by D. H. Quinn
“Good, now since we are being honest with each other, I need to know everything about Jack. About why she chose me and about who is on her side.”
“Fine, but we need to move somewhere safer,” Arden announces and pulls out his device.
“I am glad that is getting use considering how much time we spent on it,” I say with a small smile. Arden smiles back, a genuine glimmer in his eyes. We have in fact formed a genuine friendship. I believe that.
“This way,” Arden points down the street. We travel quickly. Arden and Aleksander explain more about Jack as we travel. They tell me that she was the newest member of the council when the council officially crumbled. Still, they say many are loyal to her and abide by her rules.
Garrett is one of these loyal beings. He knew the plans from an early stage and has been following her since. “Jack seems to have either deep respect or fear of him from the interactions I saw between them.”
Arden looks to Aleksander for an explanation and I notice this as a trend. Aleksander knows Jack and whenever something personal about her feelings come up, he is the one with the answer. This hurts me deeply but everyone has a past, so of course he knew so much about her.
“She respects him, he is powerful and useful and for the most part on her side. He is also supposedly formed from a piece of a destroyed council member.”
“Really, how is that possible?”
Arden takes over, clearly more versed in the dream walker aspects of all of this. “Dream walkers are created all sorts of ways, a mere idea in the wind, a human thought, whatever really. One day we don’t exist and the next we are here,” he tells me with a shrug of his shoulders.
“And how did she know he was a council member?”
“She knows much intuitively, as you already know, but she said Garrett’s power was too much for a starting dream walker and then she said she recognized his eyes,” Aleksander shivers slightly.
“But wouldn’t he fight against her after what she technically did to him, does he even know?”
“He knows and he really doesn’t care, it’s just a small piece of the council member, he has no thoughts or memories of that life. He is a separate being”
We walk down a familiar street and I see the group of boys loitering in front of their house before they see me. “Here?” I ask Arden for confirmation.
“No one pays attention to them and besides it is a place you entirely created, it is likely Jack will be unable to see through it and detect you as easily.” The boys see us walking over and approach us. Big, happy grins greet us. I greet them back with an equally big smile.
The boys lead the way into the house and Arden follows them eagerly. The door shuts before Aleksander and I enter. Aleksander stands an arm distance away from me, his lips press together as he glances around. “I have to go back to her,” his eyes are wide and sad and I want to desperately believe he is telling me the truth about everything.
“I am going to look for information on your brother. She won’t tell me but I know her ways, her every hiding spot. I’ll contact you as soon as I can.”
“Please, be careful, she knows something.” I step forward. I find my hand reaching for his but I pull back at the last second. This action could only make things worse, I need to be cautious, we need to be cautious.
He looks at me with eyes full of hope as we stand in silence, finally he nods and walks away. Part of me wants to stop him, to say goodbye properly, knowing the danger he’s in, instead I watch him walk away, his head firmly fixed on the ground in front of him and I get the sense he is holding back like I am.
The door swings open and I am broken out of my stupor and pulled into the house by the boys. They want me to a play a game with them and I agree, mindlessly shuffling through my turns. The boys’ enjoyment helps me feel more lighthearted but eventually they grow bored of my company as they do with many things and take off upstairs and outside.
Arden and I sit on the large comfortable couch I created. “What do we do?” I ask Arden at one point.
“We wait for news.”
“I don’t think I have much time, what she is doing is already affecting my brother and,” I shake my head somewhat angrily but my nerves crawl up more than anything. I have to save my brother.
“We can’t act, not until Kade and the others figure things out, and they will contact us once they do.” I rest my head in my hands, feeling defeated. How can we just sit here, I want to scream. Arden is right though. Jack is powerful and controls things of nightmares, of course we can’t just go in, guns blazing, that would be the worst thing to do.
We need everyone to fight and everything to go our way to win but maybe I don’t have to wait maybe I can work on things by myself. I excuse myself from the couch and head to the backroom and once I am sure Arden is not following me, I head to the back door and sneak out to the backyard.
What I am doing is risky, but I can’t sit still while everyone else is in danger. I create a warehouse building only a few feet from their door and step inside. The building’s layout is unintentionally similar to the big red building.
I close the door behind me and sit on a lounge couch that Aleksander and I had previously drank our strange drinks on. I close my eyes and feel a flow start. A fast picture moving in my head, images flying by and the creation occurs rapidly, one with each breath. I open my eyes after I am sufficiently fulfilled and exhausted at the same time.
The pile I have created of Mare and Mahrt killing weapons reaches near the roof. When Kade hopefully returned with an army I would have these ready. The doubt raises in my mind almost instantly, but what if he doesn’t, what if no one is left for this fight? What if they don’t want to fight anymore?
I should put faith in these dream walkers but I find that I can’t. The horrible things we have fought, I can’t imagine anyone who would want to fight them but of course there is another option. I don’t have to risk them as I can create my own army. I close my eyes and start on my creations before I can really think it over.
