Maybe.
Do I care?
Not even a little.
***Eli***
“Come on, pretty boy. Open those brown eyes for me. Just for a minute.”
I’m dreaming… and it’s the best dream I’ve ever had.
I’m wrapped in a man’s arms, held like I weigh nothing. Like I belong there. He’s laughing…really laughing…head tipped back, mouth open, the kind of sound that shakes the air around us.
But everything moves in slow motion, like I’m sinking underwater.
I can’t see his face. But I can see mine.
It’s like I’m standing outside my own body, watching it unfold from a few feet away.
Watching me look up at this faceless man like he hung the moon.
And the look on my face…Wow.
It’s so full of love that it actually hurts to witness.
Like my heart recognizes him even though my mind can’t.
Like I’ve been waiting my whole life for arms that feel like that.
“Baby, I need you to wake up and drink this.”
No. I don’t want to leave.
“Come on now. Be a good boy and do as you’re told. Then you can go back to sleep.”
My dream man starts to fade. His warmth slips through my fingers like smoke.
Panic tugs hard at my chest. Why does it feel like he’s falling away from me?
Who is he?
…
I wake with a full-body jolt, eyes flying open.
And when I look at the man sitting next to me, I can’t breathe.
There’s this one moment…that strange, blurry second where you’re not asleep anymore but not fully awake either…and in that second, I swear my dream man is right there beside me.
Right there.
Real.
Mine.
But it’s… just Skip.
Skip, the man who saved me.
