by Aurora Smith
“Oh. Yeah, right. Obviously.”
“Nothing,” Liam said, then gasped in surprise.
“What is it?” Justin looked frightened, his hands were on his chest and his big eyes were wide with caution.
“What is that? Look, Justin look!” Liam said, pointing to the hole that he had dug with his little blue plastic shovel. “Look!” Justin crawled on his hands and knees so that he was right where Liam was sitting. He squinted his eyes and furrowed his brow. I saw it, but of course Justin didn’t see what Liam was about to do. Liam put his hands up in the air, grabbed the back of his brother’s head and shoved it down into the sand. Justin’s hands and arms went up in the air and they flailed around, trying to make contact with his brother so that he could force him to let him go. After several seconds Liam let go of the back of Justin’s head and began laughing riotously. His hands were around his sides and he was rocking back and forth on his back. Justin’s dirty face came up for air and he began crying, his tears mixing with the sand made little streaks of mud drip down his freckled face.
“I’m-I’m t-telling mom!” Justin shouted, turned around and ran back to the house, sobbing. Liam continued to laugh and pointed at his brother who was running away. The surroundings in the yard went suddenly duller and even though the little boy was still laughing, his mouth was hanging open with no sound coming out. The ground shivered and then went blank.
“What was that?” I asked. “I mean was that a memory? Or did you do that?”
“That was a memory of sorts. I don’t think that that happened in that actual moment of time when they were younger but Liam has done that before to Justin and the fact that I brought Justin into his mind and this is what his subconscious drew out, can only mean that hurting Justin is something Liam fears,” my father explained to me.
“How on earth did you know that? It looks like a punk kid beating up his brother.”
“I’ve been doing this a long time, my dear.”
“Why is it still black? I can’t see anything.” I put my hand out in front of my face to reach my father and see if he was still there.
“He’s awake.”
“Well, bring him back!” I wanted desperately to see more of something.
“I want you to really observe this time. I want you to see what he’s doing, how he’s moving, his facial expressions, basically everything, I want you to be aware of.” My dad was so serious in teacher mode that I fought not to laugh.
“Okay, I’ll try.” Excitement rushed through my body when the blackness began to disappear and an orangeish light grew but the light turned into heat and I instantly locked my emotions up and I wanted out.
“Dad, what’s going on!?”
“I don’t know yet. Just wait.” My dad’s voice was calm and it helped me think. This was only a dream; nothing was going to happen to me. But was that really what I was worried about? Was I about to see how Liam got the scars on his body? Was I ready to see someone burn? If that was even what happened? It could’ve been any number of things. Heck, I saw the guy get boils on his hands for making an invisibility serum. Right as I had decided that I wasn’t afraid that this wasn’t happening to me it went completely blank again.
“Did he wake up again?” I asked, looking around in the darkness.
“Yes. He has trained himself to wake up whenever he dreams about fire. I would say it’s the exact same thing as you with your Bunny Fred.”
“Well, I like his better. I’m never able to wake up from dreams.”
“Of course not. You are a nightmare my dear.”
“Ugh!” My father laughed and if he could see my face he would have laughed harder.
“Shall we try for a third time and then let the poor kid get some real sleep?”
“Yes,” I said quickly.
“Honey, whatever feelings you’re having right now, whatever excitements you’re experiencing, please remember that this is not real.”
“Yeah, I know,” I lied. Everything in me wanted one more chance to see more into Liam’s mind, and I didn’t want to admit it.
“Okay, get ready. I’m going to make him feel comfortable so that he relaxes.” I waited, and I waited but nothing was happening, it was still dark.
“Is he still awake?” I asked.
“He’s really fighting me.” My father put his hand on my back and I could tell that his voice was serious and he wanted me to listen. “Why don’t you try?”
“Me? I don’t know what to do.”
“Follow your instincts. What is your mind telling you to do to help Liam fall back to sleep?” I close my eyes and felt the darkness around, I smelled the deodorant that Liam used and concentrated on feeling the way that he felt. It wasn’t fear, no I was feeling guilt. I felt the agony and the deep self-hatred that only guilt could cause.
“Say his name,” a voice inside my head said. “Liam, come here.” I called into the darkness and it went grey, a little bit of light shining in.
“Good. Keep going,” my dad encouraged me.
“Liam, I need your help.” The grey surroundings became brighter, and Liam was coming into view. He was looking around and in the blink of an eye we were in a forest. The forest that we had spent a few hours in that afternoon, except there were no broken trees or bent sticks or charcoaled leaves; It was green and smelled fresh and the trees were full of life.
“Shhhh.” My dad hushed me when I was about to say something else.
“Don’t overdo it. You don’t want to interact with him, you’ve brought him back now let him lead you.”
I bit my tongue, wanting so badly to say something but I restrained myself. It was strange for me to see him walking around looking like Justin and not himself. But to him this wasn’t Justin, this was him. However, he didn’t look handsome to me. He looked angry and sad and he looked distorted from what he looked like the first time I had seen him in his own dream.
“What do you think you should do right now?” my dad asked me.
