A Slumber Did My Spirit Steal: Chapter One

There was a telephone ringing insistently downstairs, Ash noted absently. He really should answer it, it could be something important, but he'd just taken his prescription and already the drugs were pulling his consciousness away from his surroundings. The phone continued to ring, long past the point where most would have given up and Ash felt a frown crease his forehead. Even work would have hung up by now; it had to be one of his friends. Random salespeople weren't an option since he'd had his number made unlisted. Scrabbling at the cotton sheets that seemed to be tangling themselves around him in an effort to keep him in bed, Ash pulled himself out of bed and stumbled out of the room. His wheat-blond hair had managed to become completely mussed in the short space of time he'd been trying to sleep and as a result, hung across his forehead, threatened to jab into his blue eyes. Ash swiped at them irritably as he all but fell down the stairs, not paying full attention to where he was placing his feet. Trying to keep his worry in check, Ash grabbed at the wall-mounted phone, knocking the handset out of its cradle and causing it to swing and bang against the wall. With a muttered curse, Ash finally managed to get hold of the phone and placed it to his ear. "Hello?" he managed to get out, only moments before another large yawn would have obscured his words completely.

"Ash Morgenstern?" The voice on the other end of the line was a complete unknown, which only served to increase Ash's anxiety. Worst case scenarios of what trouble his friends could have fallen into flashed across his mind even as he had to focus his hardest on simply staying awake.

"Uh … yes. Who's this?" His grip tightened on the phone as Ash slumped to a seated position under the phone. It was quite a comfortable spot, despite the solid wood flooring. With a mental shake, Ash tried to fight off the growing desire to sleep for just a few more minutes.

"I'm calling to ask you a few questions on how your dreams have been lately."

Ash frowned in sudden suspicion. "Did my doctor tell you to call me?" Admittedly his mind wasn't exactly functioning at full capacity at this particular point in time, but Ash was fairly familiar with all the staff at the local surgery and this voice still wasn't ringing any bells. "My appointment isn't until next week." Another thought struck him slightly, stirring him momentarily into a more alert state. "Or is this about my medication?"

There was a slight pause on the other end of the line. "I didn't mean to cause any concern, Mr Morgenstern, my apologies. I was merely hoping to ascertain the content of your recent dreams. However, from your reactions it appears my information was incorrect. Once again my apologies for taking up your time. Pleasant dreams."

The line went dead and Ash blinked at it blearily for a moment or two before replacing it on the cradle. Walking back up the stairs now really seemed like too much effort, so he simply rested his head back against the wall and closed his eyes, hoping for another night of dreamless sleep.

Unfortunately, the conversation seemed to have stimulated Ash's conscious too much to allow the normal blank trance, for no sooner had he felt the first levels of sleep take over than the usual images began to crowd into his mind.

The darkness was so intense that it invoked an extreme sense of claustrophobia in Ash, even though some other part of his mind told him that the area he was stranded in was impossibly large. As always, he huddled in the cold, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness and perhaps see some of his surroundings. But no matter how he tried, his eyes simply wouldn't register anything other than total blackness. It was as though he had no previous experience with the night. Eventually he would give up on trying to see anything and simply focus on trying to control the rising panic.

And that would always be the cue for the voices to start. Harsh, guttural voices that seemed to circle around him, speaking words in a language he couldn't understand. The language itself was harsh and seemed to cause the speakers difficulty themselves; it was as though they were trying to speak in another form entirely, but somehow found themselves deprived of the means and knowledge to do so. The emotions carried across clearly enough, though, the anger and bitterness just dripped from every sibilant croon. The voices would draw nearer and Ash's earlier fear of the dark became a relieved embrace of the gloom, for the shadows were all that gave him cover. This would continue indefinitely, yet Ash would never doubt one thing. Sooner or later, the voices that were seeking him out would find him.

This time though there was the unmistakable sound of footsteps and Ash suppressed a shiver. In his general experience, when his nightmares were introducing a new element, it rarely was a good thing. Trying not to cry out or give away his location in any way, Ash hunched further into himself. Something obviously wasn't working however, for no matter how silent and still he willed himself to be, the footsteps continued to advance towards him, never once faltering in their confident approach. Finally they stopped beside him.

"I'm sorry," a soft male voice ventured with more than a degree of hesitance. "I'm not supposed to interfere, but I need to ask. Why are you so scared?"

Ash nearly bit his tongue off in shock, but managed to recover himself. Turning his head in the direction of the voice he wasn't surprised to find he could still see nothing. "Who are you?" he whispered.

"I … I can't really answer that question right now," the voice answered apologetically. There was a definite element of shyness in the voice, evident in the hesitance before each word was spoken, but unlike the disembodied voices of earlier, this one was warm and soothing.

