Rising - 2. Chapter Two: Dreams - Part 2

Under normal circumstances there’s no way in the world I would’ve walked into a house I knew nothing about with people I knew nothing about under the perception that staying outside would get me seen by sources unknown. But the level of abnormal that things had reached, and were continuing beyond, had opened the door to one major question. If the house was real and Jessie was real, how much more from the nightmares was real too?

Or worse yet…what was new?

Shelly clearly was.

I didn’t know where she fit in. There was never a third person trying to make it into the house in the nightmares. It was always just me and Jessie. Any other person that we did see in the nightmares, aside from each other, had the potential to be a creature in disguise. Looking like a regular person of any age or gender until they were ready to reveal the ugly truth was a neat little ability they had. One of their preferred methods of attack was posing as a person who needed help, or as a person trying to offer help.

However…no creature could set foot into the house without being killed immediately. So unless Shelly was a new type of creature who could break that rule…

“Could you please lock the door after you close it?” the very person I was thinking about requested of me.

I’d just stepped into the house as the last one in line. I couldn’t help thinking that her request sounded like one a creature might make given the setting. Get the two unsuspecting victims inside, have one of them lock the door, reveal itself for what it really was, then have that locked door suddenly become unlockable to prevent the victims from escaping.

But there was also that earlier warning.

Even though it could be a lie if Shelly turned out be some new type of creature, it would be a lot easier to deal with one to two creatures instead of a possible horde. Or, if they could enter the house now, it would buy us a barrier for them to break through first.

I could feel the tingle in my blood from the adrenaline my system started releasing as I shut the door behind me, and locked both the top and bottom locks.

“Thanks,” Shelly said, starting to walk again.

Jessie followed. I took up the rear again.

Our walk took us through the front room, down the hallway I’d seen Jessie come from earlier, past a room with its door partially closed, around the only corner to the left, and into what I guessed was the master bedroom.

From that partially closed door on I kept my ears perked up for any sound that might indicate anyone exiting the room and following.

Shelly took a position at the bedroom door, allowing Jessie and then myself to walk in.

My blood felt almost electrified.

I knew she was going to shut that door.

There were creatures in the nightmares me and Jessie had dubbed “closers”. They were often the first indicator that a nightmare was even in progress, and usually struck before me and Jessie had the chance to find each other. That’s a thing about the nightmares. The two of us never start together.

Closers always traveled alone and liked to pose as a regular person. They would plant themselves in with a group of people, which I would also be a part of, and we would always be in a room of some sort that had a single door. When all of us would get up to leave the room, I would always find myself trailing the back of the line. The creature would always be the person at the back of the line that I was trailing, and there would always be enough distance between us that allowed the creature to stop at the door, turn around to face me, smile, and gently push the door closed.

All of the lights in the room would suddenly turn out, leaving the door as the only source of light coming in. I'd have to make it to the door before it closed and get out of the room, or else the door would shut, and I would be trapped in complete darkness. That darkness would then be illuminated by a sickly orange light that would come from the center of the floor. Only it wouldn’t be a floor anymore. It would be the inverted slippery surface of an inner mouth, with the source of light coming out of a gaping, jagged-toothed maw.

Trying to climb a slippery surface without talons or claws is a losing battle. Even though a person can’t feel pain in their dreams, they can feel the horror of what’s it like to be eaten alive.

I knew the same theory had to be on Jessie's mind. He didn't walk that far into the room. He'd gone just far enough so that he was in it, but close enough so that he could still make it to the door if he had to. I repeated his move, but turned around and walked backwards when I was about halfway to Jessie in order to watch Shelly.

She started to close the door exactly like I thought she would. But as it closed, the light that was in the room didn't darken. It remained unchanged.

Leaving the door, Shelly walked over and took a seat on the edge of the unmade bed. It put her facing Jessie and me.

“I imagined this going a whole lot smoother, but here we are, and here this is, so here we go,” she began. “I know you both have questions right now, but…”

Her eyes fell directly on me.

“I need to ask you a question first. Why did you come to this house?” she asked.

“Why did you say I was here like you knew I was coming?” I inquired instead of answering.

