Darling Darkness

Is This Real?

     His hair was shorter than it had been in my dream and the clothes he wore were clearly not from colonial times but I knew it was him. How it could be, I had no idea but I knew that it was. The way he moved, fluid grace like a stalking cat, those sad gray eyes that were hiding dark secrets in their depths. How could it possibly be anyone else?

    I shook my head and blinked a few times. Half expecting my vision to come back into focus and the man look completely different that I thought he had. But when my looked at him again I still saw the rugged man who had haunted my dreams.

    I must still be in shock from the accident I had hit my head and must still be suffering from the concussion. How else could this even be possible? He couldn't truly be real could he? I mean it was just a dream and a very strange dream at that. So how was it that the gorgeous man I dreamt about had just walked into the same coffee shop as me?

     I watched as he strode up to the counter, never letting my eyes stray from that agile form. The girl who had disappeared earlier had come back and seemed very excited to see him. Perhaps she was his girlfriend. Though that thought didn't set well with me. It churned my stomach in knots to think of his hands on her.

    I shook my head my head again. This was just ridicules. Was this jealousy I was feeling for a man I had never met outside of my dreams? Why should I be jealous of her? I didn't even know him. Which made it that much stranger that he should play such an important roll in my dreams. But that was besides the point. Perhaps I had walked past him one day and my subconscious had used his face for my strange trauma induced dream. That at least was a reasonable explanation to why I remembered that beautiful face.

    I looked back up to see the girl behind the counter no longer looking very happy. She seemed worried and was talking in a quick hushed tone that I couldn't quiet make out from this far away. Though she seemed like she was in trouble and trying to explain herself. The angered look on his face confirming that assumption and sending a chill down my spine. Well, better her than me. She nodded her head in my direction and I ducked my head back down to the book before he could look over.

    I could almost feel his eyes on me, watching me, and in a way it made me want to go to him. A strange compulsion to ignore everything else but him. To feel his touch again on my skin and those lips of his. To share the kiss I remembered in my dream. It sent another shiver down my spine; I didn't like it. Why was I feeling this way? Was it because of the accident? Had I really done something to mess up my head?

    When I chanced a glance up they were both gone; the door to the back swinging closed behind them. I breathed a sigh of relief. These past few days were starting to fry my nerves. Taking another sip of the coffee helped to calm me down a bit. Though the caffeine probably wasn't helping my nerves either.

    The bell above the door to the cafe chimed as it was pulled opened. The sound made me nearly jump out of my seat. Some of the hot liquid spilling from my cup onto my lap. I quickly used the napkin to dry it up as it burned my legs. Looking up I had just enough time to see a blur of a red hair as my best friend sprinted across the cafe to tackle me where I sat. Spilling even more of the delicious coffee onto the floor

    "Oh my gosh Morgan I'm so glad your okay. Why didn't you call me? I had no idea you had been in an accident or if you were okay. You were in the hospital and didn't think to call your best friend!" Ashlynn was talking a mile a minute and squeezing me so hard I was starting to wonder if she was going to crush my ribs. I flailed my hand hitting her on the back and she finally released me allowing me to take in a couple deep gasps of air.

    "Oh, I'm so sorry. Are your ribs okay? What are your injuries? Should you really be out of the hospital you look really pale?"

    "I'm okay, calm down." I sat back down in my chair and she took the one beside me, glancing at my now almost empty cup. "I'm sorry I didn't call you. I've had a lot on my mind and the concussion didn't help." I'm sure I still looked a mess. I could still feel how tender the top of my head was from hitting the steering wheel. "Besides I wasn't going to ruin your vacation with Marcus. You've been planning it for months."