Chapter 29: Nightmares and Reveries

  Paulie shifted uncomfortably, or at least tried to. He couldn't remember getting out of bed. Looking around, he stood in his darkened room, shirtless and standing at the foot of his bed.

  Paulie frowned, he felt neither cold nor warm. His eyes continued roaming around the room as he remained standing still, something seemed off to him, but he couldn’t place it. There was something tugging at the corner of his mind. His brain trying to warn him of danger, the alarm growing as he looked around again. But he saw nothing immediately out of place.

  Then the sheets in the bed shifted ever so subtly, and he snapped his attention to them. There was somebody or something in the bed, who was it? What was it? He strained to see in the gloom, the figure was covered mostly by the sheets, but he could just make out their features. And what he saw confused and alarmed him in equal measure.

  The figure in the bed was a human, a man of his height and build. The same hair, the same face.. his face.

  Panic crept in now, what the hell was going on? Paulie tried to move and found to his shock and horror that he could not. He was immobile, stock still like a statue!

  Why was he there in his own bed when he was also standing above himself? How had he gotten there, he could not remember waking, nor moving to stand. He tried to look down at himself, but he found that he could not. Paulie tried to open his mouth to speak.. or to scream. But that too, eluded him. It was as if he were a prisoner in his own mind. Able to observe and understand his surroundings, but totally unable to affect them in any way.

  He pushed desperately against the invisible walls that seemed to block him in, the darkness stretching into infinity as he scrabbled against it without hands. Pushed without moving, his mind in a cage made of pain or something darker. The more he pushed at it the more it seemed to itch inside his head, the scratching like the squirming of maggots or some other foul thing in the back of his own mind.

  He raged now, pounding, beating himself against this barrier like a caged beast. Screaming silently as the deepening horror grew ever more stark.

  Paulie watched as his body shifted slightly, and he got an idea. Maybe he was having a nightmare, he must be! He only had to wake himself, to reach out and tap himself on the leg. To yell and wake. He had had sleep paralysis before as a child, it had not been quite like this. But he had to try.

  He directed all his torment and anger into a single infinitely hard point and rammed himself against this strange wall with all the willpower that he possessed and was rewarded with a small crack seeming to appear across its mighty edifice. Nothing visible seemed to change, but he felt the ripple as a shock traveled through that unseen force which held him bound. A low rumbling groan seemed to pass through the unseen wall as he hit it again and again. First flakes and then great chunks of it breaking away as he beat himself against it, his eyes rendered blind to his surroundings as he was focused so hard on simple escape.

  Finally with one last herculean effort, he hurled himself at that terrible nothing, and it shattered with a scream like the universe itself collapsing all around him. His eyes flicked back to his body, his arm now his own to move, and he reached out towards himself.

  But his arm didn’t move, or at least not in the way he expected. Instead, the body on the bed whimpered like a child and then jerked, the bedridden man’s arm following his prompted movement exactly.

  Then he saw his own eyes snap open in wild fear or shock, the same feeling washing the color from his face as his perspective was suddenly that of himself, laying in his bed as if he had always been.

  Paulie coughed, gagging on his own fear as he scrambled back from the foot of his bed. His back slammed into the wall painfully, but he ignored it. Terror silenced his tongue as he looked for the dark apparition that had tried to steal his soul.

  But there was nothing, the room was dark and empty. No figure stood over the foot of his bed, he was alone.

  Paulie tried to stand, his mouth working open and closed in hysterical fear as he stumbled and fell to the floor painfully with another quiet whimper, the blankets tangling his legs as he curled into a fetal position near the wall farthest from where he had stood trapped in his own mind. He shook, the memories of the apparent nightmare making him shiver violently. The pain, the fear, the hopelessness. He had never before felt such an ultimate sense of despair. A fear that stole the very words from his mind, blinded him with panic at the mere thought of it once more taking hold over him.

  Paulie’s eyes wept tears as he began to sob, his body shivering but not from the chill night air. His mind horrified by the experience as he tried to tell himself that none of it had been real. ‘But what if it was.’ a little voice in the back of his head whispered. And Paulie realised that he was not alone, not really.

  The insidious voice seeped through his mind like a poisonous ooze, ‘That was but a taste of the torment that awaits you, you are nothing.’

  He knew now, the worm. That damned parasite, it was getting stronger all the time. He sucked in a huge breath as he climbed back onto the bed, his body sweating from stress and his muscles shaking from the effort of just remaining conscious.

