The Cure

A tall, broad shouldered boy that looked to be about my age stood up and glared right back. He was the only other one not subdued by cuffs. His honey blonde hair hung down in his eyes, which were the color of the night sky, just after the sun sets completely — indigo blue. He was wearing a tee shirt and jeans, just like me.

Unlike me, he was giant — 5'11", if not more. My Dad had been around that height, and this boy looked much taller than he had been. Curious, I paid rapt attention to everything he said.

"I toldja a million times, Lieutenant, it's Charlie," he sighed in surprisingly thick New York-ese, "Charlie."

Charlie, I repeated silently. Maybe his name would be worth remembering. Who knew? Maybe he was my ticket out of this place. Maybe not. At that point, I was just following out of boredom and lack of a better occupation. When, exactly, did this dream get to the point?

"Oh, shut up, Yankee. I know you can talk without that accent o' yours. You ain't been to New York in forty years," Lieutenant snarled. He landed a vicious blow on the metal bars right where Charlie's face was, then strode away.

I looked closer at the boy once the Lieutenant's pervasive presence had dissipated. His eyes were the same color as Erek's, and they burned with the same intensity. Actually, the more I looked at him, the darker the blue in his eyes seemed to become. After a few seconds, they were the color of midnight, and yet they still reminded me of Erek's.

I didn't know why, but something about them drew me in the same way. Maybe it was the way the color seemed to melt down in waves, instead of curving in circles, or perhaps it was the way it intensified near the pupil. I didn't know, and I didn't really care. Seeing the familiar pattern made me smile.

I reached out to him through the bars of my cell. He did the same. For some reason, I was comforted.

I didn't realize then that this would be the boy that I would —

I lapsed back into the colors, then the darkness. The longer I spent there, the more my dream was forgotten. As my consciousness faded away, it dissolved almost completely, and took Charlie with it.

The lunch bell brought my mind to focus again, and I opened my eyes when it started to resound. I was immediately alert and smiled to myself, recalling a dream about Erek's eyes, or a likeness of them . . . And something about a prison. The smile was quickly replaced by a confused frown. Why would I be dreaming about a prison?

I pushed the thought aside. It was the least of my worries. After all, who needed a dream when you could see the real thing?

Just like that, my smile was back, and so was my energy. There was a gnawing feeling in the pit of my stomach, but I ignored it. Almost trembling with longing to see him, I jumped up and brushed off my filthy jeans, then discreetly slid through the door. There wasn't anyone in the corridor, so I walked freely to the mouth, where I crouched in the shadows and tried to prepare myself.

I had no clue how I was going to react to all the people that were on their way to the cafeteria. I had even less of an idea at how I was going to deal with them once I was actually in the cafeteria. I tried to pull myself together, to only focus on getting to Erek, but the worry wouldn't leave me alone. I kept seeing a small prison with blood red tiling. What had I done to get there?

I shook my head and pushed it, along with the entire dream, to the edge of my mind. I pushed it so far that it was precariously close to falling off the jagged brim, which was exactly what I wanted. If the thoughts fell off, if they crashed to the bottom of the black abyss, I would never have to deal with them again. Pain shot through my heart as I tried to forget, the kind of pain that comes to one when they lose someone close to them. I ignored it and stood up. People were starting to flood down the hall, and I had to be prepared to mix in with them. I was just getting ready to join the crowd when the first human passed me.

His scent trailed behind him and I felt my body automatically pull to it. I can't describe to you how good it smelled. It clouded my head and sent shockwaves of pleasure shooting down my arms. Something inside me roared and ripped and snarled for the source of my ecstasy, and I fought against it. If I gave in, I would end up hurting people. That was not what I came to do. As I resisted, my consciousness started to flicker. Every time I let it slip away, a low snarl rumbled in my throat. I panicked. Without noticing much, I stopped breathing.