by Lucy Adler
“I’m sure you’ll arrive at the cure when the timing is right. Maybe there’s a reason you’ve been struggling for so long. Maybe it’ll all make sense later.”
“Oh? And what are you, some kind of guru?” he teased her. “We’re an interesting pair now, aren’t we!”
Lena laughed and rolled her eyes.
“I just don’t want you to lose yourself in all this,” she said calmly.
“I’m still me. Dr. Charles Reston, at your service!” he replied with a silly bow.
“I prefer Charlie,” she said with a wink. Then she leaned in and kissed him goodbye.
____________________________
Lena did a bit of cleaning after Charlie left for the Guild meeting. Then she watched the news for a few minutes before she started yawning.
“Oh my,” she whispered to herself. It was only eight o’clock in the evening. With her usual inverted schedule of sleeping while Charlie was at work, she had only been awake for just under four hours. She shouldn’t be tired yet.
“Hmm,” she mused, looking at the clock. “He’s usually at these things for what... three or four hours? I suppose I could --”
She wasn’t even able to finish talking to herself before another yawn enveloped her.
“Just a quick nap.”
She made her way down the hall, pulled the bedroom curtains, and climbed straight into bed. She set the alarm for an hour, then rolled over and got comfortable under the blankets.
____________________________
“That’s me.”
“This is strange. It’s been a while since I’ve... dreamed.”
The she looked closer at her body, which lay still and peaceful on the bed.
She noticed her shoulder above the blankets.
“Wait a minute. Those are my pajamas. I didn’t change before I laid down.”
Then the door to the bedroom started to open.
Slow and steady.
A hand grasping the edge of it.
A foot stepping through.
Lena’s heart started racing.
The person entered the room carrying something in their hand.
“What is that?”
Then, as if she were watching a poorly edited film from the Former Days, the scene before her began to warp and skip ahead of itself.
Now the man was immediately beside her.
Next, her vision was suddenly zoomed in as she watched him lower whatever the object was in his hand, and touch it to the base of her head.
She saw a few blue lights flicker.
Then the image skipped again and the man was slowly exiting the room.
She continued staring at herself on the bed when, in a flash, the entire scene changed.
A black bag.
A bottle of wine inside.
And the object from the last scene. A white cylinder. A needle protruding out of one end.
“Is that Charlie’s bag?”
“That’s the wine...”
“But what is that thing...?”
Then, suddenly, she was back in bed again. And the door was opening again. And the figure was entering again.
And the object touched her head again.
And the blue lights flickered again.
And Lena felt a jolt of adrenaline through her ethereal self as she watched it all unfold once... twice... three times over.
“The itching. And the blood.”
She was breathing heavily.
All she wanted was to wake up. For this horrible film to end.
But there was more to come. One more movement to the dream.
Everything around her turned black.
She waited patiently, staring into the darkness.
Slowly, a new scene emerged.
It was a lake and a green lawn. And she recognised it immediately.
“The night of Charlie’s induction. We went for a walk...”
A strange and beautiful glow emanated from the lake, and she could make out two figures strolling around the edge of it. One in black, the other in silver.
Then, as she watched, the figure in black began to break away.
It wasn’t violent or sudden.
It was a gradual, steady departure. As if it had chosen a different path through the grassy lawn. One that diverged from the course that hugged the side of the lake.
The figure in silver continued on its original course and, for a few moments, they were still within arm’s reach of each other.
Still holding hands...
Then only the tips of their fingers still pressed together...
And they were still reaching out, even as the darkness now filled the space between them...
But eventually, the figure in black turned away.
He stopped reaching.
His arm fell.
The figure in silver continued on, still reaching.
Reaching.
But only moving further away with each step along its path.
And Lena’s heart was crushed.
Her mind broken.
Her soul drained.
And she began to weep.
But then, through the tears, she noticed something else.
Beyond the glow of the lake, a deeper darkness was approaching.
It rolled and wound its way across the lawn, avoiding the glow that emanated from the lake.
It moved silently but purposefully.
It moved toward the figure in black who had stopped reaching out.
Lena’s sorrow turned to fear, and her fear gave way to terror.
“No. Please, no.”
Like a ribbon or the stroke of a fountain pen, the living darkness from her previous nightmares now drew a line around the figure in black.
It made one pass, then a second. Now a third and a fourth, coiling itself like a snake around its prey.
“No!” she screamed.
But it didn’t hear her. Or wasn’t listening.
And all the while, the figure in silver continued its course around the lake, as the figure in black faded from the sight.
Absorbed into the night.
Absorbed into the living darkness.
____________________________
“Lena! Lena!”
She awoke, gasping and coughing.
“Lena, are you alright?”
“Oh, Charlie!”
