Other Than Nothing

OTHERS

          I woke up again. Yes, it happens often. Sometimes there are Others with me. I call them "Others" because they appear to be like people but have no faces. They walk around quietly, never speaking. They don't even look at each other. These Others have blurred faces like melted wax over painted features. I know...I know...

I just woke up again, this time in bed. I'm fully clothed, my white jeans don't rustle when I shake my legs. The fabric doesn't touch my skin or graze the ends of my leg hair. I can't feel much of anything, to be more exact.

A Other approaches, crawling across the bed, and this bed stretches to the horizon. There is light hurting my eyes. I squint, trying not to look in that direction. Is it the sun, I wonder? The Other reaches me, then climbs into the covers, and its cold skin puts me into a trance. My eyes stay focused on something in the distance. Am I about to wake up again?

How many times have I awakened? Does it matter? The Other beside me is heating up. I can feel a warmth through the fabric, my skin tingles. I can feel something! I'm about to wake up again, I just know it!

Turning in the bed, I hear the sound of dripping liquid. The heat is building, steam rises all around me, burning my eyes. The Other next to me has melted, its body has turned into a bubbling puddle of colored wax. I care nothing for the person, the Other, whatever it was...