Deadwood

Needless to say, sleep was hard to come by. My eyes squeezed open when my cell phone went off, rather loudly, right by my ear. “Hello?” I answered in a raspy voice.

“Hey Alyss, it’s Oliver. Would it be okay for me to come over in a bit?” He sounded a little nervous.

Without thinking, I replied, “Yeah, no problem. Give me like an hour to wake up, okay? See you then.”

I hung up the phone and laid my head back on the pillow. Then I groaned, remembering that I was supposed to keep my distance from him. Well, hell. That just went down the drain. I couldn’t call him back and say I changed my mind. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings.

Though I wished I could get more sleep, I opted for crawling out of bed to start getting ready. Oliver sounded really strange over the phone, and I wanted to be fully awake and functional for whatever it was he wanted to talk about.

When I found my way to the kitchen, Mom was sitting at the kitchen table, newspaper in hand as was usual in the morning. Without a word she pointed the freshly brewed coffee, my favorite cup already sitting next to the pot. “Aw, Mom. You’re the best.” I said, ruffling her hair affectionately as I went over to pour myself a cup.

She just smiled, fixing her hair absentmindedly. “What’s your plan for today?” She asked after I had sat down, inhaling the smell of the coffee happily.

“Oh, Oliver’s coming over in a bit.” I replied, then added hastily. “If that’s alright with you. You didn’t have anything planned for us, did you?”

“Not today. But there are a lot of things I’d like to get done soon,” She said, nose still stuck between the pages. “Mostly cleaning. Could you maybe stick around tomorrow?”

After swallowing a gulp of coffee, I quickly replied, ‘Yeah, sure. It’s not a problem. I’ve been running around not doing anything productive for a few weeks. I can help you out for one day.”

Her eyes peeked over the paper, and I could tell she was smiling. “Great! Thank you so much, Alyss. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to make you work on your birthday.”

I chuckled along nervously, then fell silent. I had forgotten about that in the midst of Oliver’s weird morning phone call. That meant I had today and my birthday to figure out just what the hell was going on and what I was supposed to do about it. This didn’t make me feel particularly confident.

After a second cup of coffee, I munched on some toast and wandered back to my room to brush my teeth. Oliver was supposed to be here any moment. I found myself pacing nervously. When he got here, should I tell him about the latest dream? Or would that be a huge mistake?

The door bell rang loudly, echoing through out the house. I froze, wondering how I was supposed to greet him. “Get a grip,” I muttered to myself. “He’s not any different.”

But I wondered if that was really true when he poked his head into my room. I told him to come in, and he did, although a bit hesitantly. Sitting down on the end of my bed, he ran a hand through already disheveled hair. I took a closer look at him, and saw that he had dark bags under his eyes, and he looked pale. “Hey, are you okay?” I asked in concern, sitting down next to him.

He shook his head in response., but remained silent. Then he reached over and squeezed my hand, like he needed something to hold onto. I squeezed it back, my concern growing. “Oliver, what happened? You’ve got to tell me.” I pleaded with him.

It was hard seeing him like this. He’d always seemed so sure of himself, always ready with a quick joke and an even quicker smile. But now, as he turned his eyes to mine, he looked down right scared. “I…I’ve been having these dreams.” He said uncertainly, his gaze flicking to the mirror.

“What about?” I prodded, all my attention focused on him.

Perhaps it was finally coming back to him; who he really was. I realized that he had said he’d been having dreams; as in, more than one, and definitely not all in one night. “At first, they were okay. Just strange. They felt almost like memories.” His voice was faraway, back in the dreams.

Again he lapsed into silence. “But they didn’t stay like that?” I asked, trying not to lose my patience with him. I could tell this was really hard for him.

“L-last night’s was different.” His voice shook with emotion. “It was…horrible.”

“What happened in it?” I asked, my voice growing soft.

But Oliver shook his head violently. “I d-don’t want t-to talk about it.” He stammered, what little color that had been in his face draining away.

So he had had a dream last night too. I wondered if it was the same one I had, only in a different perspective. At this point, I really wouldn’t doubt it. Next to me, I could feel his body trembling. His eyes were fixed on the mirror, both anger and fear directed at it.

“I had a dream last night, too.” I said quietly, trying not to make him more upset. “I wonder if perhaps it was the same one.”

Finally he removed his eyes from the mirror, looking back in mine. “You too?” He said hoarsely, and then nodded to himself. “Yeah, that’s right. You told me about that other one you had.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about the dreams before?” I asked, honestly curious. I had come clean with him.

Suddenly he looked very, very tired. And far older than he was. “You don’t understand.” He whispered. “Or maybe you do. I don’t feel like I’m myself any more - it’s like I’m falling away. And I’m scared, Alyss. I’m scared I won’t come back.”