River Teeth

Spit

Stan shook him.

"Kyle, wake up!"

He turned his wrist over and touched with two fingers. A slim, quarter note pulse bore up from his skin.

Kyle awoke, shrouded in a cold sweat. His hand shot up, dipping into Stan's cheek. Stan squeezed his fingers.

"Was I out long?"

"Long enough to freak me out. You okay?"

"Yeah. That hurt like fucking hell," he sat up, brain swirling and static pouring from his ears, tongue feeling too large for his mouth.

"Whoa, dude," Stan wrapped himself around Kyle's body, arms over his collarbone. "We can sit here for a second, it's okay."

Numbness pandered throughout Kyle's stomach and legs. Stan's hot breath on the back of his neck was the only thing he could feel, and tingles sent him back to his bedroom - warmth, blue walls, Stan's cheek pressed against his arm. He thought of the dreams like this, trapped in enclosing darkness with no way out, and couldn't help but wonder if he somehow knew this may happen, if his subconscious had been trying to warn him. Sheila told him that these dreams were just anxiety, or their ancestors were trying to convey their experiences through him. Jewish children are never happy, she said, wiping tarnish from an old spoon, everything haunts us.

But in these dreams, he's always alone. Stan would be there when he woke up.

He looked to the dripping candle, then felt his stomach. The wounds were stinging again, but he was glad for the pain. It meant he was alive.

"I've been close to getting out before," Stan said. He could feel Kyle wanted to get up. And get out. "I was close, but the ground was frozen, and then..."

He couldn't think of how to tell Kyle what had happened next. That something wanted to keep him trapped like a doll in a shadow box.

Kyle didn't seem to notice the pause. He turned over and stood up, pulling Stan with him. His legs quivered. "Do you think if we went together, we could find that spot again?"

"We could," Stan whispered. "You sure you're up for it? You're shaking."

"I'm feeling good right now. I want to use that feeling while we still can."

Maybe with Kyle, they could overcome whatever forces binding Stan to his role in this dark village of corpses and curses. Or they would fall together.