The Morning After

The Morning After
I woke up, feeling disoriented. I blinked sleepily at the clock, struggling to keep my eyes open. Daylight came way too early. Yawning, I rose, pulling the plush comforter over my bare chest.

Hideki stirred beside me, and groaned. One blue eye opened, and he leaned on one elbow. “Strange dreams?” he asked, absently twirling a lock of my curly hair around one finger. I noticed he was having trouble keeping his eyes open too.

I smiled and kissed his finger. “Nothing worse than the usual.” I told him, rubbing my eyes.

‘Are you still having nightmares?” Hideki asked, sounding concerned.

I nodded.

“Are you writing them down, as I suggested?”

“The journal is at my house.” I answered. I took a deep breath, preparing myself for a confession. “I… already knew what Shao Len was talking about, when she was talking about the nightmares involving dead people trying to attack me. I’ve been having them for a while. It has gotten to the point that I am afraid to fall asleep unless I am with you. Until exhaustion catches up with me.”

Hideki smirked. “So what am I, your little teddy bear?” he teased. “Do you need to hug me to be able to fall asleep? Or do you need me to hug you?”

I stared at the dirty smirk on Hideki’s face and pretended to swat him with my pillow. He protected his face with his arms, giggling.

“Seriously.. Why didn’t you tell me?” Hideki asked, sitting up.

“I.. I don’t want any part of something like this.” I admitted, sighing heavily. “I want no part of the spirit world. I’d had enough trouble with it when I was a little girl.”

“What do you mean?” Hideki’s eyes darkened.

I hesitated before answering. It was a very frightening memory, one that I would have rather have forgotten. “When I was four years old, I received a teddy bear on my fourth birthday. It was a nice gift, very soft to the touch, without the bells and whistles you would find in today‘s toys. Just soft, perfect for hugging. But I immediately sensed that something was not quite right, as soon as I touched it. Something was off about it. I looked into its eyes, and it was almost like something was staring back at me. Something sentient, and reeking of malice.” I started to tremble at the memory, and Hideki put his arm around me, pulling me towards him. I snuggled into his embrace, and he urged me to keep talking. “There was a menace to it, something that I could not explain. All I knew was that I was frightened of this toy, and wouldn’t go near it. I couldn’t explain to my parents why I was so terrified, because I myself didn’t know. In my dreams, I would see a very angry little girl who had died in a violent accident. At least, she looked like a little girl, but her eyes were always glowing red.” My voice cracked. “And she - she was half decayed, half skeletal!”

Hideki rubbed my back in soothing circles. “Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

My voice, muffled by his blonde hair, turned sour. “I tried to. My mother didn’t believe me. She believed that the dreams were caused by a stressful situation at school. Maybe a school bully. She had me tested for chemical imbalances, but there was nothing wrong.” My voice sharpened with bitterness. “In the meantime, the nightmares continued. Items began to disappear from the house, for which I was always blamed. I started to see black shadows out of the corner of my eye. I knew that she was dead, I knew that from the time I started to see her in my dreams. What I couldn’t figure out was why she was haunting me. What did I ever do to her?”

“Did she ever say anything to you in your dreams?”
Hideki asked. “Something to explain why she was doing the things that she was, why she was trying to get you into trouble?”

I shook my head. “I know she was saying something, but I never could understand what it was. She seemed more bitter than anything.”

“How long was she around?”

“About three years. During that time, she made my life miserable. After that, I could somehow sense that she was no longer around, much to my joy. But there was somebody else in the house. Not with the same menace that she gave off though. This person seemed kind of friendly. In my dreams, I repeatedly saw a woman in her thirties in Victorian clothing smiling and talking to me. She said her name was Elizabeth.”

“Elizabeth, huh?” Hideki sounded interested.

My head rose off Hideki’s shoulder. “I liked her. She was really nice. She was the one that told me that I was not a freak, no matter what anyone had said. I merely had the ability to sense and hear spirits. Merely? Ha! But an ability like that one was not well understood during my younger years. Most people that said they had this ability were considered frauds or lunatics by the general public. I was seven. What else was I supposed to do but keep these experiences to myself?” I smiled. “ With her, it wasn’t too bad. In a sense, it was our own little secret, these meetings in my dreams.”
I glanced at the clock behind me and gasped. I hurriedly started to pull on my clothing. “Hideki, I have to get some clean clothes and get to work. I’m running late as it is.” The clock read eight-thirty AM. Work started at ten.

Hideki rose out of bed and began pulling on his jeans from the night before. “I can get you home pretty fast. How long does it take you to change clothes?”

“About half an hour.”

Hideki grimaced. “Then you’re gong to be a little late for work today.” He began to pull a lavender polo shirt over his head.

“Wait.” I suddenly realized that Shao Len was still asleep in the other room. “What about her? She’s probably hungry by now. I don’t know how many hours she has gone without eating. And she needs clothes, unless you plan for her to be walking around naked all of the time.”

“I don’t plan to leave her alone. Get dressed, I’ll go wake her up. It’s about time for breakfast. Tell you what, give me fifteen minutes, and I’ll drive you home. The two of us can get breakfast at the Wawa on North Wales road after that. I can pick up something for Shao Len.”

I groaned and glanced at the clock. More time lost. But, I’m running late anyway. Might as well get a decent breakfast. Especially if Hideki is covering the bill. It really sucks to be both unemployed and without a car.
I dressed quickly and waited in the bedroom, reading a book I found lying on the bedside table. Sex positions for every day of the year? Was Hideki that horny? I giggled. I could hear a brief conversation in the front room, followed by the sounds of clothes shuffling.

Hideki broke me out of reading by tapping me on the shoulder. He was combing his hair and smelled like his favorite cologne, a clean musk scent. “We need to get going.” he said. “Unfortunately, since she arrived unannounced, the robe is all I can offer her right now. I’ll get her some clothes today. Right now, I think she’ll be okay staying here. She knows where to get bottled waters and juice if she needs it. I’ll wait for you at your house while you get dressed.” He pulled me to my feet. “Come on, let’s get moving! You already said that you’re late.”

“Will she really be okay?” I asked, worried. “This is a completely different time period for her. I’m worried she’ll accidentally electrocute herself or something like that.”

“Don’t worry.” Hideki answered, sounding confident. “She’ll be okay. She’s pretty smart, and it seems like she adapts well. Besides, I won’t be gone more than an hour.”

I wished I felt as confident about that statement as Hideki did. I gave Shao Len an uncertain smile as I walked past her. She watched me intently, again wrapped in Hideki’s robe. She seemed distracted. I wondered absently if she had slept in it or had slept naked. Despite my trepidation, she seemed at-ease and comfortable in her surroundings.

“Let’s go.” Hideki pulled me through the door after I had slung my leather backpack over my shoulder. The door clicked shut behind us.
As soon as the door closed firmly, Shao Len rose from the couch, sighing. She needed to use the special room with a tiled floor that Hideki had pointed out to her earlier. A… bathroom? It looked very different from the pits dug into the ground that she has been forced to use in her time. A lot cleaner and better smelling too. She sighed as she slid off the robe and settled onto the toilet. That much she had been able to understand through Hideki’s gesturing.
Shao Len contemplated her next move while sitting on the toilet. The stage has been set. The young woman, Michelle, is beginning to understand her role. Or, at least that she has one. The next phase will be harder to implement. Explaining to her what she is truly meant to do. Shao Len was going to need some help.