Just a Sip

I felt cool breath on my face as he kissed my chin, his lips trailing down my neck. He stopped lingering at my collarbone.

"I can taste you, without even biting." the mystery guy whispered against me running a finger down the middle of my chest. I shivered feeling scared and nauseously in love at the same time. 

"Just do it already." I thought in my head.

And then I wake up.

I've had the same dream for weeks now and have woken up in a cold sweat. Scared and excited at the same time, I would sit at the edge of my bed and cradle my head in my hands. The hauntingly beautiful scent of bougainvillea flowers left on my breath and hands, I wasn't sure what to make of my dreams. Or nightmares.

It was always the same. A thick accented stranger would whisk me away through the night, his eyes as bright as rubies, and he'd tease me in a forest of flowers and trees. And when I couldn't take anymore, I would come back to reality. Terrified.

It all started three weeks ago at work, the night after the first dream. I was pricing shoes for my manager Louise as usual. I worked at a kids shoe store during the days and nights of summer at the mall. It was a slow evening for the shop and I hung over the counter, bored and even more bored.

"Miu, please do something productive." Louise commanded walking past my sticklike frame on the counter. I grunted blowing a pouf of black hair away from my face.

"Yes my liege." I said sarcastically dragging myself to the sales rack to put clearance tags onto marked items. My black tee hung around my body like a ghost. Peeking from behind my mass of hair as I picked up a shoe I dropped, I scanned the tea and coffee shop across the way. My ex Rodriguo worked there and always flirted with the customers. It pissed me off, but I couldn't help but look and watch in fascination. How many times could a guy cheat on you AND embarrass you in public before you learned your lesson? For me, he had endless amounts of time.

I scowled at the coffee joint. Days came and went and being stuck in this hellhole town in Georgia only made my outlook on life bleaker. I longed for excitement. To go to New York, Paris...to be in love...to have someone to call mine and MINE ONLY. I had always been strange, I had friends and was popular enough at school. But I never let anyone know the real me. The real me that huddled up behind my computer on stormy nights typing down my dreams into an online blog. The real me that sometimes cuts to let the pain of my very existence bleed down the drain.

How I had gotten Rodriguo? Who knows? How I lost him? I let him see the real me. Now spreading rumors around school about how I got off on the sight of blood, I was looked down upon, and I looked down in response. I don't get off on blood okay?! I'm a cutter! Big whoop! When was something REAL going to happen to me? How will it happen? I screamed in my head.

My eye, as if on cue, met a guys who stood outside of the shop Rodriguo worked at holding samples of tea. His dark eyes bore into mine and danced with light. I tried to look away, but couldn't. He was so beautiful. His black buttonup was tucked behind an earthy brown apron as he lazily stood outside drawing in customers with the gleam of his brilliant white smile. 

I shook my head going back to picking up the shoes like I intended. But I couldn't get his eyes out of my head.

Was he new? Had he always worked there? It was as if he had...forced me to look at him. Had he? I mulled over this while continuing to steal glances at him. But when I looked up, he was gone. Maybe I was creating some form of excitement for myself...maybe I really was crazy.

"I must be on some SERIOUS dope." I muttered still not completely convinced that it was my imagination. I took the shoes to the counter, spreading them out and begining to price them. 

My manager returned, standing beside me to use the computer. I was tempted to ask her if she knew the guy at the tea and coffee place. But she was a bigmouth and would surely tell someone. So I stood silently stapling tags to baby shoes. Thinking about a show I missed the night before on HBO, I missed one shoe and stapled my finger on accident.

"SHITMOTHERFUCKERALLHAILTHEALMIGHTYKING!" I hissed clutching my hand. A woman that was considering some shoes in the front stared at me, jaw hanging and she walked out. My face blanched as my manager glared at me.

"What. The. HECK Miu!" she growled. I really didnt know what took over me. I wasn't so engrossed in my thoughts that I would really staple my own finger. My manager stormed off grumbling to herself while I stared down at the pearl of blood blooming on the tip of my finger. I felt dizzy, like when I cut too deep or overlapped cuts. 

