Chapter II - Danny

Captured and separated when they had just found each other, Mani and him are about to get into a whole different adventure.

THE DREAMER

PART II

BY S.J.RENE

I woke up with the pain of ten grieving men. I let my eyes wonder around my cage, sitting in a pool of dirty mud and itchy grass. Mani was nowhere to be seen and thought of her being scared and alone. In my prison made of wooden sticks I kept silent. The sun had had time to rise twice before anyone paid attention to me. They threw me bread crumbs and a half empty cup of water. Drank the water. Left the bread. The only food I seemed to be able to eat nowadays was fruits and vegetables. The rest had a rather unpleasant interaction once inside my digestive system which dissuaded me to try again. 

“Get up,” A man says to me on the third day of captivity. 

“Someone wants to see you.” 

The man opens the trap door and make me sign to move by a wave of his head. I crouch to fit through the entrance and exit the cage. The human slams the door behind me, a face that said long on his mindset in this situation. 

“Walk,” he says a stick with a sharpened edge poking in the centre of my spine. “I don’t have all day,” he says. We walk through the camp, strangers watching me like they’d just caught a child molester in their neighbourhood. 

“MURDERER!” I hear one of them say before a rotten tomato split skin on my face. I brush it off and licks some, hungry. The sour taste made my eyes water but I had to try. We approach a well made house with windows, doors and all. Sitting by its porch with a female human figure was Mani. A bowl of fruits on her lap, she was eating away like it was 1999 all over again. My belly rumbled.

Once our eyes crossed, she abandoned her food and stood up. The female human grabbed her by the hand as she whispered something to calm her down. 

“Are you all right?” I ask simply. She nods at me as she puts her hand in her bowl of fruit. 

“Good,” I say to her with a smile on my face. “that’s all that matters.” 

She throws me an apple that I catch and bite into with fierce gratitude. I look at her and nods. 

“Thank you.” 

“Faster,” the man pushes me with great strength. He did a pathetic jump to boost his own strength that only made me take a step faster than the other. I turn around and look at him trying to act tough as we were still walking ahead. The male human and I entered what seemed to be where the not-so-fun stuff was happening. I’m forced to kneel down on  the floor in the middle of the room, candles lit all around. The male human ties my hands behind my back and sets himself aside in the room as arrives someone else.

“What have you done with Danny?” he punches me just after the sentence. “Did you eat him?”

I look at the muscular, forty years old black man.

“Eat who?” I ask clueless. 

“Don’t play games with me monster,” he slaps me with the back of his hand. “I’m in no mood.”

The man calls out one of his colleagues by the snap of his fingers. A man steps up next to him and takes out of his pocket a sanitiser bottle. The interrogator tenders his hands while he is poured some in the palm of his hand. 

“You’re like a virus,” he says as he applies the sanitiser.  “eyes that inspires fear, adaptable and made to survive like a cockroach would feed off nuclear waste.”

“You don’t who I am,” I say to him. 

He hits me a second time, a red thread of blood now dripping on my chin. 

“You talk when I tell you to talk.” He says.

I stay silent.

“Where is he?” he asks. 

“I don’t know,” I say.

“Then tell me what you know,” he says.

I wipe the blood away and spits on the floor, the taste of the blood leaving a sour taste in the back of my throat. 

“Three men came and burned my home,” I began with. “I protected what was left of it and chased them away.” 

“When they left they were three and now we’re missing one. What happened to him?” he puts sanitiser on his hands once more. 

“They left him unconscious,” I stated the facts. “I picked him up and carried him away from my home and-“

“Killed him off is that it? To send a message?” he says with so much conviction.

I sigh away my irritation.

“What do you think I am?” I dare ask.

The interrogator takes out a gun from the back of his trousers and hits me with its butt, barrel between his fingers. 

“I ask the questions,” he says.

I bite my tong to hold the pain of my arch of my eyebrow bleeding out on the mud. 

“You treat me like this because you’re scared.” I say to him, my red terrifying eyes inside his brown pupils. “Ignorant just like they were when they enslaved our ancestors, whipped theirs backs colourless and killed our loved ones. You out of anyone else should show mercy to me, giving me the benefit of the doubt but here you are, the only one spanking. Do you remember nothing? Have you already forgotten?” 

Gun in hand he stares back but does nothing. 

“You know nothing about our kind,” he mutters.

