Page 52 of Nineteen Eighty

Catherine shot up out of her chair. “You think we’d be here if we could sleep? We can’t even go to sleep with our son in the same house anymore. It’s completely out of control.”

“Is he harming you in your dreams?”

“No, but—”

“No,” Colleen said. “I didn’t think so. Dreamwalking, from what I know, is relatively harmless. Have you tried just asking Oz not to do it?”

“Yes, we have,” Colin replied. “We’ve tried talking to him about it, but he thinks we’re mad, so he just cries and says he doesn’t know why it’s happening.” He pressed his lips together, controlling a wave of emotion. “He’s not in control of himself when it’s happening, Colleen, and it’s breaking my heart.”

“Does he understand when it’s happening? The exact moment?”

“He just says he misses us,” Catherine replied, calming some. “He misses us, and then he’s with us. It’s that simple to him. He doesn’t know anything more than that.”

“What if you brought him to sleep with the two of you?”

But as Colleen asked the question, she understood something they hadn’t said. That there was a reason Oz pervaded their dreams individually. They slept in separate rooms. Perhaps had for a while.

“We just want it to stop,” Catherine said quietly. “If anyone knows how to do that, it’s you.”

“Well, I don’t know how,” Colleen said. “And even if I did, I wouldn’t help you.”

The fire returned to Catherine’s eyes. “Are you—”

Colleen held up a hand. “You didn’t grow up the way I did. You didn’t have to watch my sisters try and squelch their abilities. You didn’t see Elizabeth struggle with a heavy drug problem. You haven’t lived as I’ve lived.”

“Maybe Elizabeth wouldn’t have had a drug problem if someone had helped her,” Catherine snapped.

Noah’s steady hand on Colleen’s shoulder stopped her from reaching across and slapping the woman. Colin’s eyes flashed with apology.

She swallowed a hard breath and stood. “I think we’re done here.”

“Catherine didn’t mean that,” Colin said quickly. “We’re just very tired. We’re not sleeping much these days.”

“She did mean it,” Colleen said, with a heavy, knowing look at Catherine. “And tired or not, I can’t help you.”

“Can’t or won’t?” Catherine said under her breath.

“Does it matter? Do you even care about what I’ve said? You came here with a single mind. To change your son.”

“That is not…”

“Yes,” Colleen said firmly. “It is. This is part of who Oz is, whether you like it or not. This is no different than if you’d learned he was homosexual and tried to talk him out of that, too. He was born special, and one day, he’ll die special. You can either learn to love him for who he is, or drown in your misery. I don’t care.”

Noah’s eyes widened.

Colin’s mouth flapped, searching for words. “I’m sorry. I didn’t come here to start a fight.”

“No, but your wife did,” Colleen said. Silently, she pressed this thought into Catherine’s head, so just the two of them could hear. Don’t ever come to my house again unless you intend to apologize.

Catherine’s hand flew to her mouth in shock.

“I’ll walk you both out,” Noah said, letting his hand brush against his wife’s lower back as he closed the door behind him.

Would she tell him later, that she had another motive for shutting down their request?

It’s fuzzy to me, Colleen, but some day Colin’s kid is going to help save Amelia’s life.

Oz?

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