Shakily pulling a band aid from the drawer, I looked over to the tea shop, not seeing that guy again.

"Serious dope alright." I said wrapping my finger up tight.
•     •     •
     My mother and father were real estate agents. Rarely home, they took the advantage of us all being home that night to torture me with...'dinner table friendly questions about my life.' 

My father, part Viet twirled the spaghetti my mom cooked around his fork.

"So Miu, how do you feel about your grades this semester?" he asked. My father and mother were so out of touch with my life that they didn't even realize that it was summer. So as usual, I bullshitted.

'Sucky. I'm dropping out of school to become a stripper. Also, I'm pregnant with R. Kelly's baby and might have a sex change to accommodate to my new lifestyle.'

"Great dad. Just great." I answered poking a dull colored meatball with my knife. He nodded looking to my mother proudly.

"We have a good little egg dont we?" He said as she nodded with him. Okay, pause, my parents had another good egg before me and his name was Troy, he was gone before I was born. But apparently he was kidnapped right from his bed. After I was old enough to hear about it, it laid heavy on me like a curse. Was I supposed to be the golden child? Should I try and find him? 

Would I ever be next?

After the dinner dishes were cleared out, I faked a yawn telling my parents I was worn out and was heading to bed. As usual they would kiss my head and send me on my way. I floated up the dark stairs of our modern suburban home going to my room and shutting the door. Locking it behind me, I went to my laptop on my desk and set it up on the Internet. My fingers hovered over the keys as I finally typed in my blog address. 

I had been keeping a secret blog for months, deciding that my dreams were too interesting to keep to myself. I had 200 steady followers and never gained one more or less no matter how awesome my dreams got.

I checked my inbox answering some fanmail and then started to create the template for my most recent dream about...the stranger. A part of me didn't want to share this much about myself, but I figured none of these people knew me anyway. Maybe THEY got off on reading about my dreams about sailing underwater, or being hunted on the plains of Australia by aborigines. I was just cockblocking by NOT PUTTING THIS DREAM UP! But I couldn't. I couldn't bring myself to do it. 

So leaving the Internet on that site, I closed my laptop and turned off the light. I crawled out of my clothes diving into bed before any monsters that may be hiding underneath could get me. 

But as I laid awake in the darkness, the blankets up to my chin, I realized that what could be under my bed was nothing. In fact, compared to the dreams I've been having which were all too real, they were MUCH scarier than any boogeyman. I finally closed my eyes dozing off to the sound of my mom putting dishes away. 

I was in a broken down chateau, the breeze of a bayou night too real for my liking. Goosebumps raised on my arms, a pinprick sensation that I couldn't get rid of. He was coming.

I could sense it before I saw him. He came from behind a splintered pillar like liquid darkness as I pulled my robe tighter around me. As usual, I couldn't speak. It was like someone had cemented my throat off.

"You don't have to speak to be heard." he whispered suddenly behind me and at my ear. Internally, I screamed and ran for the woods beyond the house determined to escape this sick pervert. Whatever the fuck he was, I didn't want him near me. I stopped at the edge of the waters of the swamp, swallowing hard as I heard the soft footfalls of the stranger behind me. I could never get a good look at his face, but I didn't have to in order to be scared. 

"If you jump, I'll be at your neck quicker than you can fall." he said silkily. I felt myself turn to look at him in fear. My feet slowly carried my body to him. 

"No!" I screamed out, my voice was back. But that was the least of my concerns. My feet were moving without my direction. Soon I was in his clutches, the sweet smell of him at my nose. He kissed my shoulder, tipping my head back so my neck was exposed. 

"Your people have the most beautifully scented blood." he groaned running a finger like ice down my neck. I shook, scared and vulnerable.

"Are you real." I croaked." as he let my robe drop to the ground with flourish.

"Are you?" he asked before kissing me full on.