Page 12 of Little Sparrow

“I like being around you too.” He smiles at me, I lick my lips and he looks down to follow the movement. His adam's apple bobs in his throat as he swallows. “Rose.” He moans my name and I lean in closer, just an inch, waiting for a reaction. His hand reaches out to mine. “I’m bad for you.”

I curl our fingers together, my voice comes out quiet, “I don’t think so.”

His thumb runs along my knuckles. “I’ve done bad things, I’ll taint you.” He frowns, I don’t like his frown. I’m tempted to smooth it over and help him relax with me.

“What if I want that?”

He chuckles, but it holds no humour. I reach out but my hand goes through him. My eyes burn, his rejecting me. Then he’s gone. I jump up from the stool and look around, hoping he's hiding instead but I know he's not. He has woken up. I walk towards the mist, dragging my feet along. He’s not a bad person, at least I don’t see any evil in him, he’s been nothing but kind since we have met.

My eyes open and I stare at my ceiling, wondering what I’m going to do about Dante. He is pushing me away but all I want to do is drag him back. What am I thinking, someone like him probably has a girlfriend or many women lusting after him and I’m just plain. I roll to my side and stare at my curtains, waiting for the sun to rise enough and shine through. It’s not long until I hear my Dad getting breakfast ready, I drag myself from my bed, he's been avoiding me since I told him about my dreams, I’ll only see him for enough time for food before he leaves. It’s not fair, he knows something about mum and me being like her. I need to speak with him. I swing my door open and storm to the kitchen. He turns when he sees me “Good morning sweetie.” He says before turning back to finish his coffee. Finally he is home, I’m determined not to let him leave this time without answers. I won’t let him make me feel like a terrible person for asking when he says he wasn’t ready.

“I need answers. What is it with dreams? I deserve to know. No more avoiding everything, this time no more excuses.” I demand, crossing my arms over my chest. He sighs and looks down into his coffee when he turns as though he can dive in and escape my question. Every morning he has left before any words can escape my lips. I’m almost tempted to run to the door and lock us in.

“I didn’t want to have this conversation with you, I'm not great at this.” He sits down and gestures for me to sit opposite him. I lower myself, but don’t take my eyes off him.

“Things are not as they seem. Your mum asked me to look after you when you were ten. The room you spoke about seeing in your dreams. She does that too, it’s called dream walking. I don’t know much about it, but we were both hoping this wouldn’t happen. We thought maybe if she wasn’t here as an influence, it might not happen.”

My mouth drops open. Dreamwalking. “What's that? Why was it a big secret?” I ask, my voice quiet. My mum knew that I could be like her and just left me.

“Dangerous people would see you as a threat, dreamwalking is just the beginning. Being in someone else's mind may seem strange, but if you see anyone else there, you let me know. We will figure this out together. You can’t tell anyone about this either. Do you understand?” I nod, he stares at me as though he knows I’m lying, but he drops it.

“I won’t tell anyone,” I confirm, knowing he would prefer me to promise with words. Jenny doesn’t know, only Dante. But my dad can’t know about him. I thought we never kept secrets, but he had one about me for years. I deserve just this one.

“What about healing?” I ask, unconsciously rubbing my arm. Please have answers, I beg in my mind.

He quickly glances at me before picking up his coffee and taking a long sip. “That is part of it, I’m not sure how it works, but you can’t be hurt easily. It’s like your body is defending you. You can die though, so no testing your limits.”

I wasn’t going to, but now I just want to know. Naturally I’m a curious person. Probably one of my worst traits if I’m honest. Curiosity killed the cat and all that. Maybe this time it would be true. I shrug to myself and my dad gives me a weird look. I just stare ahead and pretend I’m not having these thoughts.

“I made your breakfast, you need to eat,” my Dad smiles at me, nudging my plate forward, but I shake my head “No thank you, I’m not hungry anymore.” I slump down in my chair, and push the plate away, staring at the orange juice that is always set out for me before reaching out and taking a tiny sip in the silence.

“I know you have your friends who you love talking to and get excited, but this; you can not tell anyone about your dream walking or healing. The hospital already had questions and we need to keep them away. I don’t know what will happen if they start testing you.” My dad stands up from the chair and watches me. But he is right, my palms start to sweat, I don’t want to be taken and tested on.

“Can you not explain why? Please dad.” I beg, clasping my hands together and widening my eyes, hoping that he will tell me everything. I would prefer my mum to teach me how to use the dreams but she isn’t here, my dad must know more. She wouldn’t have left me here with him knowing that I could start doing this. “Don’t go to work, please talk to me.”

He sighs and kisses me on the forehead, “I wish I could, but I'm already late, I’ll pick up some dinner on my way home to explain everything in detail. Does Chinese sound good? I’ll be home on time tonight.”

I nod, feeling defeated “Yeah okay, see you later,” I mumble. Then he is gone again.

I clean up my uneaten breakfast, feeling guilty that he prepared it. I’m not due to go to work for a few hours so I grab a book from my small bookshelf needing an escape, one of my favourites. A romance.

By the time I’ve finished work, I’m exhausted. I flop down on my bed face down, clutching the pillow face down.

I'm still figuring out my power, I tried adding more to the milkshake bar from my work. I managed to create the large glasses and the menu with all the different flavours. I run my fingers over the lettering, the ridges under my fingertips makes me smile. It’s better than nothing.

A masculine scent comes from behind me, “You managed to create more?” Dante’s smooth voice wraps around me, his breath grazes over my ear, I try to hold in the shiver, my body is reacting. I turn my head over my shoulder to look at him. He reaches out and runs his hands over the menu just as I did. “This is all crazy, how all this is possible.” He mumbles to himself, it’s as though he still doesn’t believe this is all real.

“Little by little, it doesn’t hurt my head much anymore. I want to aim for more, bigger things. Did you find out how we got here the first time?” I ask, chewing on my bottom lip.

He spins in a circle, studying the room. “No idea. We both know it’s you who made all of this, I don’t have access to the internet right now,” He says, staring straight back at me. I don’t have an answer either. I turn away, searching the empty room, hoping something new will come to me, but nothing does. Something within me is changing. I just can’t figure it out yet.

“I don’t know how to stop it,” I confess, feeling a little foolish for not knowing how to control all this.

“It’s okay. I don’t mind seeing you in my dreams.” He smiles at me, the one that melts me little by little on the inside.

“I’m not sure how long we stay together, it seems to be longer each time,” I point out. “Our first time only lasted minutes. I guess it depends on us?” I question, even though I know he won’t have an answer.

He smiles, “Yeah, I guess it does. I can tell you that these are the best night's sleep I’ve had in years.”

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