I create warriors, beings who are fearless and ready to fight against the bad. They are strong and more importantly full of feelings of justice needed to be fulfilled. I think of these beings as a whole, as an army of around 100 for now because I imagine that is what will fit in this space. I open my eyes and can’t help but feel impressed but also amused by my creations.
Many different figures stand before me. All types of warriors, from all types of places ranging from real world to fantasy. They were different types of armor, some heavy to make them protected, some light to make them agile. A prominent roman soldier stands proudly in the front, head held high. They await their orders. I stand up from my seat.
The words flow out of me almost instantly. “You are here today because we are facing a great evil. A woman, no a snake,” I add for dramatic effect and continue, “means to exploit innocent people, to hurt them. I need you to eliminate the threats to the people in this town and once that is done we will go for Jack and we will stop her,” I say, my hands raised in the air. My army cheers.
“So, pick a weapon and start the process,” I tell them, indicating the pile besides me. The army moves immediately, forming a line for the weapons. I can’t help the sense of beaming pride I have. The dream walkers of this city will be safe when these warriors are out there, they could handle this.
“Kamari!” An outraged voice calls to me from the front door. The army slowly disperses out of the building. I turn to see Arden angrily marching over with a few of the boys in tow. The boys look up in awe at my warriors.
“What are you doing? What part of waiting do you not understand?” Arden shakes his hands at me. The roman soldier is instantly next to me, hand resting on the hilt of his sword.
“Arden is not a threat,” I tell the soldier, waving him away and he instantly obeys.
Arden looks exasperated. “Where are they going?”
“Relax, they are just going to clear the city of any danger,” Arden
raises his eyebrow questioningly, “they are hunting Mahrts and Mares for now.”
“Won’t this be a clue to Jack that we are mobilizing when we aren’t even fully ready?”
“She already knows almost everything. This way we are not risking as many dream walkers to fight.”
“These are dream walkers and frankly you creating them with this purpose in mind is cruel.”
“This is what they desire most, winning a difficult fight, it is their only goal, that and justice. I don’t know Arden, it just feels right, just trust me.”
He shakes his head. I continue, “what would be cruel is changing every dream walker in this city to fight for me, to not be afraid, and be loyal to me. We know what kind of monsters are out there, we cannot expect them to endure such tortures when they don’t have to.” My words hit me, I am talking about Arden. I did this to him. I continue, “what about your friend Gavin? He lost his arm to these things and he was brave didn’t you say, that isn’t going to save them.”
“I just can’t believe you would do this with this intention,” Arden drops his head down, some of his anger feels diffused.
“You know what, I don’t agree that this isn’t the best choice, you would prefer that I march out average dream walkers to their death when we have these beings to defend us. For now Arden, let’s agree to disagree because that’s all there is, we can’t escape it, a war is coming.”
“Your war!” Arden’s glare returns.
I look Arden directly in the eyes, not breaking eye contact, “you know what, you’re right.” I close my eyes and remove Arden’s loyalty. I have had a pit in my stomach about needing Arden on my side, about being able to trust anyone here but Aleksande was right, this is wrong. Arden doesn’t want this and he shouldn’t have to.
I consider taking his bravery and strength as well but know that this would not benefit him in the upcoming days, so maybe when this was all over, when he was ready, then I would change him back. “You shouldn’t have to worry about this if the state of the city doesn’t concern you.” His eyes widen. He blinks rapidly as if he is trying to process something. Then he stands and walks silently out the door.
I rest my head in my hands feeling tremendous disappointment. Arden had been reluctantly by my side since the beginning of this adventure. Now that he is brave, he has voiced his concerns and disapproval and I have been holding onto him for far too long and for the most part against his will. I cannot bear the thought of taking him into this mess with me. Wasn’t this what I am fighting for? Giving dream walkers a chance to make their own decisions.
I think more about the implications of my actions. I feel guilt at his words but what I have done is the right path for this. If not, I would just have more Ardens who doubt my every move. I sit still in my newly created warehouse, watching each warrior pick a weapon. Some even come up to me and ask for customized weapons which I happily provide.
The dream walkers of this city have been incapable of fighting against the creatures of nightmares and this was an opportunity to even out the odds, for them to no longer feel terrorized by these creatures, and for humans too, to be able to come to a safer dream place. My feelings rush through me, ranging from positive to negative, from pride to shame, from excitement to disappointment. I sit contemplatively until I am thrusted back into the waking world.
Chapter Twelve
The time is 10am when I awake. I got more sleep than usual but it still did not feel like enough. I let my dog out and immediately call Rob. He picks up on the second ring. “Hey Rob, how was the rest of your day yesterday?” I keep my voice calm.
“Fine,” he replies with a grunt and then he stays silent.
“Any strange dreams, more with that Jacqueline woman?” I try to keep the disgust out of my tone.
“I can’t really remember much,” Rob sighs and I grip the phone tightly. “I do remember waking up in the middle of the night though, feeling frightened but I can’t remember why.”
“Have you ever heard of lucid dreaming?” In this situation, he would have to help himself.
