Make Me Live Again

My Tour

This was a long hall. I had a dream once about a hall like this. It was long with a bunch of doors. I was running in the dream but didn't get anywhere. The hall kept getting longer. There was no end. It wasn't a nightmare so much as it was annoying and pointless.

Tia stopped at the first door and it opened almost immediately. She barely knocked.

"Hello." The woman looked confused. "Tia?"

"Sorry to bother you. Alex wanted me to introduce everyone. This is Tara and Scott. They are married and they work a lot. I just realized that I don't know your name." Tia was introducing me to Tara and Scott.

"Gibbs." I was still trying to blink. I was so lost.

"I wasn't sure you were still here but this is Gibbs." Tia was cheerful and sweet.

"We are almost not here. We are about to leave." They both had scrubs on. "I'm a nurse and my wife is a doctor. We have to work a shift at the hospital. We'll be back in a couple of days." Scott stated as they closed their door.

Tia nodded. They left the room and Tara turned. "Gibbs. It's nice to meet you. They will take good care of you. Try not to worry." She walked over and hugged me. I was too shocked to hug back. "You are safe here." They disappeared down the stairs.

"They're not here very often. On to the next." She knocked on the door and it opened. "Matt. This is Gibbs." He was cute, short with a nice haircut. He was holding a book. He smiled.

"Hello. Getting the tour, I see." I just nodded. I hated all of this nodding. It was going to take all day in this hallway. There were like twenty doors here. She knocked on another and worked out way down the hallway.

She showed me where her room was and the twins. They were in a meeting though. I met more people. Richard, Ben, whom I had met already, Agatha, Sean, Juan, Jorge. Dan and Ruth were in one room. They were married too. They were both at work though. There were another set of twins. Ellie and Dallas were about ten. "That is about everyone. Well, Alex and Kai's room is in a hall downstairs.

"Are they together?" I finally found words.

We walked down some more stairs on the other side of the hall into another hall. Tia laughed. "No, sorry. I wasn't clear. Alex and Leah are married. This is their room." She touched the closed door as she said that. "And Kai is, well, different. He doesn't always stay here. He stays at another house sometimes. Don't go in his room. Don't even knock. He is grumpy. He doesn't like to be bothered. If you have a problem, talk to Alex."

I nodded. Right. Leave Kai alone.

"Alex and Leah have children. Richard is the oldest. Agatha, then Ellie and Dallas. Ellie and Dallas are at their grandparents for the school year." We headed outside. There was a nice fountain and a couple of benches. There were three statues of animals and one looked like the one that chased me and killed me. I was still sure I was dead.

I stared at the sculpture. I would never have sex again if this dream would end. No more alcohol, no smoking, no men.

"There is an in-ground pool there." Tia pointed. "Open anytime." She was actively ignoring the statue that I stared at.

I nodded. I looked and saw that the pool was also indoor. It was separate from the house but closer than the Gym. I assumed that was the large out building. The metal barn in the back of the property. This house had a great backyard, probably a couple acres. There was lots of room and there were huge hedges that surrounded the property. We walked down a sidewalk to the large metal building.

"This is the gym. We do a lot of practice here." Tia opened the door and walked in. There were four guys playing basketball. No shirts and I figured they never needed them. What did these guys do to look like that? I just swore of men. I was trying to be a decent person.

Get a grip.

There were weights, exercise bikes, some punching bags hanging from the ceiling. They looked worn. There was even a few yoga mats. The guys noticed we were there and ran over. They reminded me of puppies.

"Hey, getting a tour." A guy said. He was short with dark hair. He was Hispanic, if I was guessing. "I'm Juan."

"Yes. Hello again."

"If you need anything. We are usually here. You can talk to us anytime." One of the guys said. The other Hispanic. "Oh, I'm Jorge. Juan is my much older brother." He smiled at me and winked. Juan elbowed him.

I smiled at them. "Hi. Again."

"I'm Matt." The last guy said. He was shorter. I remember him from the hall. He was reading a book at the time. "That is Sean."

Sean smiled and waved but he didn't say anything.

"Hi. I will try to remember everyone's name." I repeated them as I pointed. "I will forget so just bear with me. I am terrible with names so don't take it personally if I call you the wrong name."

"We can't begin to understand what you are going through. No one has survived like that. Wolves don't usually..." Juan began and Jorge elbowed him. "Sorry. We will have plenty of time to get to know you."

I was going to ignore the wolf slip. I didn't even want to know. "Oh, I figured since I was better that I would go home." I didn't want to get in the way or inconvenience anyone. Did he say wolves? I started to freak out again. There was an awkward silence. I saw the stares and the uncomfortable silence when I mentioned going home. Or not! I had a bad feeling now.