“I know everything about our kind,” I reply. “even thought I don’t look it anymore…” 

The black man stays in front of me speechless, trying to act as if he was still in control of the conversation. 

“If you didn’t kill our friend,” he says. “who did?” 

I shrug. 

“I have no idea.” 

The interrogator puts his gun back in his back and leaves the room.

“Put him back in his cell.”

“What about Mani?” I scream for him to hear me from outside.

He comes back inside and stands by the door.

“She’s in good hands,” he says. “for now.”

#

“HELP ME!” I hear pulled out of my sleep. I look outside to see what was happening but the darkness was ruling the lands and I could see nothing. Torches start to light up in tents, people waking up as I did with fear in their eyes. 

The screams kept resonate across the small village, causing panic and havoc. In minutes people were running all over the place, kids carried by their frightened parents. 

“MONSTER!” I hear people scream. A man appears in front of my cage and brings the torch closer to me. 

“If it’s not you,” the interrogator says. “who is it?”

“Let me out,” I come closer to him to say.

The man hesitates. He starts to undo the lock with shaking hands when something snatches him and drags him off like an animal would do his prey. I watched a blue beast, twice the size of a lion, claws sharp like knives and black teeth as terrifying as a shark’s jaw pull the man away in the darkness of the night. 

I end the nonsense of my vow not to break out and kicks the door down by a jab of my shoulder. I chase after my captor, seeing his body eat dirt as the beast dragged him by his arm. I jump on the beast and try to make it let go of the man’s arm. After a few seconds of struggle, the beast frees the captor and jumps on me. I grab his jaw as he aimed for a bite of my neck and assaulted upon him a punch wielding all the misfortunes I have had since day 1.  I hear a crack as it hits his chest and keeps on going. Punching it like it was a piñata, the poor beast didn’t have a single chance. I get off and stands up above the motionless beast.

The interrogator gets back up with a struggle. He takes his gun out and comes closer to the beast. 

BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM.

He puts five of his bullets all over the creature. 

We stay there a bit took over.

“We need to find the others,” he says. “It’s not the only one running wild on camp.”

I nod frenetically, a bit overwhelmed.

“What about your arm?” I ask. 

I see him already taking his shirt off and tying it around his arm to stop the bleeding. 

“We’ll see that later,” he says.

We make our way back to the village and follow the trails. 

We cross the village telling people to go back in their homes, stay calm. Him and I head towards the screams, the village still inside chaos. We could hear gunshots in the distance as the village was now fighting back. 

“How many of them are there?” he asks.

“I don’t really want to know,” I say.

“Hey,” I hear Mani’s voice calling out my name through the havoc. “hey!” I hear again.

She comes running, the woman I saw sitting earlier on the porch by her side. I feel my heart skip a beat as I see her. I try to stand strong but my legs feel like cotton, my arms like leaves. She comes to me and after a moment of hesitation, she hugs me. I hold her back and we fall into each other. 

“Do you mind getting a room when we’ve dealt with the situation?” the interrogator says.

“What’s your name?” Mani completely ignores him. “I never got to know since you fainted and all…”

“My name?” I say. 

I look at her, a bit lost. I… couldn’t remember my name. Why couldn’t I remember my name?

“Ethan,” I lie. “you can call me Ethan.”

“I’m Apo” the interrogator says. “this is Carla,” he points at the lady that came along with Mani.

“can we f*****g go now?” he says a little bit tense. 

“Yeah,” Mani says as she starts to walk away. 

“We need to get to safety,” Carla says.

Apo looks behind me with eyes that betrayed his courage. 

“I thinks it’s already too late,” he says. 

I hear the sudden growls of another creature creeping up on me. I turn around to see the creature had already jumped. 

I am propelled to the ground with what seemed to be the male. He was stronger and darker than the precedent. I feel his teeth sink inside my leg like it had already been torn off. I feel him play in my thigh and suddenly stop as he lets out a scream before resting on top of it. 

“Ethan?” Mani says. I look up and over the beast and sees a spike through the beast’s heart. 

“I’m okay,” I say. “I’m okay.”

I lie back down, exhausted.

Peace was finally setting in the small village, and coming out from their houses, wardrobes and secret tunnels, the village was regrouping around them. Mani pushed the beast off of me, with not much of a struggle. 

“Oh my god your leg,” she says as she rushed to tend to my wounds. “how are you not screaming?”

I leave my answer in silence, loud enough for her to hear as I look at the sky and its stars still shining so unaware of my existence. 

