13 Chapter 13-London Fire Catherine
He moved closer to her until they were noses to the nose. Catherine's breathing hitched and Sean's heart hastened.
The need was a surprise within her, but it was different this time, it seemed more than a passion, it appeared as they belong to each other. It wasn't just desired, though her stomach tightened with this new feeling. And she doesn't know what to do.
Sean's wanted her.
At this point he doesn't care, all he desired was to have those plump lips on his. She inched closer, becoming almost desperate for his touch. Sean gazed into her eyes as she moved to hold the thumb of his heart against his chest.
It made him seem, needed.
Their lips were close. She could feel his delightful smelling breath on her face and she closed her eyes in anticipation.
Knock! Knock!
A soft knock on the door halted the trance-like state they were in. Sean jumped off the bed, backing away from her.
She seemed uncomfortable, she couldn't help but feel disappointed as he was eager to be away from her. The need she just felt vanished when he left her side.
He then opened the door; a small man walked in with a cell phone in his hand. He was tiny and nerdy. His eyes were like the blue-green of the mountain lakes, hues that could tell tales of sky and evergreen all the same. Not only that, but he reeks happiness, his eyes were familiar to Catherine, it makes her feel like he knew him from somewhere.
“Who are you? Why are you here in my room?” She then asked watching the man.
“Oh about that,” Sean answered back, looking at her as he already recovered from the trance-related state they shared earlier.
“He was one of us, he also went to the Land of Nod...my cousin.” He added.
“Your cousin?”
“Yes,” he walked towards her.
“Sorry to interrupt your moment but the car is ready, shall we go?” looking at them both with a smile visible on his lips.
“Wait, who are you and where are we going?” She asked him while covering herself from embarrassment and looked for some shirt and put it over her head.
“Okay, I'm Nathan the better version of this guy here,” pointing to Sean as he watched her puts her rubber shoes on. He then led her to the door.
“I'm his cousin by the way, smarter than the two of you combined, and we all need some coffee so, chap! chap! Let's go, hurry! I'm tired, and I'm dying for a cup of caffeine,” Nathan added while stepping away.
In the coffee shop, Catherine laughed that the sound washing over in a wave of nostalgia. Her laugh had made Sean feel giddy and flustered that it brought back a few distant memories.
They explained all to Nathan as he had a lot of experienced dreaming something unexplainable while ordering something for brunch.
They told him all about what happened in the Land of Nod, and together they spent hours discussing their experiences.
“It all comes back to us, doesn't it?” asked Sean.
Sean has been rationalizing the dream and subconscious memories from his visit from the Land of Nod.
Nathan knew that the visit of his cousin awhile back was new to him, and he was asking both about his uncertainties. “Sean, I know it confuses you okay? But an obvious starting point of your inquiry is to ask me 'Nathan, smart cousin of mine, what is a Land of Nod?'” he continued sarcastically.
“And yes! It sounds fancier than the dreamland and I have to agree with Catherine with that.” He scoffed while drinking his coffee, enjoying his cheese bagel.
Nathan added, “There are many theories and sources of knowledge about the conscious human mind, Okay? But let me summarized it to you, are you following me?”
Both nodded as they relish their food.
“The first was the Introspection, which involves you focussing on your thought processes and discovering how they operate. For example, you might explore the nature of your subconscious mind and feelings or why you choose one course of action over another” Nathan paused.
“But this consciousness called commonsense intuition, and the second was our behavioral consciousness: how we act and tells us often as we were thinking and so often more. I'll exhaust you to death so to make it understandable, our conscious understanding was private, in that you can never understand them in the direct immediate way but, Catherine can.” He explained in a manner like he was lecturing a kid.
“English please” Catherine mumbled as she went for the blueberry cheesecake and a cup of coffee, enjoying the sweet-bitter aroma.
“Fine, what I meant was in the dreamland.”
“The land of Nod” She rectified.
“Hmm... In the Land of Nod, whatever happens in your subconscious mind, whatever you experience there, it won't matter in the real world, it's like a lucid dream or shall I call it a beautiful nightmare, but Catherine's here,” he trailed of implying at her “was a different story altogether.” he paused.
“As you very well know, there are certain elements we can philosophies, about. You do not need laboratories or experimental settings to speculate on many of the most important factors like what happened to her” Nathan added.
“But why do we experience the same dream?” Questioned Sean, then after a more incoherent explanation from Nathan, the conversation went on in the assumption everything that happened, happened both in their dreams and the possibilities of many Nodders (Dreamers).
Now, Nathan was suggesting it might not be just the two of them after all. It opened the circumstances these experiences happened in an alternate plane of existence and much more.
“Are you saying, we are not just the Nodders here in London?” Sean asked, almost horrified at the suggestion, choking in disbelief.
“I am not affirming it. I am only suggesting it as a possibility”.
'My God, that's impossible!” Exclaimed Catherine.
“Why so?” Nathan inquired.
“B-because ...” she added.
“... Because that would mean you have been dreaming alone and had the experience simply? Or somewhere in between?” Nathan responded.
“And that's what I say is true, it will throw overboard everything you believe in? That somehow you are solely in the Land of Nod and yet here we are having a coffee together discussing the possibilities of it and more Nodders?” He added.
“Then how about my arms; it was bitten and got swollen inside the Land of Nod, look....” He puts his arm on the table, frowning. “See that? That is a puncture wound.” Sean's asserted.
“Ohm blimey Sean, that's my doing. When you were napping, I kind of made some... payback, and I gave Krissy a little nibble in your arm.” Nathan conceded almost feigning a childish sadness.
“You! What?” Sean was beyond terrified. His voice had taken a furious edge as he stood up from the chair and banged her empty cup of coffee on the table.
“I will murder you! You have one second to apologized” He then added.
“Kids, Kids, Stop. We have crucial matters to discuss, stop being childish, by the way, who is Krissy?” Catherine asked, smirking.
“Oh, my sweet pet, my little python, it'll be interesting to see the outcome of this inconvenience, but okay. You have my apology, satisfied?” Nathan answered.
“I'm learning something new every day.” Catherine grinned.
“Anyway,” Sean added, ignoring their laughter. “And how on earth was Catherine's case so peculiar? How could she feel the pain of that bite in the actual world?”
“What pain?” Nathan asked, frowning.
“Adah bit her,” He retorted in a small voice.
“Catherine? You didn't mention earlier that you got bitten by Adah.”
They watched as color crept up Catherine's cheeks and her eyes turned hard.
“I forgot.” She said before leaving, leaving behind her half-eaten blueberry cheesecake and a confused-looking Nathan.
“No, No, How can she forget those important details?” He called for Sean, frowning.
Sean then looked up at Nathan when he called about it and realized that Catherine was going. He stood up, causing Nathan to jump in shock. He then runs after her.
