Vivid (BoyxBoy) {Pipe Dream: Book I}

Chapter Eleven: Wished Denial

Its head comes close to my chest its lip twitches, revealing its sabre white teeth but it doesn’t go in for the kill, instead it presses its nose to my stomach. Before I realise it, my hand’s moving. What the hell am I doing? My hand lands on the bridge of its nose as its amber black eyes stare back at me. The fur was fine and soft, just like a cat’s. In my mind I could feel something like an unsettling pulse that was overrun by fear and confusion but as I weakly stroke its fur, the feeling becomes softer and almost satisfied. A feeling of complete relief.  

My eyes finally close as the heaviness of sleep finally caught up with me.

I wake with sunlight stinging my eyes. I blink, trying to understand where the hell I am. Why is it so hard to breathe? Then a crushing weight on my chest became apparent, the air squeezing from my ribcage makes me gasp. My eyes try to focus on what’s in front of me only to see a big furry face lazily staring back at me. The tiger converted me into his personal pillow. What the hell am I supposed to do with this? It’s stuffy and I can’t breathe.

As if catching onto my thoughts, the tiger lifts its head and shifted so that it was facing me properly. I feel my body cry out in pain. I hurt everywhere. How am I still alive? I was bleeding all over the place and it’s not like I wasn’t alone here either. This man-eating tiger with glowing stripes looks pretty hungry to me.

The morning sun had filtered in through the broken windows and from the door, making the reality of the night more apparent outside. I struggle to sit up, my bones creaking in the process and my sore battered body screams at me in protest. I pull myself up to lean my back against the cashier counter. I’m heavily breathing and exhausted after the ordeal of sitting up.

Outside was, if it were possible, more desolate than I remembered. There were now gaps of nothing between and behind the broken bodies of the old buildings that were still barely standing, all around. Large black crystal pillars skewered a number of them, jutting out at all different angles like black teeth with food still stuck between them. The ground was also given the same sort of treatment and from here, I could tell that these were only the small ones. The huge obelisk like structures only got worse closer to the centre of the Miasma’s storm eye.

Putting a sore hand to my gut, flinching at the stinging pain it leaves but still apply force. How I managed to survive is beyond me. Looking up at the ceiling I had to wonder; did the wall survive? I couldn’t see properly from here. Can I even stand?

I put force into my legs and slide up the counter, my other hand reaches the dusty top of the counter, trying to take some of the weight. Just…barely. Holy shit, this…it hurts like fuck. But I need to see. The tiger was watching me the entire time and stood up to come over to me, pushing its head into my stomach. Oh god. It standing, I could see its proper height, its shoulder blade came right up to my eye line.

I freeze as it rumbles at me, my hand that I used to support my stomach moves out the way as the tiger presses gently further into me, almost making my collapse on top of it, my hand supporting me on the bench top reaches out to its head to support myself before I completely fall over myself. The tiger rumbles at me again as if to approve of my actions.

I have a strange feeling overtake my senses in my brain; it was feral but also quiet like a calm after the storm on an ocean and that strange content I felt last night. I stare down at the pair of amber eyes. That’s…you?

An emotion of approval surfaces above the tide.

Holy shit. I have a tiger in my head.

Disagreement, like a frown. And yet not so. Agreement.

“I’m in your head?” I ask out loud, my voice my voice raspy and cracking in whispered fits.

It simply blinks at me, its ears twitching at the sound of my voice. Doesn’t understand human speech. I then tried thinking, I am in the tiger’s head.

Disagreement. And yet not so. Agreement.

Erm. Ok so we’re in each other’s heads. Apparently. …Let’s roll with that then…Will you eat me? How is this supposed to work?

Confusion. Knowing. Dreams quiet. Bright and soothing. Warm. Relief. Dreamer no more? Fading light. Cold. Sadness. Dreams no more. Darkness. Despair returns.

I’ll take that as a ‘no’. I frown, trying to comprehend the mixture of colours, sensations and emotions flooding my brain.

Swallowing, I cling onto its fur near the shoulder blade as the tiger in turn moves so that it was now facing sideways.

Desire?

The emotion question comes into my mind. I think it was asking me what I was wanting. To be honest I want to collapse onto the floor but I need to go outside. …I need to see.

Disapprove but acknowledge.

“You’re as bad as Anne,” I mutter.

The tiger’s ear’s twitch again at my voice.

“Never mind.”