And just like the night before, he disappeared before my very eyes. My heart squeezed in my chest, feeling like I lost something I didn’t know I needed.
A gasp fell from me as I jerked up in bed and choked on a breath. My chest was so tight, I couldn’t get enough oxygen in my lungs. Panic I didn’t understand gripped me, and I staggered out of bed and into the bathroom. Grabbing onto the sink, I kept gasping for air and willing my heart to calm, praying the bile stayed down. I splashed cold water on my face a few times until my chest loosened and I was able to suck in a breath.
Staring into the mirror at my reflection, I took in my green eyes and the brown beard on my face. I’d let it grow out lately and was in need of a trim. Thinking about that instead of that thin man in my bed was a lot easier and seemed to be calming me. I didn’t even understand why I was panicking. So what if the guy in my dream—mind-link, according to him—disappeared? It wasn’t like I knew him. It wasn’t like he was real.
Another gasp fell from my lips, and I had to squeeze my eyes shut from the unexpected pain in my chest. Holy shit. Why did that thought fill me with such panic?
I splashed more water on my face and willed my heart to chill the hell out. After a few more minutes, I felt calm enough to trim my beard, purposefully keeping thoughts of him away. Making sure to only think about shaping my beard, my body finally righted itself. After the trim was done, I got in the shower, knowing there was no way I’d be getting back to sleep.
When I climbed into Joz’s car a few hours later, the first thing he said to me was, “Couldn’t sleep again?”
“No.”
“Another dream?”
“Yeah.” I wasn’t about to say it was a mind-link, because I knew it sounded crazy. The last thing I wanted was for my best friend—my only real friend—to think I was losing my mind.
“Wanna talk about it?”
I hesitated. Part of me was afraid the panic would come again, but not talking about it didn’t seem to be an option. Hopefully it’d been long enough that the panic would stay away. “Uh, I dreamt of that guy again. His name’s Ezryn. And he spoke to someone named Braylik, but I didn’t see him.”
“Braylik? That’s a weird name, but it sounds familiar.” Joz pursed his lips as he drove toward work.
“It does?”
“Yeah, but I can’t place it. It’s like it’s on the tip of my tongue. Actually, Ezryn sounds familiar, too.”
“That’s weird.”
He nodded. “Maybe they’re names of customers we both know.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
After a minute, he asked, “So did this Ezryn guy talk about Rueberry Orchard again?”
I sighed. “Yeah. He said I need to go there, and once I’m there, he’ll give me instructions on what to do next.”
Joz got this excited look on his face as he bounced in his seat a little. “We have to go!”
“Joz, you do realize that’s crazy, right? Why the hell would we go somewhere that a made-up guy in my dreams talked about?”
“Where’s your sense of adventure, Rhiles?”
“Probably wherever your actual sense is,” I said.
He snorted. “Come on, it’ll be fun. Even if nothing comes of it, we’ll have a fun trip. We can see what else is in the area, plan to do some other things, and have a mini-vacation.”
“You’re serious?”
“Yes!”
“I thought you’d want to use the long weekend to go partying.”
He sighed and fell quiet for a few minutes before saying, “Honestly, that scene is starting to get old. Doing a trip with you sounds like much more fun.”
He seemed a little sad, so I sighed. “I’ll think about it.”
“Yes!” He pumped his fist in the air. “We’re going on a trip!”
“I said I’ll think about it.”
“Everyone knows that’s a yes coming from you.”
“Who’s everyone?”
“Uh, me, obviously. I’m the only person you know.”
I rolled my eyes even though that was kind of true.
“Rhile?”
My eyes popped open straight away this time, already recognizing Ezryn’s voice. “Hey.”
The smile that spread on his face was brighter than the sun. “Hey, Ry.” As suddenly as the smile appeared, it vanished and his eyes filled with tears before he slammed them shut and took a deep breath.
“Are you alright? What’s wrong?” I sat up, keeping my eyes on the face of the man in my bed.
When he opened his eyes again, he smiled, only this time it looked sad. “Nothing. It’s good to see you is all.”
“I just saw you last night.”
He chuckled. “I know. It’s been an entire day.”
“And that’s too long?”
He opened his mouth, but paused, turned his head like he was listening to someone again, then sighed as he faced me. “I’m being told to hurry my ass up.”
My eyebrows rose. “By who?”
He waved his hand. “Braylik. The man that’s about to be my ex-best friend.” He snorted. “And now he’s yelling at me again.”
“Why can’t I hear him?”
“The spell only works for me.”
“Spell?”
He took a breath. “Yes, the spell.”
“As in magic?”
“Of course. How else would I keep coming to you?” He swatted his hand to the side, looking a little crazy as he muttered, “I know that, Braylik!” He turned back to me. “Sorry, he’s getting impatient. Have you decided to go to Rueberry yet?”
“My friend told me I should.”
“You should listen to your friend.”
“He doesn’t always have the best ideas.”
A half-smile appeared on his lips. “But sometimes he does?”
I nodded.
“This is one of those times.”
I sighed.
“I’m surprised you told someone about me, to be honest,” he said after a few seconds.
“Yeah, well, I haven’t been getting much sleep, so I’ll blame it on being tired.”
“You haven’t been sleeping? Why not?”
I gestured at him. “It’s hard to do when you keep disappearing on me.”
“What do you mean?”
Since he wasn’t real, anyway, I decided to be honest with him. “Every time you vanish, my chest feels like it’s constricting, and I get this horrible panicky feeling, and… it makes little sense, but I panic and then I can’t get back to sleep.”
His eyes saddened. “That happens to me, too. I’m sorry, Rhile, I didn’t know it would affect you that way.”
“It’s not really your fault, you’re a figment of my imagination.”
He shook his head. “No, I’m not. Do you want me to stop coming here?”
“No… please don’t.”
His lips quirked up a bit. “Good. I like spending time with you. I wish I could see you outside of our mind-links.”
“Yeah… me too.”
“Then go to Rueberry.”