Aren’t we just so small?

#

“Wake up,” I hear Mani whispering to my ears. “wake up.” 

I open my eyes and her face is the first thing I see. 

“Hey,” I mutter, a bit worn out from the blood I’d lost and didn’t feel in my veins. 

“You’re finally awake,” she says her hand fitting into mine. 

I try to get up but she stops me.

“Don’t rush it. We’re not in a hurry,” she says. “Rest.”

I lie back down and looks at her. 

“And what will you do?” I ask. 

She sits on the bed and lie down next to me. 

“Rest with you,” she says. She takes my hand and wraps it around her waist, her head lying on my chest.

I laugh a little bit and closes my eyes.

“I don’t mind that,” I say.

#

I get out of bed with a small pain in my leg only. I expected a fast recovery but this was faster than expected. 

I make my way out of the room, wondering where I actually was. Before all this I was sleeping in a cage. Now I woke up in a bed and tended to my wounds nonetheless. I quickly realise I was inside the house I passed by on the way to my interrogation. I am welcomed by Carla who was sitting in the living room with a book in her hand. 

“You’re not supposed to be up yet,” she says with authority. 

“I wouldn’t have got out if it wasn’t bearable,” I reassure her. “I’ll be fine.”

Carla nods and smiles at me. She uncomfortably comes closer to the door. 

“I’m sorry for the way they… we treated you the past few days,” she says fidgeting. “If I could have convinced them sooner you wouldn’t have gone through any of this.”

“Don’t worry,” I tell her. “you took care of Mani and for that, I already owe you.” 

Carla smiles. 

“Good,” she says. “cause I got a few things to do in the house and nobody is manning up in this village.” 

I laugh as I follow her leading me out of the house. 

“Okay,okay.” I tell her. “Give me a few more days though.”

We get out to the porch and see Mani playing with the kids outside, happier than ever. Carla points to Apo.

“You should go see him,” she says. “he owes you big time.” 

I nod at her. 

“You’re safe now,” she says as she walks towards Mani. 

I look at Mani and she sees me. She kisses her hand and waves at me. I wave back, a smile from both corners of the world on my face. 

“Hey?” someone calls me out. I turn around to see the tall boy I scared. 

The boy that started everything.  

I make my way to him uncertain. I could feel my heart beat but wanted to know what he had to say so couldn’t back down. I had to get talk to him. 

“What’s up?” I say trying to take a look that seemed cool.

“Came here to apologise,” he says to me. 

“You don’t have to-“

“I do,” he interrupts me. “I’ve been a jerk. I burned down your house, shot you twice and called you a monster. I owe you more than an apology.” 

I smile at him and looks at him opening his arms to me. 

“Ethan!” Apo screams for a reason I didn’t know. 

“That’s for Danny,” the boy says.

I feel a sharp pain in my liver and sees a knife in my chest. 

The man pulls away the knife and starts to run. I fall to my knees, my two hands on my stomach. 

“Ethan?” Mani had witnessed the entire thing. She frees herself of the children around her and runs to me. Apo arrives just after. I see them panicking and speaking to me but their voices were fading away by the second. 

“No,no,no,no,” I managed to read Mani’s lips. 

I take what strength was left and moved my hand at her. She grabs it and takes it to her face, tears rolling down. 

I try to stay awake and fight but I already knew it was too late. I close my eyes once more, tired. 

At least I wouldn’t have to open them again. 

#

“Wake up,” I hear. “Wake up.” 

I almost mistook this voice for Mani’s but nothing could actually compare. 

“Wake up,” the voice warps into the one of a man. “Time is up.”

I open my eyes one time too many. I feel the cold steel of the machine I was lying in slowly coming out of the sensorial wound. Two bloused doctors unwraps my arms and legs from the table, among with the needles in my arms. 

I pass my hand in my hair, suddenly back to reality. 

“How was your session today?” one of them asks. 

“Painful,” I say as I get off the table. 

“That’s what I thought,” he says. “Your brain showed tremendous activity along with a very healthy reaction process. I think we’ve found a strong balance with the 1-hour dream period and the thirty minute injection. In a week you’ll be completely healed.” 

I smile at the doctor as he shakes my hand. He accompanies me to the door and opens it wide for me. 

“Have a good rest of the day sir,” he says.

“Same to you,” I reply. 

I walk out and watch him close the door and takes a second to read the promotional poster on it.

“Cure Cancer with Dreams”

THE END