to myself as I stared at the messy piles of research papers and post-it-notes, clumped together with bits of metal and wire-workings. It was a beautiful heap of Donny's unfathomable ability to work tech magic, but it would surely scare away your average OCD.

I traced my hand slowly across the wooden frame of the desk, remembering all the long nights my Donny had. I remember some nights I would lie in bed, only to wake up in the wee hours of the morning to see his lamp was still on. I would beckon to him in my cute sleepy voice, telling him to come to bed and snuggle with me. I smiled at the thought of him holding me as we slept, but frowned soon after, knowing there was a possibility I may never have the feeling again..

Suddenly, I heard a creak in the door as it slowly began to open. Being used to people not knocking in my own world, I simply stood, waiting to see who had crept to Donny's room so late at night.

To no surprise, it was Donny, standing awkwardly in the doorway for having caught me awake. I waved a little at him, smiling, "Hello."

He was about to wave back when he looked down a little, his whole face turning red as he realized I wasn't wearing any pants, "I-I-I..You're um..I..I'm sorry!"

I looked down, noticing why he was red as a beet. Covering my black and white striped undies, I blushed a little, feeling foolish to have forgotten I didn't wear pants to bed that night, "Haha..sorry about that. I forgot you aren't the one who's used to seeing that."

He turned his head away, trying to be polite as I searched for my jeans, "Yeah..not used to it...not at all.."

I sighed shortly as I zipped up my jeans and hooked the button, "So, what brings you here so late, other than the fact that it is your room?"

He finally turned his view towards me again, but still seemed a little shaken about seeing my panties, "Oh..uh..well..I heard you mumbling in your sleep..it was pretty loud, so I wanted to see if you were okay."

I smiled at him, "Well that was thoughtful of you." He blushed, trying to hold back a smile. I giggled a little, "Don't worry about me, though, it was just a bad dream."

He nodded, placing his hand behind his head, relieved, "Well, that's good..I think."

"Oh," I began suddenly, "sorry for kind of going through some of your stuff.. I was just curious to see how alike you and the Donny from my world really are."

He stuttered nervously as he spoke, "Oh-that-yeah..uh.. yeah, no, that's okay..it-it's just."

I couldn't help but laugh a little at how cute he was being. I loved seeing him all nervous around me, just like my Donny was when we first met, "You're pretty adorable when you stutter like that, you know?"

His face froze as he realized I had just called him adorable. In fact, I think he was at a loss for words for the first time in his life.

Smiling softly at him, I walked back over to the bed, "I think I'm going to try and get some more rest now, okay? You should probably do the same, saying as how you've been up this whole time trying to figure out how I got here."

He looked stunned at the fact I knew exactly what he'd been doing, "How..how did you..?"

I giggled, "Wife's intuition. You should study up on it like you do your mechanics. It'll do you good one day." He scratched his head, unable to conjure a single word, "Well, goodnight Donny. I'll see you tomorrow?"

He kept his hand behind his head, "Uh..yeah.. yeah of course..Goodnight, then."

I took in a deep breath as he walked out of the room, shutting the door lightly behind him. I didn't know what it was, but I just felt so at home in this alternate world, no matter how different it was from my own. Though, I still feared there was something else out there.. something that had to do with my kidnapping the night before..

I landed my head on the large white pillow with a pouf trying to clear my mind of the day's events. After all, I most likely had an even longer day ahead of me.