  Paulie collapsed onto the bed, not even bothering to cover himself as the whole experience sunk in. What was he going to do? Without the translating powers of the jargon worm he was less than useless to Mack and Jakiikii. But with every passing day fresh new horrors were revealed to his subconscious. He closed his eyes, willing sleep to come if only for the bliss of unconsciousness to wash the terror from his heart.

  But sleep didn’t come. No matter how hard he tried, a dark laughter echoed through his mind.

  **********

  The door knocked and Paulie stood from his seat tiredly as he walked to it and peered through the eyehole. A small smile cracked his lips as he opened the door, revealing a strange alien figure with six arms and six bright orange eyes situated on flower petal-like eyestalks that protruded from their almost goat-like head.

  Jakiikii stepped into the room, her head turning to take it in even as four of her eyes roamed across him. Her eye-petals crinkled slightly in a smile as she noted, “Oh you don’t have to get all dressed up for little old me.” He realised that he was still shirtless, but he didn’t care overmuch, not anymore.

  Instead, he just shrugged and gave her a small grin, “You like what you see?” Chuckling as she gave him her equivalent of a pointed look. She couldn’t help the way her chromatophores flashed a pale white briefly even as she tried to play off the unconscious show of emotion.

  “Nah, you look like a skinned *chirp-growl* half drowned on the beach.” he frowned slightly as the unfamiliar word didn’t translate.

  Gesturing to the table he asked her, “A what? Sorry, nevermind. Would you like me to fix you some breakfast?”

  She nodded and hopped into a nearby chair as he walked into the kitchen to get her something. As a nectarivore, Jakiikii mainly subsisted off sugary drinks and fluids. So instead of sharing some of the leftover veggie hash he had made himself, he instead grabbed a container of juice from the fridge. The brightly colored packaging showing smiling cartoon versions of various alien fruits that he had no names for.

  He grabbed a self-chilling glass and walked back out into the other room. Jakiikii made sure to give him an appraising look that he answered with a raised eyebrow. “You know, you keep looking at me like that and any man would be forgiven for thinking a woman was interested. Even one as standoffish as you.”

  She chuckled as she muttered under her breath, the husky noise emanating from deep in her chest as her mouth didn’t move. He poured her a glass as he set the rest of the carton down for her. He turned his back to her as she opened her mouth, the long bubblegum pink proboscis that uncurled from inside dipping into her cup as she started to drink.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  He ignored the strange sucking noise she was making exaggeratedly loud on purpose as he grabbed one of his shirts and pulled it on. As he buttoned it up and turned back to look at her, he saw she had already finished off the first glass and was busy pouring herself another.

  He gestured to it, “Late night last night?”

  She shook her head. “Not really, I was going over some of the reports Mack forwarded to us. I wanted to talk to you about them, but..” She paused, seemingly unsure as to how to proceed. Paulie was about to ask her what was the matter when she blurted suddenly, “It’s my birthday!”

  Paulie was a little taken aback. “Your birthday? That’s cool, er.. did you have something planned?” He wasn’t really sure what else to say, the manner she belted it out made him think that it might be more of a sore point than a celebratory one.

  The termaxxi put her drink down unfinished, slurping her long tube-like tongue back into her mouth like a thick piece of bright pink spaghetti. Shaking her angular head, four of her eyes looked around other parts of the room as she answered slowly, “Well, it isn’t really my birthday. Not exactly. Today is the day that Mack saved me.” He looked at her, taking a few steps to the table and sitting back down across from her slowly as he tried to think of a response.

  Paulie waved a hand in a gesture to continue. “Do you want to tell me about it?”

  She nodded. “Yes. But, it’s hard to talk about. I always had Mack to w-watch over me-ee...” Her voice broke slightly as her lower breathing slits flared. The alien woman took a deep breath as she tried again. “I.. don’t know when I was born or even where. All I know is that when I was very young me and two others were hidden in a dark place. It was tough, at first we moved around in the open, but after we lost.. the other.. we started avoiding the light.” She hunched and Paulie stuck an arm out across the table, palm up.

  Jakiikii looked at it and then at him before she reached up and slowly gripped his hand with one her longer uppermost arms. He nodded at her slowly, “I think I can relate to that at least a little.” He swallowed, half-remembered thoughts of his far past coalescing in the darkened corners of his mind amid the dark chuckling laughter of another.

  He pushed his parasite’s dark consciousness back down with some difficulty. A small chirp brought him back to the present and with a slight gasp of alarm he realised that he was squeezing Jakiikii’s hand in a bone-crushing grip.