She might've turned out not to be a closer, but she wasn't off the hook yet.

“Because, I knew you would. I’ve been waiting for you.”

That answer was not unlike one a creature who was posing as someone trying to help us might give.

“Why?” I asked.

Shelly smiled kindly.

“I think it’s your turn to answer my question now,” she said.

Just like a creature would at this point.

The only reason I was going to answer it was for Jessie’s sake. Given how the situation was continuing to look more and more like we were in some shit, I needed to make sure that he had absolutely no doubt that I was who I really was.

“I came to see if this house was real and what would happen by coming here,” I answered, looking over at Jessie as I did so.

“What do you mean by see if it was real?” Shelly asked.

Now that was unlike a creature to ask.

I’d learned after the first month of nightmares that the creatures were incapable of breaking what I called the fourth wall. They would never say anything to bring attention to the fact that what was happening was all a dream.

Jessie, whose attention was on me, turned to Shelly.

“All right,” he started as he walked over to her, got down on his knee in front of her, and put his hand on her right knee. “Babe, you really need to cut the shit and just tell us what’s going on. Right now.”

The electric tingle of adrenaline in my blood escalated to max, and I felt myself tense up. If she was a creature, Jessie had just set it up for her to reveal it.

Shelly slid her hand warmly over Jessie’s.

“Okay. But, I’m not going to be able to tell you guys everything,” she replied.

“Why?” Jessie asked.

“Because I’m bound.”

“Bound? What do you mean you’re bound? I don’t understand.”

“It means that if I try, I won’t be able to speak when it comes to certain things.”

I had no idea what to do with that response and wondered if I’d heard her right. I didn’t know of anything in the world that could stop a person from speaking. Even people who couldn’t speak spoke through sign language.

“Okay, now you’ve completely lost me,” Jessie told Shelly, making me glad to hear I wasn’t the only one.

The hand that Shelly had over Jessie’s moved into a position so that instead of covering his hand, it held it.

“There’s no easy way to explain this, but I swear that what I’m about to tell you is the truth. Have you ever heard of the term Maji before?”

I had. I knew it was one of the older terms for what most people today would call a mage or a wizard.

“Yes,” Jessie answered.

“Well, that’s what I happen to be. Just for real,” Shelly revealed.

And I thought I had no idea what to do with that comment about her being bound.

“What do you mean? Is that some kind of new age thing or something?” Jessie asked.

I was glad he’d been quick enough to think about the new age angle, because that was not where my mind was at. With how crazy Shelly’s mouth had gotten, I was thinking she meant that she was a Maji in reality. And that wouldn’t have been crazy if it wasn’t for the fact that Maji did not and had never existed in reality.

Saying nothing in response to Jessie’s question, Shelly pointed the index finger on her free hand upward at the ceiling. Both me and Jessie looked up to see what she was pointing at. It was the ceiling fan that was situated just beyond the end of the bed. Both the light and the fan were off.

At first I thought I was seeing things as the filaments of the light started to come to life with a dim, orange glow. But as the glow increased, as if the light was on a dimmer switch that was being turned up to full, I knew my eyes weren’t lying to me.

As the light increased in brightness, the motionless blades of the fan began to spin. They started out slow and increased in speed until they reached full speed. At the same time they reached full speed, the light reached full brightness.

Shelly lowered her hand. The light went out instantly. The spinning fan blades began to slow.

“That’s what I mean,” she said.

I was speechless.

I knew what I’d seen. Couldn’t un-see it if I wanted to. And unless Shelly was some kin to David Copperfield, and had somehow rigged up the light and fan to make it respond the way it had, I’d just witnessed the impossible.

Shelly was not one of the creatures. She’d gone far and beyond normal creature behavior. She truly was something new.

Jessie let go of her hand, stood up, and took a couple of steps back from her. He looked over at me.

“You saw that, right?” he asked.

“Yeah.” I nodded.

His attention returned to Shelly.

“How did you do that?” he asked her.

“Energy manipulation. It’s one of the things we can do,” she answered.

“Have you always been able to do that?”

Shelly nodded.

“Since birth,” she answered.

The look that came to his face told me that Jessie didn’t like something about that answer.