"How did you find me?" Ash felt his forehead wrinkle in puzzlement, temporarily placing his general fear and angst to one side until this new element had been fully assimilated. "It's so dark …"

"But you're so easy to see," the unknown speaker replied in obvious confusion. "Look at the light you're giving off; you're practically a beacon. There didn't seem to be anything else so I made my way here." The voice paused again and then Ash felt a gentle touch on his shoulder. "Can we go somewhere else? This place is cold."

There was a sudden sensation of movement and then the darkness lifted to reveal the inside of an all-night coffee shop Ash had used to frequent during his student days. He was sitting in his favourite table outside in the crisp sea air. Across the empty road were the strings of light that decorated the promenade above the pebbled beach. He couldn't see the sea due to the lack of a moon, but he could hear the reassuring crash of the waves as they sent the stones skittering over one another. A seagull squawked nearby and as Ash turned his head towards the sound his eyes fell upon the other occupant of the table.

He was sitting with his head bowed as he intently studied the menu, causing his dark brown hair to fall forwards and obscure his eyes. He was small, both in height and build and the combats and plain black t-shirt he was wearing made the most of his lean form. No doubt noticing Ash's attention, the young man looked up cautiously from the laminated paper to reveal a large set of hazel eyes and a shy smile. "Hey."

Shifting in his seat as he scoured the area for any nearby serving staff, the stranger glanced back over his shoulder and smiled again, a little wider this time. "I really like this place, by the way. You must have too, to have such a clear picture of it in your mind. What's good to eat on the menu?"

Feeling slightly dazed by the sudden changes, Ash simply shrugged a touch helplessly. "It's all pretty good. I always liked the all day breakfast."

The young man turned back to study the menu intently. "Oh? What's in that?"

"The usual … fried egg, couple rashers of bacon, couple sausages, a big heap of chips and half a tomato."

An eyebrow quirked and raised up high enough to be obscured by the slightly overlong bangs as Ash's companion looked at him doubtfully. "Chips? For breakfast?"

Ash slumped back in his seat and for lack of anything else to occupy his hands with began to shuffle the bottles of ketchup and brown sauce. "That's why it's all day. No one ever actually eats it before 11am anyway."

A wistful sigh was heard over the waves and seagulls. "I haven't had chips in ages. Are they good chips or those disgusting skinny things you get served in fast food restaurants?"

"Fat and chunky. Your typical seaside chipped potato."

"Ooooooooh. Sounds good." The man broke off his conversation with Ash to turn to the waiter who'd sauntered over, still looking relatively cheerful and alert despite the disgusting hour of night. The dark haired man quickly ordered an all day breakfast along with two large cups of coffee and then paused, looking over at Ash. "Er … did you want anything to eat or will you be okay with just coffee?"

Ash blinked. "Coffee's fine. I take it black though."

A small wave of the hand answered him as the other man finished off the order and settled back into his seat as the waiter disappeared inside. Giving another hesitant smile, the stranger pushed his hair out of his eyes with both hands only to have the majority of the strands simply fall back in place. "So," he commented brightly. "How did you find out about this place anyway?"

"I got dragged here by someone I met in a club to talk over coffee. Never really noticed it before." Ash stopped himself and turned a questioning glare upon the other man who seemed to shrink slightly. "Who are you anyway? What's going on?"

The young man slumped in his seat. "I'm not supposed to tell you. I'll get into trouble. You can call me Dream."

Ash snorted. "Sandman fan are you? The outfit's a little off – you look a bit too street."

A confused expression met the question. "Excuse me?"

Ash sighed again. "I'm used to dreaming some pretty weird shit, but this is too whacked out even for me." He ran a hand through his own wheat blond hair, feeling the short spikes sticking up in a million different directions. Silently, he made a mental note to change his prescription next time he was at the doctors. It appeared the subconscious workings of his mind were more disturbed than he'd thought.

The man calling himself Dream was frowning slightly at Ash in mild disapproval. "Look, you weren't exactly enjoying that nightmare you were dreaming by yourself, were you? What's wrong with me changing a few details to make this time pass a little more pleasantly?" Dream was momentarily cut off as the waiter returned with the standard over-large plate of food and two equally out-sized cups of coffee. He paid the man and set about demolishing the food with obvious relish. "Uh … could you pass the brown sauce?"

Ash did as requested and watched the brunet squeeze a liberal amount over just about all the contents of his plate except the fried egg. With a pleasant smile and murmured word of thanks, Dream passed the bottle back and fell upon his food again. Ash sipped at his coffee and watched the man in something approaching shock. "You always this hungry?"

Dream paused in his eating to snort and glance up at Ash. "God no. Just been starved for about the last two months." Slowing down his pace to one that hopefully would be less likely to make him choke, Dream grinned at Ash. "You were right about the food, this is all great."

"Uh … well that's good. I guess." Ash trailed off as he tried to think of some way to voice his thoughts without sounding crazy. "Look, not that I don't appreciate the change in scene and all that, but what exactly are you doing here? And I don't care if you're supposed to tell me or not, but this is technically my dream so I think I have a right to know."