  He released her hand and stood suddenly, his stool knocked to the floor in his haste. “Oh! Oh Jakiikii I am sorry.. let me go grab some..”

  She waved him off while one of her third arms rubbed her pained hand. “No, I should have remembered that you have some pasts you would rather not think of.” He could tell from the way she winced that he had hurt her though, a pit formed in his stomach as he looked around.

  Paulie rushed to the bathroom amid her protestations and rummaged around in the various drawers till he found what he was looking for. With an exclamation of triumph he hefted the small silver tube emblazoned with stylised green and red starbursts. Taking the tube of quickheal back to her he got down on one knee next to her and grabbed her hand from her gently despite her grumbling. Jakiikii fell silent as he quickly and deftly applied some of the ointment to her hand, and she gave a small sigh. He must have bruised her hand terribly, he sometimes forgot how much stronger he was than even her on this strange new world.

  Standing and closing the tube, he gave her another imploring look and muttered, “I am really sorry, Jakiikii. I forget sometimes..”

  But she shushed him and flexed her hand slowly, the skin a little paler than normal as it glistened from the quickheal. “I understand losing yourself in bad memories, Paulie. I really do, and I get it. Why do you think that Mack kept me sheltered? Was it really all for my own protection, or for his.” She slowly blinked both sets of eyelids on several of her eyes as she said it, first the semi-transparent nictitating membrane then the chromatophore coated outer lids.

  Paulie wasn’t really sure how to answer her. He glanced around the room and his eyes alighted on the couch-like furniture next to his bed. He got an idea and gestured to the furniture, “Hey, since it’s your birthday and all do you have any birthday traditions that you and Mack would do?” He moved to sit on the more comfortable seat and Jakiikii stood, taking a few steps closer but remaining standing for the moment as she shifted a little on the thin carpeting.

  She seemed to sniffle, though she didn’t have a nose. “Yeah, he liked to take me out to eat. Like at an actual restaurant, we would get strange looks sometimes. But the Intercession is big enough that not everyone has seen every species. So I just laid low like Mack said and we would talk.”

  Paulie nodded as he leaned forward a little in the padded cushions. “What would you eat? Like.. high end juice?” He chuckled a little, trying to imagine some sort of alien cocktail drink complete with little umbrellas and served from some manner of blue or yellow alien coconut.

  She shook her head, “Usually just some argonated sugar water, maybe some slushice if they had a flavor I liked that day.”

  He leaned back a little on his seat, eyes roaming over her face. She seemed genuine, and he smiled a little. He scooted over a little as she plopped herself down next to him, her injured hand still held close to her upper chest as she settled down. He frowned a little, he needed to be more careful. He could have really hurt her, he swore silently again.

  She seemed to notice him staring and flexed her hand gingerly. Nodding her six-eyed head, she gave him a searching look that made him feel simultaneously anxious and at ease. “You are a strange person, Paulie.” Was all she said after a moment, that mental tickling brushing ever so gently across his mind as she subconsciously tried to read him.

  He thumped a hand on his chest, “Yeah, that’s me. Earth-man extraordinaire, alien and friend.” It sounded cheesy to him even as he said it, but it made the termaxxi woman giggle. The somewhat breathy sound rattling out from deep in her core as her lower breathing slits flared a little. He nodded towards the kitchen, “Speaking of your birthday, I have been working on a little culinary something the past few days. I think it might be right up your alley, hang on.”

  Paulie stood to his feet and was halted in his path as something seemed to latch onto the rear of his belt. “No, stay.” Jakiikii said, pulling him back down onto the couch with surprising strength. Paulie smirked a little at her and opened his mouth, but before he could say anything he felt some of her arms snake behind his back as she snuggled up to him. “I just want to sit here for a while. With you.” She muttered, causing a flutter in Paulie’s heart.

  He smiled at the alien, her strangely comforting six-armed hug had him as good as pinned and so he relaxed and wrapped his own closer arm around her shoulders. He took special care not to cover the breathing vents on her upper back, Jakiikii snorted slightly in amusement.

  “I am not made of whisperwood. You can hold me tighter than that.. Earth-man extraordinaire.” She poked him hard on the gut as she said it and he squeezed her a little closer.

  Chuckling, he nodded. “I know, I just..” She shushed him and he decided to change the subject. “Well, if we aren’t going to do anything or go anywhere, then what do you want to do? We are not technically on call for another few hours. Do you want to keep watching that show.. What was it called?” He gestured towards the alien television, the strange device dark and in standby mode.

