Valdemar is brought into the room. I avoid his gaze until he’s sat down in front of me and there’s no alternative but to look at him.
Even through my watery vision, I see the mixture of emotions on his face.
“I’m glad you came, angel. I’ve been out of my mind with worry.” His first words belie the anger I can only imagine is simmering beneath his façade.
“Why don’t we cut the niceties,” I say.
His shoulders rise as he examines every inch of my face.
“Okay, what the fuck did you do?” he asks.
He’s angry, yes, but something else hides behind his eyes. Concern?
“On Monday night. How did you…?” His voice trails off as his eyes narrow.
“I had a wake-up call on Monday, a reality check of how fucked up this whole thing is. I feel like I’m losing my mind, and I don’t know what’s happening here, but it needs to stop. Needed to stop.”
“I told you I would stop if that was what you wanted, but instead you…. Whatdidyou do?”
“I took a couple of sedatives. It was supposed to knock me out enough that I wouldn’t dream at all, but instead….” I shake my head, not wanting to return to that god-awful nightmare. “Did you see it?” I hadn’t felt him there, not until the end when I’d heard his voice.
“I couldn’t get to you. The sedative must have interfered somehow. But I was there. I know the dream well,” he says.
“What do you mean, you know it well?”
“I know it well, angel, because it’smydream.”
Staring at him, it’s only now that I see the hurt on his face, his dark beard stark against the sorrow sitting on his brow.
“Yours?” I ask.
“I don’t know how. I still don’t understand it, but yes, it was my nightmare—the one I’ve had every night for the past tenyears until you came to see me and I started to visit your dreams. Your dreams have been a welcome break from my own.”
“But how?” Pressing my hand against my forehead, I wonder if I weren’t so tired, I might be able to understand this.
“I don’t know. It isn’t your gift, so I don’t know how you would be able to cross over like you did, but I can’t explain it other than as a fucking fluke, crossed wires, a faulty connection. Who knows? But I do know that I never want you to have to see that again, so promise me that whatever you did, you won’t do it again.” He leans forwards, alerting the guard behind us, who straightens as he peers at us.
“The sedative was the only thing I did differently, and I haven’t taken it since,” I tell him.
“I haven’t seen you for the past two nights.”
“I haven’t slept,” I say.
“At all?” He narrows his eyes.
“I got a few hours yesterday from five until ten. I figured you had to be asleep to be able to visit my dreams, so I slept while I thought you’d be awake.”
There’s a hint of a smile. “You guessed correctly. We both must be asleep at the same time. But you can’t stay awake forever. It’s not safe. How are you even functioning on so little sleep?”
“It’s nothing I’m not used to. I’ve gone ten years without sleeping properly,” I say.
“And long term?” he asks.
“You need to stop visiting me.”
The silence is thick for a moment before he replies.
“Is that what you want?”