She grabbed hold of him as tightly as she could. He was sitting beside her on the bed, and her alarm clock was beeping.
“Wha- what time is it?” she asked.
“Half past eleven,” Charlie replied, switching off the alarm.
“I only planned to take a nap. I - I was going to get up at nine.”
He felt her forehead. It was sweaty but cold. Her hands shook as she continued holding him.
“When I came home, I heard the clock. So I came in to check on you. You sounded like you were choking, so I woke you up. What happened?”
“Oh, Charlie! Oh, Charlie, it was horrible! Absolutely horrible!” she replied, sobbing as she buried her head in his shoulder.
“So you had another one of those... dreams, eh?” he asked quietly. “I thought maybe those were over.”
“I’m sorry...”
“It’s ok. Do you want to tell me about it?”
Lena sat back against the headboard at the top of the bed and was quiet for a minute. She wiped her eyes and tried to compose herself enough to recount the vision to him. But it was all so overwhelming, she couldn’t find a way to say it without the tears.
“I saw... I saw myself. And... and... you...”
The second half of the dream had been so terrifying that she had almost forgotten the first half. But now, as she related it to him, she felt a twinge of anger amidst the fear and anxiety.
“You were... doing something to me. Using some kind of... I don’t know what.”
“Doing something to you?” Charlie said with a frown. “What was I doing?”
“I’m not sure. But you had this object in your h
and. And you pressed it against the back of my head...”
His heart skipped a beat. His throat felt thick, and he had difficulty swallowing for a second.
But he tried to maintain eye contact with his wife.
He tried not to flinch.
“Really?” he asked, appearing mildly confused yet unthreatened by the idea. “That’s kind of strange, isn’t it? I mean, did you see anything else?”
Lena stared at him, her lip quivering, her eyes still glistening from the tears.
“There was a needle.”
Charlie raised an eyebrow.
“And I saw the bottle of wine, too.”
“The what? Oh, you mean from a few nights ago? That seems awfully random, don’t you think?” he laughed.
“Is it?” she replied, still staring at him.
“What do you mean? I don’t know why you saw what you did. It all seems sort of random to me.”
Lena looked down at the blankets now and grabbed them in her hands.
“Was that it?” Charlie asked.
“No.”
“What else was there?”
She hesitated, pulling the blankets up closer to her and holding them tightly.
“Please be careful, Charlie.”
He raised his eyebrow again in confusion.
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m not sure,” she replied, shaking her head and closing her eyes. “Just... just be careful.”
“Was it something you saw? You can tell me the rest of the dream.”
“It was just random. I don’t even remember it all.”
Charlie looked skeptical but he let it go.
“Why don’t I make you some tea and we can spend a little time together out in the living room. I can tell you all about the boring Guild meeting!” he laughed. “Does that sound good?”
She smiled and nodded, then Charlie left the room and headed into the kitchen.
When he was gone, Lena quickly jumped out of the bed, put on her slippers, then hurried down the hall into the living room.
She could hear him rustling through the boxes of tea in the cabinet. Then she heard the clanking of mugs and the kettle beginning to boil.
She spotted his black bag by the door and knelt down beside it.
She slowly unzipped the top.
“Are you out there?” he called from the kitchen.
“Yup. Oh, can I have the rooibos tonight?”
“Sure. I was just trying to decide between that and the chamomile. Good timing!”
The bag was open now and she peered inside.
Most of the space was taken up by a large white case.
She glanced behind her and listened carefully. The kettle wasn’t quite boiled yet.
She popped the latch that secured the case, cringing at the sound.
Then she tipped it open.
“Oh my --”
“You alright there?”
Lena felt his fingers on her shoulder.
She stood up and spun around, the open case in her hands.
“What is this, Charlie?”
She was breathing heavily and the look in her eyes was sharp.
“What is this?” she repeated firmly.
“Easy,” he replied, touching her shoulder again. “It’s just a prototype for a new diagnostic tool. It wasn’t working right so I brought it home to have another look. That’s all.”
Lena grabbed the white cylindrical object and let the case fall to the floor.
“Careful!” Charlie said, picking it up.
She fumbled with it for a second, then found a button on one of the ends. She pressed it and the cylinder came to life with a row of blue lights appearing along the top edge.
And a needle slowly protruding from the opposite end.
Lena’s eyes widened. Then she looked at Charlie again.
“This is it,” she said.
“It what? What are you talking about?”
“This is what you pressed against my head in my dream. This is it, Charlie!”
“So what? So you saw me and this thing. What does that prove?”
“What did you do to me, Charles?”
“Nothing. I didn’t do anything to you.”
Lena continued staring at him, her brow lowered now.
“What did you do to me, Charles?”
