AIK: Chapter 6 - What Drifts in Dreams.
- Henry Livingston
- 5 days ago
- 7 min read
“You again?” The dark-haired woman roars suddenly pulling off the side mirror of the van Alice is leaning against, then hits her with it. Alice falls hard onto the pavement beneath them. Blood starts to cover her face. Her vision is blurring as the blood begins to block out the light. On an upward glance through hazy sight, Alice sees the woman standing over her with a Cheshire grin, “next time you won’t get away.”
The phone alarm sounds off and Alice opens her eyes. She is in her bedroom and exhales in relief.
Ellie lightly pats Alice’s arm, “did you have another other world experience?”
“They’re called dreams Ellie,” Alice says nodding her head and silencing the alarm going off.
“This one seems to have been a good one then.”
“No, it was not.”
“Want to talk about it over a cup of coffee?”
“Not really.”
“Did you hear the part where I said over a cup…of...coffee?”
Alice exhales, rises to her feet, and moseys on over to the bathroom to take a shower, “Yes, I did Ell. I just don’t want to talk about it,” she opens the door, then turns on the water, “Maybe another time, but not now.”
“When would –“
Alice stops her before she can ask another question, “Ellie PLEASE, just let it go!” Please….”
“Okay, Sorry.”
“No worries, Ellie. You were just concerned, that’s all. No need to say you’re sorry,” Alice tests the temperature of the water and steps into the shower wanting to wash the dream down the drain. The images of the dream flash in her mind and she is concerned more than the first eight times this dream repeated. This particular dream was slightly different than before. The dark-haired lady spoke, threatened her even. Another flash of the evil Cheshire grin pops into her head and Alice puts a piece of the dream to her known reality, “Ellie, would you ask Cheshire to come here please?”
“Why don’t you ask him yourself?”
“He doesn’t listen to me when I call him,” she adds drying herself off, “I don’t think he likes me.”
“Is it because you never call him?”
“I call him.”
“I have never heard you do it.”
“It’s in my mind, that is why.”
“Actually, that makes a lot of sense,” Ellie adds just before whistling for their grinning friend to appear, “you DO know he doesn’t listen to me either.”
“Moreso than me though.”
“Yeah, I think you hurt his feelings the last time you spoke to him.”
Putting on sweatpants and a Miku t-shirt Alice speaks almost apologetically, “What? I didn’t say anything to hurt his feelings.”
“You don’t remember saying that he couldn’t make tattoos.”
“I said it to you too.”
“I am still getting over that one, but I actually got to do it. He did not.”
Alice clears her throat, “Cheshire, if you show yourself to me, you can make a tattoo on me.”
“Hey,” Ellie adds.
Alice covers up the tattoo to silence her.
A smile appears on the hand covering Ellie, “Really?”
“Yes, but only one,” Alice adds.
“When can I do it,” the smile questions without the rest of his body.
“How about now,” Alice says smiling in his likeness.
The rest of the cat appears behind the smile, “right now would be perfectly fine.”
“Now Cheshire, remember I said only one.”
“Nebuchadnezzar.”
“Excuse me,” Alice returns slightly confused.
“That is my name,” the striped cat replies.
“Your name is Nebuchadnezzar,” Alice replies, “Oh, I just assumed that…”
“I figured as much. One would think you, of all people, would get that we, because of the magic,” he pauses for a moment, “just look like the characters in your mom’s book. We have our names just the same as everything else.”
“So…, Nebuchadnezzar, what are you going to draw?”
“Who?”
“Nebuchadnezzar?”
“I have no idea who that is.”
“You just said it was your name.”
“I did? I don’t recall that. Perhaps you were mistaken.”
“ I am not,” Alice lifts her hand and Ellie pretends to gasp for air, “Ellie, didn’t you just hear him say his name was Nebuchadnezzar?
“I am not part of this conversation. You eclipsed me remember?”
A long awkward silence pauses the mood as Alice collects herself.
Then the cat begins to laugh as if he told a joke only he thinks was funny, “you should see your face,” the cat laughs even harder, “your face is…,” he stops laughing, “I can see that you’re upset.”
“I am not upset whatever your name is. I am just not in the mood for games right now.”
“Okay, but just for the record, I was hurt that I wasn’t allowed to make a tattoo like Ellie did.”
“In the past I have learned that it helps if you give her something when you pull a prank on her,” Ellie adds.
“Hey, I can hear you both,” Alice interjects.
Ellie swings around to look at Alice, as if to say, wait for it. Then looks back to the cat, “For example…, What is your real name?”
“Nebuchadnez – Nah, I’m just messing with you, my name is actually Simon. I got the name from that cat on Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves.”
“His name was Nicodemus,” Alices blurts agitated.
