The Empty World | The Empty World Sequence [complete | rewriting]

Eighteen

Morpheus did it then, went back to the appropriate time and cast the dream.  John didn't see himself but he knew that he was still in a bed, but that he was in that room with the zigzag floor and the red curtains.  Blade was sitting mutely in a black armchair looking like Laura Palmer.  Daniel came from the curtains, shirtless but wearing draperies, like Angels from paintings, that just somehow didn't fall off.  Daniel sauntered across the room and sat in another chair.  He looked at Blade.  Then he looked at John.  "She doesn't know," he said.

Then the phone rang, and it was Julien.

The next time, Blade was not in the dream.  Steven was sitting in the armchair with his hair slicked back in an uncharacteristic way.  There was someone else there that looked like Joey but was dressed in clothes like Bob from the TV show.  Daniel came in as he had before and sat in a chair near Steven. Joey pointed his finger at Steven and said, "She is coming for you, Maaahn!" and then suddenly Steven was splattered with blood.  Daniel suddenly hid his face in his hands and sobbed.

John woke up and saw Julien crying.

Morpheus returned to his own bedroom in the Palace Shade on Halloween. His Djinn and flowers were back in place. He put River on the table with his lamp and water.

Morpheus let the clothes melt from him, walked to his bedroom, and snuggled into his bed.  He fell asleep right away.  He half-woke when Absinthe and Laudanum came to say goodnight.  "Poor thing, he looks exhausted," said Absinthe, "and he didn't even stay for the dancing." Laudanum bent and kissed Morpheus on the mouth. 

Morpheus didn't know if he were awake or dreaming after that.  He could hear River's small voice, "Hey, you getting up?" and then some time later, "Boss!  Are you alive?" and then a very long time after, "I'm hungry, I'm going to go find the kitchen...roaches maybe?" 

He saw Psyche standing somewhere.  "If you sleep much longer they'll but you in a glass coffin, they put me in a glass coffin once, the little animals, but I didn't have a poisoned apple in my mouth, they made that up...the kiss part, the kiss part...it really works." 

And then Joy was there, "I wonder if he's dreaming...I never remember dreaming...but then I usually don't remember much of anything.  I wonder if I remember in my sleep."

"Murph, that guy Steven brought me up.  They got lots of things to eat in the garden.  Hey!  You want me to go whisper in Julien's ear while he's asleep?  Huh?"

"Hello, Morpheus?  Can you hear me?  Oh Gawd, how can you sleep with the curtains open?  Everyone's asleep; it's almost scary.  Wake up.  Morpheus, listen, is all that stuff true?  I mean, do you know anything about dreams?  Cause like, I've been having these bad ones...I've always had them.  I'm sick of waking up...Gawd, sometimes I wish I'd just fall asleep and never wake up, only I know I'd have nightmares if I did. I don't mean that, not really, about never waking. Are you...? It's not Sidhe magic, is it?"  And then Julien kissed Morpheus on the lips. 

"What sort of nightmares?" Morpheus asked sleepily.

"Oh, you're awake...Jesus, did you hear all that?"  Julien's blurry face laughed.  "Does this mean I'm your true love?"

"Oh sure," said Morpheus with purposeful sarcasm.  "My brother kissed me."

"Huh?"

"Laudanum.  He kissed me.  So, yes, Sidhe magic, of a sort. It made me sleep a long time...it's a little like the thing with the poison apple."

Julien sat on the edge of the bed. Morpheus could see him better then; he was wearing white satin pajama pants. "Gawd, you sound like Psyche, that girl thinks just about every Disney movie is a rip off of her life story.  She's always asking Athen to sue them."

Morpheus looked at the silver window draperies.  Sunlight was coming through, but its angle was high enough that the light on the bed was pale and indirect. "It must be almost noon, why are you awake?  You actually had a nightmare?"

"Yeah." He looked away, into the light, unaffected.

"Was it one where you are in a place you recognize from life and just the people or the events were strange, or did you actually think you were in a strange place?"

"I have both." Julien glanced down to him, where Morpheus lay against his pillow. He gestured with his hands as he described the dream. "But, this one was a place I've never actually been, but I know it.  I've had the dream before...there's this maze, and I don't even know which way I want to go...and it's not like those ones from your activity books that are easy, it goes up and down as well as across, and there are all sorts of pits, and staircases that defy gravity, and strange things.  I'm always falling into a pit and falling.  It sounds stupid, but it's really frightening.  I wake up so suddenly and my chest hurts my heart is pounding so fast."

"I know where that is!  In those kinds of nightmares you go to an actual place, or more like, part of you travels there."

"How can I get out?"

"I can't tell you, exactly; it doesn't work like that.  But, I can tell you the object is to keep moving up.  Ideally, you don't have to go down to get up, but that doesn't mean some people don't do it that way...it just takes longer.  And, don't be afraid to fall.  Just tell yourself there's a floor down there and you can make your way right back up."

"Jeez...I don't know if that helps, it sounds like hell: going up and always falling down before you reach the top."

"But Julien, you'll reach the top."

Julien shrugged.  "Would you care if I slept here?"

"You want to sleep with me?" Morpheus realized, as he said it, that his voice had gone kinda dreamy. He tried a lop-sided smile in apology.

Julien crawled over him to reach the unoccupied side of the bed. "Is that especially meaningful, you being...you?"

Morpheus pinched his right thumb to his index finger: A little bit.

Julien lifted the covers and slipped down into the bed. "But it's OK?" He left a small space between them, a polite gap that said they were friends sharing a bed.

"Actually, I love just sleeping with friends."

Julien turned his back to Morpheus. "I like this room, the walls..." Words to fill the awkward silence. Morpheus half-listened, as he allowed himself to sense Julien's particular state of rest. He was tired. "The color is calming. It's not like Navy, it's not like it was blue and then they added black." Tired, but afraid to surrenderr to Sleep because it put him so close to Dream. "It was just dark to begin with....."

"Shhhh."

"Can you make me sleep?"

"I can, if you want." Morpheus made his voice whisper soft.         

"And hold me?"

Morpheus was tempted to joke, but he sensed no subterfuge. He simply scooted closer. "I love snuggling, too." Morpheus kissed his fingertips, then reached over to close Julien's lids. He lay down, and put one arm over Julien. The Vampyre went right to Sleep.