Vide (Cake/Mashton)[DISCONTINUED]

18

Calum arrives home after a quick run. He's sweating—it's deathly hot outside. He goes through the front door and heads straight for the bathroom. He desperately needs a shower.

He detours briefly, stripping his clothes off in the bedroom and tossing them into the hamper. He walks naked into the bathroom, flicking the light on and shutting the door.

He finds himself facing away from the shower, towards the mirror, but instead of there being cabinets and a sink and a toilet, it's just one gigantic reflective surface, covering the entire wall. That's not real. This is a dream.

He can see every inch of his body—the curves of his muscles and the V at his hips...and each of his tattoos, clearly, in the white light from above him.

He walks closer to the mirror-wall and looks at his collarbones. MMXII. A feather. So...2012. And a feather. Okay.

He puts his left arm out, looks at the tattoos in the mirror. A horseshoe. SKYWARDS. A tribal Indian with a chief's headdress. A bird with...

He can't read it backwards in the reflection. He looks down at his arm, bends it at the elbow and brings it closer to his face. MALI-KOA.

His sister.

He feels alarm in his bones. He looks in the mirror again, frowning, scared, thinking something's going to jump out at him, feeling like something's right behind him. Maybe it's just creeping, impending knowledge.

He looks back at his arm. He looks at his left hand. JKH. His right hand. DSH.

His parents. Their initials.

He looks back up into the mirror. Around him stand his three family members, suddenly. He jumps, embarrassed that he's naked, but when he blinks again they're no longer there.

He stares for a while, half wishing they'd come back, half forgetting already who was even there at all. He makes an effort to keep it in his brain. He feels like it's vital that he remembers these three people. He stares at the three most important tattoos on his skin, repeats in his head: Mom. Dad. Mali. MomDadMali.

He squeezes his eyes shut. He thinks he'll remember. He has to remember.

He opens his eyes. The sink and the cabinets and the toilet are back. The mirror is its normal size. Calum sees only the upper half of his body. His skin is all at once blank.

He feels not alarm this time but something more. Panic. He needs the tattoos back. He needs to wake up.

He turns around rapidly, throwing the cold handle on the shower all the way up and leaving the hot off entirely. He waits a moment for the water to get the right temperature. He steps quick into the shower and the cold water shocks his skin and

Calum jolted awake. He opened his eyes and saw darkness. He waited until his irises adjusted, and in front of him was Luke's hair. Of course. He was still holding him.

"Calum? Are you awake?" Luke whispered, almost silently.

Calum shifted a little. "Yes."

"It's the middle of the night. One AM. Are you okay?"

Calum took in a deep breath. There was something he was supposed to be remembering. He knew that much. Something from a dream he just had. His brain was telling him Cold. No. That wasn't it. Something else... Mirror. Close, but not quite. Skin. Almost. Tattoos.