“I told you, Helena. Nothing!”
“Don’t lie to me. I saw it. I saw you!” she said, her voice gradually getting louder and more forceful.
“But I’m telling you that I didn’t do anything! You’re going to believe one of those silly dreams over me? You saw a bunch of nonsense while you were asleep! But I’m here, in reality, and I’m telling you that I didn’t do anything!”
He was almost shouting as he reached the end of his protest. He grabbed the object from her hands, switched it off, returned it to its case, then tossed it on the couch. Then he stepped closer to her and grabbed her by the shoulders.
“Lena, you need help. I thought things were improving. I thought maybe you’d be fine, at least until we could get the cure finalised. But now... I think it’s only getting worse.”
“So you’re going to admit me to one of those hospitals?” she replied calmly. “Is that the solution?”
He gritted his teeth and let go of her with a grunt. He turned away and paced around the room.
“You know, Charlie, there’s another way.”
He didn’t look back, and didn’t respond.
“You could believe me. Just like you used to. You could tell me what you did, and I could forgive you. Then we could figure out what to do about this together.”
He didn’t turn around. His head lowered as he looked down at the floor.
Lena stepped towards him, reaching out to touch his arm.
And as her fingers still hung in the air, stretched out to meet him, he turned away towards the hall, and left the room.
____________________________
Lena spent the next two hours on the couch, staring at the walls of her home.
Just like every home in Progress, on one of those walls hung a copy of the Guidelines. Theirs was proudly displayed above the gas fireplace, matted and framed the way a piece of art would have been in the Former Days.
Her eyes drifted from there to a handful of digital frames that sat on the mantle. One of them contained a repeating slideshow of a dozen or so pictures from their wedding day. Their smiles were so genuine, and she couldn’t help thinking how handsome Charlie looked in his tuxedo.
On the wall opposite her, the one that divided the living room from the kitchen, hung the metal plaque from the night of his induction into the Doctors’ Guild. The light of the lamp on the table beside her reflected off its polished surface, making it look as brand new as the day he received it.
He had told her that it was the second most important day of his life, after their wedding. But despite the significance of the event, and the excitement of the evening, the only thing she really remembered was hugging his arm and resting her head on his shoulder as they walked around the lake after it was all over.
She closed her eyes and she felt a tear slide down her cheek.
She reached over to the side table to grab a tissue.
Then she heard something outside. Like car doors opening and closing.
She got up and pulled back the edge of the curtain. It was late but the street lights illuminated their driveway, revealing a white van parked beside Charlie’s car.
And two men were making their way up to the house.
“Charlie?” she called down the hall. “Charlie, some men are here. Do you want to come out?”
There was no response as the two men now reached the front door and rang the bell.
She hesitated.
“Charlie?” she called again.
Still no answer.
Then she opened the door.
“Can I help you?”
“Yes, I think so,” one of the men replied with a warm
smile. It wasn’t the look, or tone, she had expected. “Are you Mrs. Reston?”
“Yes, that’s correct. What’s this about?”
“Helena Reston?”
“Yes.”
The second man suddenly lunged forward, grabbing her by the arm. Before she even had a moment to react, he had pulled her out through the front door and was securing her wrists behind her back.
“Let me go! Stop it! Charlie! Charlie!” she shouted.
They carried her quickly down the driveway and tossed her in the back of the van. Then they both jumped in the back with her and closed the door.
The second man pinned her to the floor with his arms and knees, while the first man pulled a syringe from his jacket pocket.
“What are you doing? Stop it! Stop it!” she continued to shout. But neither of them even so much as made eye contact with her.
Then the first man rolled up her sleeve and plunged the needle into her arm, injecting its contents slowly but steadily.
When he had finished, the two of them pulled her up into a seated position. They secured the handcuffs that were already around her wrists to another chain that was dangling from the wall of the van. They cuffed her ankles, securing them to a bolt embedded in the floor. Then they exited the rear cabin and locked the door behind them.
As the van pulled out of the drive, and the echoes of Lena’s protests filled her temporary prison, Charlie watched from the window of their living room, the curtain pulled back just a few inches.
When the van was finally gone, the curtain dropped back into place.
A moment later, the soft glow of the living room lamp went out.
21
Month: 4 | Day: 16 | Year: 60
RELEASE
One black flower.
A field of green grass surrounding it.
And above, the clearest blue skies Daria had ever seen.
It felt like she could reach out and touch the heavens.
She breathed its air into her lungs. It was as if it were purifying them. Purifying her.
The sun was directly above her, so that her shadow was almost invisible.
But despite the pristine glory of what seemed like the perfect summer day, the lone black flower was all that Daria could think about.
She knelt down beside it.
“Can you enjoy this day with me?” she asked it softly.