Lifespan Deathwatch

[Damien McEwan]

He woke up and slowly tried to crawl out of bed without waking Jaina, but it didn't work. She sleepily smiled, said "Good morning," rolled onto her back and engaged in a leisurely horizontal stretch under the covers without opening her eyes.

He leaned down, kissed her and whispered in her ear, "It's afternoon, actually."

"Oh yeah."

"I had a strange dream last night." he continued.

"Tell me." she said with another smile.

"You were in it, and...a talking bunny looking for a smoke."

Jaina finally opened her eyes: Bright and immediately alert. "Tell me more!" she pleaded with genuine interest.

"OK, but I have to pee like a racehorse first."

"We're really going to have to work on your pillow talk skills." she responded wryly.

They both slid out of bed. While Nivek went to the restroom, Jaina picked Nivek's shirt up off the floor and slipped it on. She activated the TV and returned above the sheets. She sat upright against the backboard, and tuned to the CNS Network to catch up on the local news.

She sunk into memories of her own dream: Bus rides, bunnies, and lots of rain.

She's never linked into a dream with anyone before. She was taught that it was possible, and thought maybe it was something to do with the enjoyable jolt she felt last night when she and Nivek collided before the show and locked eyes with one another.

She thought back through the chain of serendipities that led to it, and her heart warmed.

"TELL ME ABOUT YOUR DREAM!" she called out.

After a beat, his response came, muffled by a mouth full of toothpaste: "SORRY. I DON'T REMEMBER IT NOW."

Disappointed, she turned her attention back to the TV.

On the news, the teenager that died last night in the bio-dome achieved his fifteen minutes of fame on a split-screen news report...The footage of his covered corpse being wheeled out on a gurney to the left, and a photograph of him taken in happier times, provided by the family to the right.

Truly a tragic thing from one point of view, but the most important lesson her friends ever taught her, is that everything is connected. She replayed the boy's words when they met in the dream, and for the briefest of moments, imagined herself possibly moving to Cambridge and starting a family of her own someday.

She turned the screen off as Nivek joined her on the bed, and she asked, "Have you ever been to Los Angeles?"

"No. You?"

"It's where I grew up. Would you like to go there with me sometime and meet my friends?"

"Yeah. I'd like that." he answered. "Until you get sick of me, I want to go where you go."

Lost in a moment of thought, Nivek furrowed his brow and tilted his head to the side like a confused canine.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Nothing." he replied. "Just having a moment of De'ja Vu"

"That's a good start." she said with a hopeful smile, and fell in love with him a little bit.

She turned out the lights and the pair continued to get to know each other.

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