“I have, where you go into the dream and control it, right?”
“Right. Maybe you should try that the next time you feel that you are in danger, control and change what’s happening.”
“Yeah sounds good,” he sounds disinterested. “Look it isn’t a big deal really, I have to go dad wanted help on some project.”
“Okay, alright well I will talk to you later. Bye,” I say and he hangs up without reply. Hopefully he is just preoccupied, I think to myself, but another part thinks that Jack could be doing anything to him and I have no power to stop it. At least when he is awake, I don’t have to worry and every effort in my dreams can be put towards defeating Jack.
My Sunday drags on. I watch television, run some quick errands and furiously deep clean my house, trying to keep myself busy. By midday I am calling my mother and asking her what they are having for dinner. I need to see Rob in person. I tell her the meal she is making sounds delicious and ask if I can come over. She is surprised momentarily but then I can tell she is excited. I don’t mention Rob in the call because I know my mother would become suspicious.
I arrive early at their house. I help my mother finish her cooking and she only takes slight digs at me that don’t bother me currently because my mind races on more important topics. My brother and father come in from the garage covered in dust. My brother looks tired. “Hey Kamari,” he says casually.
“Kamari decided to join us for dinner, isn’t that great,” my mother says to them.
“That’s great,” my dad replies with a small smile.
At dinner, we talk about upcoming holiday plans. Thanksgiving is only a week and a half away. My mother plans on making a big dinner and somehow I am roped into helping. I don’t mind. My family is all I have, it would be better if I was closer to them, to overlook things that have hurt me in the past. Although, this could be a disaster for my mom and I’s relationship. I am not such a great cook and she is somewhat of a perfectionist.
I shake the thought out of my head, focusing back on my brother. I hadn’t noticed before but his shoulders are less broad, his arms skinny. He pushes around his food on his plate, taking only small bites. A fire erupts in my gut. I am going to kill Jack for harming my brother.
I think about what we could do to remedy this. I could talk to my parents, get him help but I don’t know if that will work considering the source of his issues. I need to talk more to Sierrah, see how she overcame her issues. I stay around after dinner, helping Rob clean up and then we sit and watch some short clip comedy show that Rob laughs lightly at. His laugh gives me hope. Maybe he will be okay if I can just stop Jack quickly.
I call Sierrah on the ride home. She answers on the first ring and I feel guilty. She knows I was in the city last night. She has probably been awaiting news on her brother all day. I am selfish in this moment as I had only called her to ask about my brother. The truth was I had no good information to tell her about her own brother. I tell her that Aleksander was standoffish at the prospect of returning. I suggest that maybe he still believes she is in danger but I just don’t know.
“He is stubborn, just keep working on him.” I then ask about what they did when she was being attacked. “Nothing really helped, honestly, I wish I had good news,” she says sullenly. “But I read somewhere that if you focus on surrounding yourself with light before you fall asleep that could help keep them away. Since my brother’s incident, I have been doing that and I have felt pretty good.”
“Thanks,” I say without hiding my disappointment. I want to add but Jack is most likely protecting you at Aleksander’s request. Instead I say, “I will let him know.” I do text him this information once I am home. I lay in my bed shortly after and fall asleep.
I awake in my warehouse. Kade and John sit on the lounge chair along with the bartender, Ed who sips on something orange. The other two men each have an exotic looking drink. I am momentarily glad I have
created an army if this is all Kade and John could manage to round up.
“Kamari, come over,” Kade has a giddy energy about him. Maybe they are celebrating or maybe it is all over and they are having a pity party. The pessimist in me prevails in this moment.
“Hey guys, how’s it going?”
“Great, can you make more of those?” Kade manically gestures to the discarded weapon pile the soldiers had left behind.
“Sorry, it’s the drinks,” John takes Kade’s drink away from him. Relief flows through me.
“We have some people who want to meet you,” Ed leans forwards and intensely gazes at me. “They don’t really trust humans, as you can understand.”
“No one does here really.” I shrug. The three men stand up, leaving their drinks discarded on the table. I follow the men’s lead. Kade walks besides me, and he is clearly coming down from the effects of the drink.
“Your army is doing great.” His tone is strange and I am not sure if he is being genuine or sarcastic after my last encounter with Arden. What am I doing inserting myself into all of this mess. When had I become so community driven and determined? I have always had a strong sense of fairness and this world seemed to put that in overdrive.
“Are they?” I ask unsurely.
“Yeah, people have been feeling a whole lot safer with so many of the Mahrts disappearing and your people are marching the streets in patrol, it’s really what the city needed honestly.” Kade’s eyes are earnest.
“No existential crisis on creating dream walkers for war being wrong?” I blurt and feel guilty for still being annoyed at Arden.
Kade shakes his head, “no, not at all, at least they have a purpose,” he says with a huff.
I feel sad in that moment but say nothing about it. I am sure many of these dream walkers feel purposeless. Their lives can be a mess of fear and violence. I hope that I am making the change they need.