“All this time that we’ve been together, you’ve been able to do that?” he inquired.

“Yes,” Shelly replied.

“So why the big reveal now?”

“I was bound from saying anything until he came.” Shelly indicated me as “he”.

“By who?”

“A group of our most powerful and wisest. They’re called the Covenant. I work for them.”

“And how long have you been doing that?”

“Since before we met.”

For a moment, Jessie just started at Shelly as if she’d become an unsolvable riddle. Then, his eyes fixed her with that same narrow-eyed gaze that he’d hit me with earlier. This time, though, there was a coldness in his gaze that hadn’t been there with me.

“Jessie…” Shelly began, starting to stand up from her seat on the bed.

He held up his hand.

“Stay where you are,” he said, sounding as if he were warning her.

Shelly obeyed and reversed her stand.

Jessie held her in that cold gaze in silence for a few moments before he asked,

“Who the hell are you, really?”

“I’m the same woman I was before you knew what you know now,” Shelly answered.

“Are you, or have you just been playing a role this whole time? Because it sounds to me like you’re a watchdog.”

That idea had not crossed my mind yet. Now that it’s been presented, the shoes did look like they could fit.

The words stung Shelly a bit. It was there for just a moment on her face.

“I already told you why I couldn’t say anything. If I could’ve I would’ve and you know that. Do you think it’s been easy for me watching you suffer through those dreams and not being able to say or do a damn thing until now?” she said.

“I don’t know, has it? It’s clear there’s a whole lot about you I don’t know,” Jessie countered.

Shelly sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. When they opened back up, they fixed on Jessie.

“You’re justified to feel the way that you feel right now. I know I would if all this were reversed. But will you…both of you please just hear me out first?” She pled.

Jessie didn’t indicate he’d even heard her plea. He was just that cold, silent gaze. I could understand how he was feeling. I could understand that his level of trust in Shelly had probably dropped to below the level of trust I had for her. But I wanted to hear her out. At this point we damn near needed to.

I was about to speak up when Jessie looked over at me. Yet another thing that was familiar about him from the nightmares was how expressive his eyes were. They could speak volumes, while at the same time his face could speak nothing. What his eyes were speaking to me was; “Do you want hear her out or not?”

I nodded my head, but didn’t say anything. Jessie turned his attention back to Shelly.

“All right. Talk,” he told her.

“The dreams that the two of you were having were for a reason. They were meant to re-introduce the two of you to each other, and to bring you, Donavan, to this house,” Shelly revealed.

“How do you know my name?” I asked.

I could’ve been wrong, but I did not remember ever stating my name while in her presence, let alone my full first name.

“Because I know who you are,” she replied.

“We’ve never met though.”

“Yes, we have.”

“Uh…when?

“I can’t answer that yet, but I promise that both of you will understand more and better once we do what you were brought here to do.”

“And what is that?” Jessie asked.

“For me to return your memories to the both of you.”

And now...all of a sudden we were in the middle of a Jason Bourne movie.

“What’re you talking about? We have our memories,” I said, wondering if I’d even heard her right.

“You both have a memory, but not your real ones,” Shelly clarified.

“So then whose memories do we have?” Jessie asked.

“Those of Donovan Johnson and Jessie Owens. Two people who didn’t exist until you became them.”

“Why did we become them?”

“Because, it was the only way to protect the both of you.”

“From what?” I asked.

“Death.”

Did not expect to hear that as the answer. I could tell Jessie didn’t either. The revelation left us both silent for a moment.

“Who was trying to kill us?” Jessie asked.

“I can’t say. Not until you have your memories back,” Shelly replied.

“Is it the things from our nightmares? Are they real too?” I asked.

“No. The monsters in your dreams aren’t real. It’s one of the changes your minds made to the dreams, along with turning them into nightmares. Once you have your memories back, they’ll stop,” Shelly answered.

“Are you the one who gave us the dreams?” knowing what I’d just found out made me want to ask.

“Or the one who took our memories?” Jessie added.

“No. The Covenant did both of those things,” Shelly replied.

“Okay, so why would they go through all of that trouble, then turn around give us back what they took?” I wondered.