“I don’t know. I feel bad; you brought him here trying to make him feel safe and then BAM?”
“Actually YOU brought him here.”
“That makes it worse!” I felt like a dreadfully horrible person.
“Liam!” I heard my voice, but it sounded higher and sweeter than I was used to.
“Maya?” Liam called out for me and started walking forward.
“I told you not to talk to him anymore,” my dad accused.
“I’m not!” And I wasn’t, I was thinking of setting fire to one of the trees or something truly awful but was shown up by…me.
“He’s dreaming about you.” My dad sounded suddenly irritated and we watched as my figure appeared through the trees. It was short just like I was and little but not as little as I always pictured myself. Where I would have put a stick figure of a girl, one with soft curves and a smiling face appeared instead.
“I don’t like this.” My dad was frowning and he looked like he was about to drop a grand piano, cartoon style, on the top of Liam’s head just for the fun of it.
“What’s wrong with you?” I asked, unable to take my eyes off of the beautiful girl that was standing in front of Liam.
“He likes you!” my father exclaimed!
“What, no he doesn’t!”
“Look at yourself, that is how he sees you. The fact that you’re smiling when you’re greeting him means that there is desire there.”
“Huh.” I tried not to sound pleased but it didn’t work.
“I’m going to try something,” my dad said, and then Justin came out of the trees and put his arms around me. Liam’s eyes squinted and he crossed his arms.
“Liam thinks that you like Justin more than him.”
“But you’re the one who brought him over here not Liam.”
“Girl, do you listen to anything I say? I told you to be observant, to look at everything. Look at his face.” My dad pointed and I did as he asked. Liam’s face looked sad and rejected as I reciprocated his brot
hers affection.
“I don’t know. Liam doesn’t seem like the kind of guy to like someone that he doesn’t really know. I think that he’s jealous that Justin is getting attention and he’s not. I think he’s jealous that Justin still looks like what he used to look like,” I said.
“You know, you might be right about that.” My dad smiled and he looked relieved and slightly impressed. I guess for some reason dads don’t like the idea of their little girl hanging out with their crush all summer without them being around. Go figure.
“I have an idea.” I looked up at my dad, excited. “Why don’t we confuse his two emotions? Let’s do something to Justin and see if he wants to help him or if he’s happy because he’s angry right now.”
“That’s good, Maya. What are we going to do?”
“I have no idea.” I shook my head.
“What have you gathered so far from Liam?”
“That he is afraid of hurting his brother, he’s afraid of fire and he’s jealous of his brother.”
“Yes. So how do we use that?”
“What if he has to see his brother burn? That would simultaneously deal with his fear of his brother getting hurt and his brother understanding what he is going through and he wouldn’t have to be jealous of him anymore.” I clapped my hands over my mouth, shocked that something so evil could come from me.
“Yes that would definitely do it,” my dad said, approving of my plan, and that made me sick to my stomach. “Shall I do it so you can observe?” I wanted to scream no, suddenly feeling like I was in my own mind living my own nightmare. Fred was inside his cage and in my hands as I waited for my dad to do something awful to my friend.
My father nodded to a branch that was above Justin and a lightning bolt hit it. I was now completely out of the picture, I supposed I should thank him for that. Sparks of falling electricity showered above Justin’s head and Liam gasped with horror. He reached his arms out as a branch that had ignited with flame crushed his brother. Justin’s entire body lit like a dry Christmas tree, the flames eating away at his flesh. Liam dropped to his knees and the scenery changed. This time Liam was the one on fire. I heard the same woman screaming and saw a tall, yellow skinned man that had stitches on his neck, his wrists and forehead and was moaning deeply with an intense rage.
Chapter Ten
Liam was eyeing me over his eggs when he thought I wasn’t looking and then avoided my look when I turned my attention to him.
“You okay?” I asked him mid-drink, which wasn’t cool but I couldn’t handle it anymore and my inability to contain myself coincided with this thirst.
“Yes. I’m just tired; I had a long night last night.”
“Oh? Didn’t sleep well?” Innocence was the game and I was playing it well.
“Obviously,” he said with contempt.
He was looking down and then the worst thought came to me. “What if he knows that I had done that to him?” I didn’t want him to start thinking of me differently. I wasn’t really sure what he thought of me, but I knew it was probably better than he would have if he knew that I had messed with his head last night.
“Dude, did Maya’s dad get in your head?” Magnus said and I shot him a thanks for nothing look.
“I don’t know. Was it your dad, Maya?” He looked me straight in the face this time and I froze. Then I lied.
“What are you asking me?” I tried my best to sound offended.
“I’m asking if you decided to get in my dreams last night.”
“Sorry to disappoint, buddy but that’s my dad’s job, not mine.” I gave him my most winning smile but he just glared at me. “Why? Did you dream about me last night?” Why was I flirting with him!
“I did. You were making out with my brother in fact.”
“No I wasn’t!” I yelled.
“I knew it, you were there!” He stood up and pointed an accusing finger at me.
Crap.
“No! I meant that as a ‘no way’ kind of way,” I squealed, which sounded guilty.
