A Fever Dream

CHAPTER 36. Be Careful What You Wish For

Elliot was having the most hideous headache of his long life.

Not the kind that would torture him after the night of sleepless debauchery, measured by torn pieces of memories of somebody's hands on his body and somebody's drunken words whispered in his ears when all he was able to think about was one particular girl.

Not the kind, that would shackle his mind after days and weeks spent in futile attempts to conquer certain spells he would find in the older books. Or after every time he thought he saw the ripples in the air, saw the ghost of white fur amidst the trees, so the shadows fell in the wrong way, and couldn't wrap his mind about it.

Not the kind, that hunted him since he was a kid after his parents disappeared.

He breathed in the air and coughed because it felt tainted.

No, this kind of headache had nothing to do with what he did or did not do in Summer.

Because he already knew he was somewhere else.

He forced his eyes open.

And blinked again.

For a moment, he thought the sky was going to fall on him, with all its glory, clouds and all.

But it held and he stared at it, as it seemed to be staring back at him.

The sun was setting. But this was a different sky. He knew it in his guts, although he couldn't quite pinpoint the difference.

She walked up to him, or rather crawled, her feet bare and dirty, the edges of her torn wedding dress hanging loose. She was saying something, but his brain couldn't process it. The pain between his eyebrows was blazing.

So she must have given up, and just set down next to him. There was something impossibly meaningful about this but he couldn't identify what. Familiar longing curled in the pit of his stomach. But he chose to ignore it as he did a thousand times.

Instead, he looked around. But all he saw was a dirty skyline, yellow and pink. The rooftops of faraway buildings scratching the horizon.

He heard a scream and the next moment something hard pushed him in the leg.

"Watch it!"

Elliot's pulse peaked. He only just got here and this world was already pushing and prodding and making him ache. He just wanted to crawl under some bench and disappear. But the girl put her hand on his, as a little red-headed boy in strange clothes ran in their direction. She picked up a white ball and threw it at the boy. Elliot watched as the kid's eyes rounded, then his mouth, and wished he was quick enough to cover his ears, as another air-piercing scream made his vision go red.

But on the good side, the boy disappeared. Or, to be more precise, he ran away screaming, forgetting all about the ball, which rolled after him like a lost puppy, losing momentum.

The wind picked up the red and gold leaves and whirled them around, ruffling his hair and blowing it into his eyes, as he gazed after the boy and the way he came.

There, half obscured by the bushes, behind a chain-link fence, stood a huge red brick building. Around it stood what apparently were called cars. Although, they were different from the machines that he'd read about. People in long-sleeved jackets and scarves were walking around, some holding hands, some holding books. A group of kids welcomed the red-headed boy with disappointed whistles.

Elliot turned away.

It turned out, all this time, that the girl was looking at him.

Her face was pale and her hair was deep chestnut, and with leaves and twigs tangled in it, she could have been the autumn herself.

This time he heard her speaking. He didn't know why, but he wanted to, and so he did. He gave her his happiest smile.