“All I can say about that for right now is that it was necessary to make your deaths believable. Now that that’s been accomplished, your memories can be restored.”

“This is a pretty elaborate plan to go through for two people. What did we do to get so lucky?” Jessie remarked.

“You’ll both find out after you have your memories.”

“What if we say no?” I asked.

“Then, you go back to a life that’s not yours. The nightmares will keep happening for both of you and will eventually get to the point to where you won’t be able to sleep without having one. Once that happens the failsafe will kick in, you’ll be drawn to this house, and you won’t be able to leave until you accept what’s yours.”

Well.

I guess we knew who was wearing the pants in this decision.

“So there’s really no choice for us but to say yes,” Jessie voiced what I was thinking.

Shelly shook her head.

“The two of you were never meant to stay as you are now. It was always supposed to be temporary,” she replied.

“What do we have to do to get our real memories back then?” I asked.

“Just say yes, and I’ll start the process. I promise that it’s a quick and painless,”

“Won’t you need the help of the people you work for?” Jessie asked.

“No, I won’t need their help. I’ll be able to handle it just fine.”

I didn’t see how. If it took an entire crew of her wisest and most powerful people to do what’d been done to us, how could one single person undo it all?

“I’ll tell you what, I’m going to go out on the patio and have a cigarette,” Jessie said to Shelly.

He looked over at me.

“Donnie, would you like to go out on the patio and have a cigarette with me?” he asked.

I didn’t know what he was up to, but there was no way in the world I was letting us get separated.

“Yeah.” I nodded.

“All right. Let’s go do that,” Jessie said.

“I’ll be right here when you guys get back,” Shelly acknowledged.

I hadn’t been able to confirm it earlier for the obvious reasons, but I’d thought there might be a patio attached to the bedroom we were in. It was the shut curtains that came all the way down to the floor that’d hinted at such. Jessie showed the hint to be truth, as he opened the curtains halfway and revealed a small patio beyond. He removed the wooden security post from the patio door’s track, then unlocked and opened the door. With him stepping out onto the patio first, I followed after and shut the door behind me.

“Let’s walk out a little further.” Jessie said in a low voice.

We walked away from the door a few steps which put is in the center of the tall walled patio. Jessie had reached into his pocket and taken out his cigarettes along the way. He opened the pack and took one out.

“So, what do you think about all of this?” he asked, still speaking low as he handed the cigarette to me. I took it.

“That I should probably be asking you that question because that’s your girl in there,” I spoke low my answer.

Given the situation he had with Shelly right now, I knew that was a horrible angle to take. But he was the fiancé, not me. He was the one who had the most insight into her person.

Jessie had taken a cigarette out for himself. He continued with the action of putting the closed pack back into his pocket, as he looked away from me and at the patio door.

“I really want to believe that,” he said, shaking his head.

He looked back at me.

“You spend seven years with a person you figure you’d know everything there is to know about them.”

Seven years. That was a long time to keep a secret.

“Yeah. You’d think you would.” I agreed. “But that aside, has she ever done anything that would put her character into question?”

“Not in front of me, but who knows what goes on when we’re not together,” he replied.

“Do you believe what she’s said?”

Jessie had just finished taking the lighter out of his pocket. He lit his own cigarette before he handed the lighter to me. I took it and lit my own. He took a long, first drag off his cigarette and looked out at the patio wall. I watched and waited as he exhaled the smoke slowly.

“Do you?” he finally responded vocally after a few moments.

The truth was I did. I was still trying to wrap my head around it all, especially when it came to what Shelly was, but I did believe what she’d told us. However, I also believed that Shelly was a watchdog. I completely agreed with Jessie on that theory. And it was not knowing whether she was a good watchdog there to help us or a bad watchdog there to screw us that was kicking my ass.

I told Jessie all of that as my answer. He’d turned around to face me again while I was giving it. He nodded when I concluded.

“That’s pretty close to how I feel too,” he said.

“I know I asked you this before, but I’m going to ask again. Can we trust her?” I asked.

Jessie looked away toward the patio door for a moment, then back to me.

“If that’s still the woman I knew before all of this…yeah. We can,” he answered.