“Then your father is messing with me?” Liam was still standing but his face looked a little more relaxed. Instead of being smart and taking the out and dropping it I decided to continue speaking. Which never helped me out in past experiences but I’ve never been a fast learner.
“My dad has always told me that he leads the subconscious, so if you were dreaming of me then you should consult yourself as to why instead of jumping down my throat.”
“I-I, I didn’t…” He glared at me while sitting down with a huff. I looked over at Christina who was giving me an evil I’m-your-best-friend-and-you’re-a-dirty-rotten-liar, look. And she was right, so I decided to cushion the blow, plus I needed him to know a truth that I had discovered after waking up this morning.
“I have no interest in your brother so I don’t think I’d be ‘making out with him’ if I had been snooping around in your dreams.” I quoted what he had said to me.
His face lightened and I realized that that was the first time I had noticed his scarred face and bald head that morning. I had of course seen them but it hadn’t registered. His brown eyes and beautiful lips had though.
‘This is not real, Maya. Do not start liking this boy.’
“You seemed interested in him when he found us in the forest,” he said quietly.
“I suppose I was interested at the time, especially when he was bragging about his brother while we were walking back to the camp. I admit that I thought he was particularly dreamy when he called you ‘parfait’ because he seemed sensitive, or whatever, but after he threw that hissy fit in Cupid’s office he just reminds me of a baby man now.”
“You told him not to go to sleep or he was going to get it,” Liam said and my heart sank.
“I was only threatening him,” I said then kicked his shins in what I hoped was playful. I was happy to see his face lighten up.
“My brother told you that I was perfect?” he asked me, changing the subject and a weight flew off my shoulders.
“He did.” Catching myself smiling in an unnatural way I closed my eyes and turned my attention to everyone at the table who were all looking at us like it was the greatest soap opera ever.
“I have an even better question,” Magnus said, an immoral gleam in his eyes. “We’ve been here for a couple of days and I have been a part of no pranks, are you leaving me out or have you been busy?”
I started laughing and my brain began working. “I’ve been going nonstop, I swear, all I want to do is beat some sissies in tetherball and ruin someone’s day by doing something genius.”
“Oh, great! Thank you, MAG-NUS,” Christina scolded him but he just laughed.
“Oh please. I heard about the great fish escape,” he said and Christina scoffed.
“The great fish escape?” Liam asked us, his eyebrows would have been up if he’d had any.
“This joker,” Christina pointed to me, “talked me into fishing the Centaurs.”
“How do you fish someone?” Liam was actually chuckling.
“You get some dead fish, hide them in someone’s room, then you wait.” I said while shrugging my shoulders.
“Sounds simple.” He said, not looking impressed at all.
“Have you ever smelled a two day old dead fish?”
“No, but I can imagine.” Liam was smiling and a part of me wished we were alone. Stop that, Maya.
“Now, imagine that you didn’t know where this smell was coming from and you couldn’t find it.”
“I see. And this is fun for you?”
“Yes, it is. A lot, actually?”
“So, what have you planned?” Magnus asked again. “Because I want a part of it, I’ve been waiting years to get you in a group!”
“Alright, it’s on. Let’s do something today.” Excitement washed over me, reminding me that I was at camp and that this is what I was really meant to be doing.
“Do what, Miss Justice?” Tortellini came up behind me and I froze. Magnus and Christina lo
oked down with guilt but Liam looked him in the eyes.
“Starting a tetherball tournament.” I was full of lies today.
“Wouldn’t that be nice.” He said through his teeth and turned around with a snap, his bald head leading the way to another table to try and bust someone for doing something fun. The entire table snickered and I suddenly felt alive. That was until I looked at Liam who was happily a part of our group, which included some measure of trust, especially if we were going to be keeping each other’s secrets. Which was great, except that I was currently lying through my teeth to him. I pushed it down and ignored it though, eager to have him around and not have it be a punishment or a dream. This nightmare thing wasn’t against him; this was a way of learning and honing the skills I was meant to have. I wouldn’t do anything to hurt him.
My internal dialog wasn’t helping. I still felt bad and Christina’s sour looks didn’t make me feel any better.
“So, what’s the plan?” Magnus asked again when he saw that Cupid was out of earshot.
“Honestly, I’ve got nothing. I haven’t stopped for a minute since I’ve gotten here, give me a minute and I’ll come up with something.”
“I have an idea,” Liam said quietly.
“Do tell.” Magnus gave him his full attention.
“What is one thing that most of the beautiful girls care about?” he asked our group.
“Their looks,” Christina answered quickly.
“Yes, I’ve known lots of beautiful girls that talked about nothing but diet pills, calories and cellulite.”
“You have?” My jealous nature came out before I had any control over it.
“I haven’t always looked like this,” he said bluntly, which shut me up quick.
“Anyways, about a year ago I had almost succeeded in removing all of my burns, but I got these hairy dog looking feet, big knobby grandma knuckles and my elbows grew.”
“Your elbows grew?” Christina was sucked in now; she might even join us.
“Yeah, the points grew. I looked like this chicken winged man with old man hands and dogs feet, but with a few less scars. Not worth it.” He shook his head.