  She shook her angular head, three eyes swiveling his way to look into his face more directly as she rested her head on his chest. “No. I just want to sit here with you. You make me feel..” She trailed off.

  “Fuzzy?” He prompted as he ran his hand over the edge of her neck ruff, receiving a playful slap on the shoulder in response.

  “No. That’s not what I was thinking, I just.. I don’t know.” She looked away, a single one of those bright orange eyes turning back to look at him.

  Paulie shrugged a little. “I love you too, you don’t have to say it out loud, Jakiikii.” She made a small noise, the barest rumbling of a purr echoing in her chest. He leaned back a little, settling himself a little more comfortably and pushing his legs out. “I remember my last birthday, back on Earth.” She looked at him with four of six eyes now. Paulie continued, “I was alone, no family or friends. I bought some little snack cakes from the supermarket and had just lit a match on the top of one..”

  She butted it, “What did you say? I don’t think it translated right.”

  He waved a hand, “Snack cakes?” She shrugged. “Little pastries, like individual little..” He shook his head. “It’s not important. Anyways, I was just saying, I don’t really celebrate my birthday anymore.”

  She shifted a little as he said it, her mind brushing against his like a cool summer breeze as she asked curiously, “Why not?”

  Paulie stared ahead at the bland wall across the room. “Because I don’t have anyone to celebrate with.”

  Jakiikii lifted her head enough to look at him directly as she snorted. The sound coming from her lower sides as her dainty mouth cracked open and the tip of her bright pink proboscis poked out to flick at him playfully. “Well, you do now.. dummy.” She poked him again and he grunted.

  “Yeah.”

  They sat that way for a little bit longer in silence. As Paulie was trying to think about what to say, the termaxxi interrupted him, asking, “Can you tell me about your home?”

  Paulie scooched around a bit and then glanced at her. All six of those orange irised orbs were turned on him and he shivered slightly at the intensity of the look. “What, you mean Earth?”

  He watched the alien woman nod slowly, her slitted pupils contracting slightly as she leaned forwards. Her chin coming to rest on the hands of her two longest arms. It was an endearing posture, and one that made him all the more eager to oblige her request.

  So Paulie sat back into the soft cushions and spoke slowly. He told her of his home as a child, uncaring parents that neglected him, she made a sympathetic sound but bade him to continue.

  Paulie told her of the dark times, the happier times, of his dear Aunt Margret and the good she had done for him. Cured him of his taciturn nature, healed the wounds in his mind. Jakiikii seemed to fixate on her, asking many questions about Margret and the time he shared with her. And when he mentioned her failed battle against the cancer that took her Jakiikii wept softly, hugging Paulie and consoling him as a single tear rolled from the corner of his eye.

  Paulie worked past it and told her of Earth, what he knew. Where he had been. He told her about the Himalayas, and the Grand Canyon. About the Challenger Deep, and the Hawaiian Islands.

  She seemed at first incredulous that any intelligent person would willingly live on an active volcano. But as he told her about Los Angeles and the frequent earthquakes, the tornadoes in the alley and deadly monsoons of southern India, she started to get the picture.

  ”So you are telling me, that your home planet has over four times the gravity of Gike, and is super tectonically active.. and people would still rather live next to an actual volcano than in one of the temperate places near to the equator?”

  Paulie chuckled a bit, nodding. “Yeah, and that isn’t the craziest part. There are people that choose to live on the tops of frozen ice caps, on the edges of toxic swamps and even next to nuclear blast craters.” He paused for emphasis as she tensed next to him.

  “Blast craters?” He nodded. “What do you mean, people would go back to the site of such a terrible accident?”

  Paulie swallowed, and then just shrugged. He didn’t really have the heart to tell her the truth at that moment. Her orange and pink eyes staring into his so intently, two of her arms reached over to grip his wrist in what he could only assume was morbid sincerity. So he didn’t.

  Jakiikii leaned into him again and then just sighed quietly. “Well, I am just glad that you humans are so tough.” he chuckled as she said it and poked his stomach a few times, another arm prodding him in the upper ribs at the same time. “Because if you weren’t then I never would have met you.”

  He smiled at her, “And that.. would have been a true tragedy.” She nodded and rested her head against his chest as if listening to his heart. In return, Paulie just rested a gentle arm on his best friend’s back as he held her close.

  The two of them remained that way for a time, two beings alone in an uncaring universe. But secure in the knowledge that they had each other. And that was enough.