“And how do you feel about letting her return our memories?”

“Actually, I want to ask you something in relation to that. It has to do with the nightmares.”

I nodded.

“Okay.”

“In any of them did you ever have this…notion that you knew me? Not from the nightmares, but from someplace else?”

The look that question brought to my face was probably more than enough to answer, but I replied,

“Ever since the first dream.”

Jessie nodded.

“Then it sounds like maybe we’ll be doing the right thing by letting her.”

I couldn't deny that it did lend a new level of credibility to Shelly’s claims. However...

“Have you ever told her about that notion?” I asked.

Jessie shook his head.

“No. Not even once.”

I'd wanted to be sure of that.

“Then, I'd have to say that I agree with you,” I told Jessie.

He nodded, but didn't speak.

Silence settled between us as we paid our cigarettes attention. There wasn’t much left for either of us to smoke through.

I hadn’t noticed the small can that was sitting near the end of the patio door that couldn’t be walked out of until Jessie finished his cigarette and dropped it inside.

“There’s water in the can, so don’t worry about snuffing it out before you drop it in,” he said to me.

I took my turn to get rid of my cigarette and saw that there was, in fact, water in the can.

“Ready?” Jessie asked, his hand on the patio door to open it.

I sighed and nodded.

“Yeah. Let’s go get our brains re-upholstered.”

Jessie opened the patio door and stepped back inside. I followed and shut the patio door behind me. Shelly was still there in the room. She’d stood up from her sitting position and was a short distance away from the bed. Given the way she was standing, I wondered if we’d caught her pacing.

“Okay, we’re in,” Jessie told her, speaking in his regular voice instead of the hushed one from outside.

The expression on Shelly's face had been neutral. It brightened at Jessie’s words.

“You don’t know how glad I am to hear you say that,” she said.

“What do you need us to do?” I asked.

“Pick which one of you wants to go first.”

“I will,” Jessie volunteered, then, looked over his shoulder at me. “Is that okay?”

“That’s all you, man,” I gave my consent.

“All right then. I just have to whisper into your ear and we’ll be started,” Shelly said.

“All right.” Jessie replied.

She walked over to where he was standing, reached up, and tilted his head slightly toward her. Then, she moved in and whispered something into his ear. Whatever it was she’d whispered took effect immediately. Jessie’s eyes went wide and his focus locked straight ahead. Then…his face began to slacken. His stare started to become distant.

“What’s happening to him?” I inquired.

“He’ll be fine. Just give him a second,” Shelly answered.

That was about all he had too before I told her to make it stop. What was happening to Jessie did not look like it was good. The slackness in his face and the distance in his eyes was increasing. To me…it looked like his mind was shutting down.

If his eyes went dead…

Jessie’s entire body jerked harshly suddenly. His growing-closer-to-death eyes snapped back to life, and he took in a deep, sharp breath. He tried to take a step forward and staggered.

“Take it easy and catch your breath. I got you.” Shelly said, taking hold of his arm.

She made sure he was steady, before she helped him over to the bed, where he took a seat. I watched as he worked on catching his breath. Each second that went by without any sign of issues, the better I felt, until Jessie fully recovered.

“How are you feeling?” Shelly asked him.

“A little lightheaded, but I’m okay otherwise,” he replied.

“That’s absolutely normal. It’ll pass in a little while.”

Jessie looked up at Shelly from his sitting position.

“I re...” he started, then stopped suddenly.

His eyes went from Shelly to me.

“That notion we were talking about earlier...it’s for real,” he said.

“You sure?” I asked, unable to help that small piece of myself that was still skeptical, and wanted to make sure every "I" was dotted and "T" was crossed.

Jessie nodded.

“Completely.”

I couldn't see any reason for him to lie to me. I nodded myself.

“Okay.”

Shelly seemed to take that as her cue. She left Jessie’s side and went to the other end of the bed.

“Ready?” she asked me.

I sighed.

“Ready.” I nodded.

She beckoned for me to come over to where she was standing. I did. Bringing me into range like she’d done with Jessie, Shelly whispered in my ear,

“Donavan Johnson is a lie. Rocky Tindale is alive.”

*****