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The room was quiet for a beat or two. I thrust the paper I was holding at Brie.
"Is this for the shoes?" I asked without looking at her. She took the paper and examined it carefully, then with excitement.
"It is! But..." Her face fell as she looked at us. "But there's no information on which truck they're on or when they'll get to the new office." Kaden rubbed his face with his hand while I threw my hands in the air.
"Well, hang on, it's not over yet! There's still one more box to look through, maybe we'll find something there." Brie encouraged. I groaned again and the doorbell rang, signaling the arrival of our late dinner.
The search through the paperwork continued as we ate. Brie questioned Kaden relentlessly about the Lukoie, where he was from, his abilities, his appearance, his requirements to survive, and more. I constantly interjected, knowing what it was like to be under her scrutiny, but Kaden answered most of the questions to his best ability. He seemed flattered with the attention, if I was being honest with myself.
At some point in the monotony of flipping through page after page, with the continuous murmur of conversation as a backdrop, my waking and dreaming worlds merged.
"I think Rue is out." Brie giggled. I wanted to tell her not like I would be if she shut it, but Kaden laughed and responded for me. I was perturbed with the intrusion into my head again, but I had begun drifting before I could say anything.
"So how does that work exactly?" Brie's voice filtered through my dream.
"Well, picking up Rue's thoughts is becoming increasingly easy because I've waked through her mind so many times. As a Lukoie, I'm drawn to the brain activity of a sleeper in REM, or dreaming sleep. It's like following the smell of a delicious meal. We're able to easily draw on that activity and it's necessary for our survival. We are not able to dream ourselves. Sometimes, we're able to follow the 'scent' so to speak of a familiar dreamer, if we've found them to be particularly...enticing... I guess is an accurate word. It's like how you can smell a particular cooked dish, but can tell your mother's or favorite restaurant's version over others." Kaden's explanation reached me, and I heard Brie gasp.
"If you can't dream and need those energies to survive, how are you doing then? Will you go and find someone who's dreaming tonight, or will you use one of us? As a scientist I'm very interested in experiencing the process..." It sounded like Brie was offering herself as a test subject. I laughed lightly in my half-sleep state and then fell over the edge all the way into dreams.
I woke with a jerk. I didn't remember dreaming. That was odd. There was a piece of paper stuck to my arm, and I didn't recognize the furniture for a minute. Why was I on the floor? I got to my knees quickly in a panic, looking around while my heart raced. Sunlight brightly lit Brie's living room. Brie's, I was at Brie's. I took several deep breaths, attempting to calm down, and then noticed Kaden looking at me with half closed lids.
"Well done. I was going to ask you if you needed my help, but you seem to be getting your reaction under control this morning." He said softly. I flushed red and pulled the paper from my arm. Brie was curled up beside Kaden with her head leaning on his shoulder, sound asleep. I shook my head.
"I'm going to the bathroom." I mumbled and left the room. I took my time after relieving myself to try to clean some of the dirt from my clothes and skin. It was a good thing my hair was shorter now. I wet my hands and ran my fingers through the messy waves. On the way back from the restroom I heard Brie excitedly chatting away.
"That was AMAZING! Can you come over every night? Or at least work days? I've never felt so REFRESHED, and how are you doing? Did you get enough to sustain you last night?" Brie was happily rambling as she banged around her kitchen.
"Give me a few minutes and I'll be out with a quick breakfast, and then we'll get going." She called, seeing me. Ignoring Kaden, I went to her dining area and grabbed a stool at the counter. I stared at Brie grumpily. I really hate cheerful people in the morning. Kaden chuckled from the other room.
"Get out of my head Kaden." I yelled to him.
"Turn the volume down then." He replied as he walked into the room.
"Your brain is always so loud. It's like you're yelling all the time in there. How do you concentrate with all that noise?" Kaden tried to ruffle my hair, but I ducked my head and snarled at him.
"Alright, alright, you wild animal." He held up his hands.
"Oh Rue-how are you feeling by the way?" Brie dropped a plate of scrambled eggs and toast in front of me, handed Kaden a plate, and leaned against the counter, holding her own plate which she hungrily attacked. I contemplated my plate for a few seconds, and shrugged.
"Why?" I asked, shoving a fork-full of eggs in my mouth.
"Well, it's just...your nightmares..." Brie looked at Kaden as if for help.
"What nightmares?" I examined them curiously. "I don't remember dreaming...WHAT DID YOU DO.." I glared at Kaden.
"It was my idea!" Brie jumped in.
"Well, not entirely..." Kaden stated.
"We just thought..." Brie continued.
"Just spit it out." I snapped, tossing down the fork.
"Ok, well, Kaden and I were talking about your nightmares and he had an interesting theory, so when you started jerking about and moaning, we.. sort of.. went inside your head..?" Brie offered tentatively. Kaden touched her arm as if to caution her.
- Writer
