27

After eating there was about ten rounds of hugs and farewells, and advice given and taken. I promised Kelli's dad again that she and I would meet with his friend, Rick, and learn more than just basic self-defense. I promised our moms that I would keep both families informed of everything we could and Kelli and I both agreed to watch out for each other and to always communicate. It was the kind of advice you only get from concerned parents, and we took it for what it was. And finally we got into the car, loaded down with left-overs and snacks, and headed back to our lives, school, and our apartment.

After about twenty minutes on the road Kelli sensed something was up because I had been silently pensive that entire time. I knew she was concerned and I started to open my mouth to let her know what was up, but she beat me to the punch.

"What's wrong sweetie? You seem agitated, and you haven't said anything since we left."

I sighed and then answered, "Yeah, I am. I knew I would have to talk about this on the ride home, but it's still hard to bring it up. I had the dream again."

Kelli placed her hand over mine as I opened up about having nearly the same nightmare as I had had before, and she dismissed my apology for not bringing it up sooner. She understood me wanting to have as much happy time with each other and our families as possible and told me that bringing it up now was the perfect time.

"There's more though," I continued. "After I came out of the nightmare, I was still in a dream, and I met Millicent there."

"Really," Kelli gasped in surprise. "What was she like?"

"She was very nice, and reminded me a lot of my Nana. In fact, I couldn't help but call her Nana in the dream."

Kelli giggled at this and motioned for me to continue.

"So, she gave me some warnings about asking too much about the path I was going to walk, and I think she was telling me to not ask her to try and tell me about my future and what was going to happen. She said it could be dangerous and not actually help, but hurt."

"Well, knowing beforehand could make you second guess decisions you would make and that never ends well," Kelli agreed.

I nodded to her and then replied, "Yeah. Though she did give me a few hints about some of the enemies we may face soon."

I then spent the next hour going over what Millicent had told me, with all of her cautions and her advice. I told Kelli about how I was able to watch the grandmotherly bonds of love form between us and we both agreed that Millicent was someone we could trust completely. After I had finished with my narrative we spent the rest of our trip thinking, discussing, and philosophizing about what this would mean, and how we could best be prepared. It wasn't a terribly productive talk, but it pointed us in some study directions, and allowed us to come up with other questions that we could ask Cassandra and Ali when we saw them next.

A while later we pulled into our apartment and got ourselves unpacked. We ate from the stash that our parents had sent us home with, and sat down to just enjoy a movie for the rest of the evening. We spent the rest of the night snuggling in shorts and tank tops, covered in a blanket on our couch, watching the latest sappy rom-com we could stream, and talking about nothing in particular. After the movie we got undressed and ready for sleep, and snuggled deep under the covers, our naked bodies pressed deliciously together.

"I love you dear Myka," Kelli whispered and kissed me once more.

"And I love you my sweet Kelli," I replied with my hand on her cheek.

Sleep found us quickly then, and I marveled again that I had found the love of my life in my best friend as we both slipped from consciousness.

It was the middle of the night, and the only light in our room came from the soft glow of the night-light that Kelli had picked up a few days ago. As stupid as it sounds, and as embarrassing as it was for me to admit, in the span of just over two weeks I had become afraid of the dark, just like a little kid. Two and a half weeks. That's how long it had been since Kelli and I had our Valentine's weekend getaway, and in that time I had started having my nightmare every three to four days. I was drinking my tea just like Millicent asked me to do, and I was trying to pay attention for clues and hints while in the dream world, but the terror I was feeling every time sleep claimed me was getting worse.

Sometimes I would face off against the two Neko in the clearing, and other times I would be blindsided by one while fighting the other. In every one of the dreams, however, my anger at my situation worsened, to the point that I could feel my personality slipping away a tiny piece at a time. The terror I felt coming from Kelli also intensified with every iteration of this nightmare, and the dream only ended in one of two ways. Either I was enslaved as I felt Kelli's life force fade away, or I fought so much that I was only stopped when the Neko or the woman in the green cloak were forced to kill me before I could be collared.

No matter which scenario occurred, I always woke up in a cold sweat, screaming more often than not. After waking up this way for so long, even the thought of closing my eyes made me shudder. The one recurring detail that I was picking out of these times, was that it was rare for me to interact with the woman in green. She would assist if I fought too well, and sometimes she placed the collar around my neck if I was holding off the Neko. Yet even with this limited interaction, I made a supreme effort to remember every detail about her that I could.