Dream wilted for a moment and began to play with one of his chips, pushing it in various patterns through the brown sauce. "Ummm, I'm really not sure how best to phrase this. What it comes down to is that I'm sort of hiding from some people right now and as far as I was concerned, the best place to do that would be in somebody else's dreams. Then I leave, you wake up and everyone's happy." Dream looked around and squinted over Ash's shoulder. "Is that a roller coaster I can see on the pier?"

Ash gave up trying to get the man to reveal any more information; he knew a lost cause when he heard one. And anyway, from the sounds of things, this would only be for the one night. Then Ash got to go back to dreamless, drug-induced rest and Dream would go and do whatever the hell it was he did. "Yeah, they have a little funfair thing past the arcade."

Dream's hazel eyes widened as the man craned his neck to get a better view. "Is it any good?"

"It's okay. Expensive though." Ash drank some more of his coffee wondering if ingesting caffeine while he was supposed to be asleep would somehow bring this whole incident to an end quicker. "Best ride there was always the spinning galleons."

Dream pulled a face. "One of those rides where the ships just spin around? Doesn't sound very interesting."

"And it wouldn't be except for the view. When you're at the top of the 360º arc you can't see the pier anymore, just the sea which is way too far below you. Then you start to go crashing towards it. It's absolutely terrifying."

The brunet paled slightly. "Sounds it. I think I'll pass on that one." He turned his attention back to his coffee but seemed somewhat distracted, shifting in his seat and glancing continually up at Ash. Finally appearing to gather his courage, he leaned forwards and dropped his voice. "I know this is a really personal question and you don't have to answer it if you don't want to, but I have to ask. That nightmare you were having earlier, do you have dreams like that often?"

Ash shrugged. "More often than I dream of imaginary people and go out for coffee together. But on the whole, I don't dream at all if I can help it. Not ones I can remember, anyway. I take a couple strong pills that knock me out for the night." Ash paused to finish his coffee and frowned into the empty cup. "Which is why I can't work out why I'm dreaming this right now. I guess it must be down to that weird phone call I got." Another thought occurred to him and he groaned. "In fact, I think I fell asleep by the phone. Shit, I'm going to be so stiff when I wake up."

Dream was frowning slightly. "Weird phone call?" he repeated. "Can you remember anything more about it?"

Ash pulled a face. "I was kind of out of it at the time. Some guy's voice I didn't recognise asking me about my dreams." He paused as a thought occurred to him and groaned. "I bet this is all his fault. He put the idea of whacked out dreams into my head and my subconscious took the suggestion as a cue to run with a whole load of stuff I should probably be repressing or something."

Across the table, Dream was chewing on his lower lip in concern. "That doesn't sound good," he muttered. "I thought they wouldn't have tracked me down so quickly and if they're monitoring you I shouldn't stay here any longer."

Ash blinked. "Huh?"

Smiling apologetically, Dream hastily rose to his feet. "Look, I hate to just run off and leave you, but it's really not safe for me to stay here … not for either of us. I … uh … I had a really nice time. Thanks for showing me this place." Leaving Ash no time to respond, the slim brunet turned and made his way past the white picket-style fence that ringed the outer sitting area and sprinted over the road in the direction of the beach.

Startled, Ash found himself rising to his feet and following the other man without stopping to rationalise the situation. "Hey, wait! What are you talking about?"

"I have to go!" Dream called over his shoulder with a faint note of desperation. He had reached the top of the wide stairs down to the pebbled beach and was practically stumbling down them in his hurry. Ash, being more seasoned with this particular seaside resort, simply slid down the iron balustrade. He landed a few steps behind the smaller man and managed to grab his arm. Dream's momentum carried him directly into Ash's chest and the two staggered backwards. Dream tried to pull away from Ash, but Ash was stronger. "What are you doing?" Dream cried.

"I could ask you the same question!" Ash responded. "You're just going to abandon me here? And where the hell are you going anyway?"

With a sudden jerk, Dream was able to pull away and quickly back off a couple steps. "I'm not abandoning you! You'll just wake up normally and I'll head somewhere they won't be monitoring." Closing his eyes, Dream slowly raised one hand above his head and drew it down in a slow line.

Ash watched in puzzlement. "Are you trying to ward me off with some weird karma or something?"

Dream's forehead creased in a frown and he cracked open a hazel eye. The other soon followed as Dream stared at Ash in complete bafflement. "You're not supposed to be here anymore," he ventured at last.

Ash rolled his eyes. "Again, you're stealing my lines."

Dream continued to glance around him, worry now replacing the earlier confusion. "I should be gone, why can't I leave?"

Ash opened his mouth to make some kind of response when a loud ringing made him clap his hands over his ears. The scene began to blur and fade, but he could almost swear he heard Dream curse and mutter; "this isn't good".