She tossed and turned in bed, color flashing behind her eyes. She squinted, reaching out in the darkness to pull something closer. Anything. She grasped at the air then clutched her hands to her head as a clanging started echoing in her mind. Louder and louder she felt like it was hunting for her and she swung her arms back and forth protectively.
She hit something solid and suddenly heard a crash. Her eyes shot open and she stared at her phone as it tumbled off the dresser hit the ground. It was still going off and she knew it had to be her alarm. Her alarm was just that aggressive. Crawling over on the bed she reached over the edge and grasped it.
Pulling it to her face she tried to look at it but her vision was so groggy she couldn’t really see the whatever had caused the alarm. It was just there, flashing red. At least the alarm had stopped going off. Rolling onto her back she stared at the ceiling and rubbed her eyes again.
“Crazy dream,” she mumbled. “Weird party. Am I back home?”
Her phone went off again vibrating in her hand and she groaned loud as her hang over echoed in sync. She took her phone and just threw it across the room. It clicked against the wall but the newest alarm ruined her drive to sleep. Wrapping the blanket around her she shuffled out of the messy bedroom and into the living room.
The grey light from the morning was being let in through the open window along with some fresh air. Their couch was against the wall with a small table in the center and the TV opposite the couch. There was a book shelf and another circular throw chair in the corner. There was no door to separate the kitchen and Sarah could smell the coffee that had been brewed at least an hour ago.
Sitting on the couch was one of her live-in boyfriends. He had brown skin, messy black hair, a button up shirt, tie and jeans. He had a mug of coffee in front of him, sitting on a coaster and a newspaper in hand. Adjusting his glasses, he turned to face her and smiled, “Hey sleeping beauty. Was wondering when you were going to finally get up.”
She made a noise at him and pulled the blanket over her head, hiding her black curls and frown. “I’m hung over handsome. Make me coffee.”
“You know Sarah, there’s a proper way to ask that,” he reached for his coffee sipping on it lightly and chuckling. She opened her mouth to complain but he pointed to the chair in the corner. “Curl up and sit. I’ll make you some.”
“Yay. You’re great Marco,” Shuffling over to the corner she climbed into the strange circular chair and curled up hiding from the sunlight. Reaching over the edge of the chair she looked aimlessly until she picked up a stuffed penguin and held it close. “Why is everything so loud this morning?”
“First of all, it’s one. So, it’s this afternoon,” he replied and put her penguin decorated coffee mug in front of her. She took it and brought it forward sipping on the hot liquid. He sat back down at the couch and watched as the news cycled back to a picture of the wrecked train, the emergency vehicles and the scrolling headline of ‘Terrorist attack?’
“Second, apparently there was a big terrorist attack in the city. One of the trains exploded and derailed. People have a bunch of weird reports on the internet too. Some people talking about a giant robot. Another one I saw was talking about some guy in purple armor. It’s been weird.”
“Crazy,” she whispered into her mug. She jolted upward suddenly and almost spilled her coffee. “Wait. What about Jack? Is Jack okay?”
“Don’t worry I called him. Said he got to the new job in one piece but he might be getting sent home early. Of course he said if a terrorist tries anything he’s gonna ‘go to work’ on them.”
She let out a breath and sat back down sipping the coffee again. “He really loves saying that. He’s my favorite pain in the ass.”
“Oh? And what’s that make me?”
“You’re my favorite handsome stranger,” she winked and winced going back to her coffee. “Ouch.”
Marco regarded her with a frown, “You know you don’t have to always party like it’s your last night on earth.”
“Would you believe me if I said it was an accident this time,”
“Does that mean it wasn’t an accident the other times?”
She opened her mouth to speak and then paused because she felt a trap coming. So she hid her face behind her coffee mug and didn’t reply to him. Marco stared at her for a long moment and finally sighed. “The pair of you are too much of a handful.”
“Hey I can be a handful all by myself. No Jack required!”
“Trust me, I’m very aware of your quantity of handful on your own.”
She laughed and comfortably leaned back in her chair thinking about her dream. It was super surreal. Feeling the empty black space around her but it wasn’t suffocating, it was welcoming. The mist against the ground had been comforting and honestly stepping on the platform she’d never felt so sure of herself.
“Hey handsome.”
“Yeah?”
“You ever have a dream that feels real? Like not just like it was realistic but it felt like it really happened. Like it wasn’t a dream at all. But real?”
He stared at her confused but looked toward the TV in thought. “I’m not sure. Like I’ve had nightmares that have definitely felt real. But you seem like you’re talking about something that’s even more than that right?”
“Yeah I am.”
“I think this is outside of my wheel house then. Sorry.”
“It’s fine. It’s a weird question.”
“Do you want to tell me about it?”
She stared into her coffee cup and wobbled back and forth. “I don’t know. It was weird. Lots of really bright colors and beams of light. And some glowing alien guy with crystals said we were going to protect and save the world. But he didn’t really explain how we were going to do it. Heck I couldn’t even see the other people that were there.”
“You and a few random people are going to save the world huh?” he smiled and she puffed out here cheeks. She threw her penguin at him which hit him square in the face.
The Harlequin Library 