“Then where did I get the name Nebuchadnezzar? I must have pulled it somewhere from Alice’s subconscious.”
“From me?”
“Yep! You are like our Google,” Ellies speaks up proudly.
Alice thinks about it for a moment, “if that is the case, sounds like you got that from when I watched The Matrix. The Nebuchadnezzar is the name of the hovercraft in The Matrix series, captained by Morpheus.”
“Yes, I believe that was it! Now, about that tattoo, there are so many choices to pick from. The Queen of Hearts, The Mad Hatter, The March Hare, The White Rabbit,” he stops, “there are a lot of ‘THEs’ in that book, a sleepy Dormouse, Those twins, I got it!” Simon holds his hand up a begins to draw the caterpillar with a pen that appears magically.
Alice winces in pain as he illustrates his creation, “How much longer?”
“Not too much more,” Simon responds.
Another five minutes passes and after he completes the drawing, with smoke pipe and monocle, Simon introduces him to Alice, “Namkir Nala this is Alice. Alice this is Namkir Nala, or Nala for short.”
“Please to meet you Alice,” Nala says with a pleasant smile.
“Another boy, Ellie objects, “uh, that is not fair.”
Alice pipes up, “what do you mean by that? I’m a girl.”
“That doesn’t count,” Ellie speaks disappointingly, You’re not a tattoo.”
“Well, for now, that will have to do. That hurt like hell. Not gonna do that for a while.”
“Thank you for choosing me, Nebuchadnezzar.”
“You’re welcome, Nala.”
Alice a bit confused blurts, “You said your name was Simon.”
“It might be or might not be, might be both. Let’s not confuse our relationship any further, you hurt my feelings by playing favorites, I used dream magic to make you do things in real life. You feel the pain of my art, I lied about a name to get you to trust me. Blah, blah blah, my sad little Alice. I told you that you would not get away with it.”
“Stay out of my dreams Nebuchadnezzar!”
“My feelings are still hurt Alice,” his body fades behind his smile, “so, no promises,” the smile disappears.
Ellie looks at the caterpillar, “Isn’t Nala a girl’s name?”
Inevitable Reflections
Many weeks follow the bad kitty incident, as Ellie puts it, and once again Alice wakes up from a peaceful sleep devoid of any bad or good dreams, “good morning, Ellie. Good morning, Nala.”
“Good morning,” they both chime in unison.
“What shall we do today,” Alice asks.
“How about we teach Nala about the people at your burger spot? Oh, but also warn him about the eclipse issue that happens there too.
The cell phone rings, and Martin the Lemur answers it, “Alice’s phone, Martin speaking,” there is a short pause, “It’s your mother. Asking to speak to you,” he mutes the phone, “are you in?
Alice shakes her head no.
“He unmutes the phone, ““One moment, Mrs. Terry. Pardon? My apologies, Ruth,” he hops off the chair and hands the phone to Alice.
Alice mutes the phone, “side to side means no martin.”
“My apologies, Alice. It won’t happen again,” the well-dressed ring-tailed lemur hops back up in his chair and continues reading his latest book, How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.
Alice reluctantly takes the call, “Hello, Ruth. How did you get my number?”
“Your father asked me to call you,” she huffs.
“How did he get my number?”
Ruth continues, “your father is not well, and he wants to talk to you.”
“I don’t want to talk to him or any of you. I am the wonderous burden that brings unwanted attention to your sad little lives.”
“That was so many years ago and you still hold it against us.”
“Yes.”
“All we tried to do is make you feel like part of the family.”
“Well, you failed. I should have already been part of the family. You personally made sure that all memories of my mother were wiped away as quickly as possible. I was just the last piece of that puzzle.”
“I did not know that drama was another one of your magnificent gifts.”
“Drama? You are the queen when it comes to Drama. You turned my father against me and pushed me away.”
“You pushed us away.”
“I was a kid. You gave me no options. If it wasn’t for my Aunt Sylvia I would have never escaped that unhealthy environment of a home.”
“I don’t have time for your therapy confessions. Anyway, he was admitted to the hospital last night and is still in there.”
“Well then, I know where to find him if I need to be reminded of a cheating, heartless, backstabbing father, that could not wait two weeks after his wife died to marry an already pregnant you.
The other end of the phone conversation is silent for a few moments, “he is at Baptist South, go or don’t go. I don’t care,” Ruth ends the phone call.
Alice laments about the past briefly, “I need…, I need…, I need coffee. You guys coming?”
Ellie and Nala look at each other and after the confusion among them settles, Ellie pies up, “We are a captive audience, remember?”
“I have some tidying up to do,” Martin voices too.
“Acceptable, I suppose, on all accounts,” Alice finishes gathering her things and heads to get coffee, then to see the man she calls father.
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