"Daydream - Chapter 2" by Carly ´Lhena´ Silverton

Jake and Dysear walked back to the camp in silence, just like they had left the camp. Both of them had Dorien’s last few words swimming in their heads. Dysear knew Jake’s exact thoughts about Dorien’s words, because soon he chirped in a hushed voice, “What are we going to do?”

“I can ask Lavie,” Dysear said, flatly.

“Yeah, like I didn’t think of that. Are you crazy, she’s half mad with fear just looking at you!”

“She has to calm down. It’s not like my feelings for her are going to go away!” Dysear yelled at Jake.

“She still needs time. Remember how you freaked out on me when I told you about me and Davyn! I’m sure she is strong, but she didn’t do well when I told her I was dropping her for another person. And then she completely collapsed in on herself just a few weeks later. Then you had to go and say something about how you feel about her just a month later. Dysear she is in no condition to look at you, let alone speak to and then give you a taste of her blood for the next three nights. Cutting scares her, you know that. She doesn’t want to leave this world. She isn’t happy, but she doesn’t want to give up. And you forcing her to cut won’t help her. She might just pop some pills and take that blade to her wrist one final time, then just give up on life if you ask this of her.”

“Jake, don’t you think I’ve thought about this already. All of it! I know what could happen. I also know what the exact look on Lavie’s face was when I told her about me. It wasn’t just shock; it was a look of hope, a slight amount of happiness. It wasn’t my secret that destroyed her, it was something else. Something that she has to keep locked away hat she had to collapse in on herself because of. The secret was given to her probably the day or the next after I told her, that was a weekend. She had plenty of time to get scared and become ruined. She isn’t afraid of me, there is something else eating away at her and I’m the only one who is going to make her get it out of her!”

With that Dysear looked over to Jake with a few hot tears running down her cheeks. Jake was about to open his mouth and comment, when Dysear yelled at him, “Don’t you dare say anything!”

She pushed him back a foot with her hands, then ran towards the creek that ran adjacent to the camp site. Dysear tried to cover her face and wipe away the tears, by the time she reached the running water and looked over the edge. She saw the same face, just with blood-shot eyes and red cheeks. Her eyes were hard and edgy, while her lips were tightly pressed together. The paleness was gone, washed away by the wave of anger the Jake had provoked. Her hair was up in a pony-tail, high on her head. She grabbed the Scrunchy out of her hair and pulled the golden curls free. Although Dysear naturally had darker hair than blonde, she spent so much time in the sun that the top layer of her hair was always a brilliant, golden-blonde.

Jake hadn’t needed to follow her for long. Once he saw she was running in a straight line he quickly stopped sprinting and walked. Although he wanted to give her a bit of time alone, he couldn’t lose track of her when she was still hurt. Even though her anger was giving her energy to move it would wear off and she’d be stuck alone. He kept his eyes focused on her form. With her back turned Jake had trouble knowing exactly what she was doing. But it was obvious she was using one hand to cover her shoulder, while the other wiped away something on her face, the hot tears he’d seen falling down her cheeks. The same tears he’d desperately wanted to wipe away himself, hold up her chin, kiss her forehead and then hug her for.

He’d stopped himself though, she wouldn’t take him well in the state she was in - confused, weak from blood loss, angry, shocked. All of those were a bad combination, a deadly one depending on how you treated her. She might be ready to almost literally bite your head off, now, or she could embrace the comfort and never let go. He’d decided against following his heart to let her be.

Now he came up behind her, and heard the last few sniffles from her tears. Jake stepped besides her, put his arm around her waist, supporting her weight, and led her towards the creek. Dysear easily gave into his commands, Now that she was exhausted, Dysear gave in to Jake’s commands: allowing him to clean up her face and shoulder, before carrying her on his back to camp.

When the two returned to camp, the sun had set and Davyn and Lavie had finished setting up the tents and made a fire. Lavie wasn’t to be seen, but when Davyn recognized that Dysear was back and looking to be in a bad condition. He got up from his seat at the fire and rushed over to Jake.

With Jake’s help, Dysear was handed over to Davyn’s arms. Davyn carried Dysear into the boy’s tent, where he sighted Lavie, who was half-dead looking. Lavie immediately backed into a corner. However, Jake had followed Davyn into the tent.

Jake was crouched down in the low tent, and reached his hand out to Lavie. “Lavie, come here. It’s okay, Dysear will be fine in Davyn’s care. Please, come with me, Davyn needs an open work space. “

Lavie ignored his calls and stared in horror at the other girl, who was laid out on the little cot that Davyn had brought to sleep on. The cot had a sleeping bag and a heavy blanket over it, which comforted Dysear’s heavy, unconscious form.

“Lavie, please. She needs her rest, Davyn needs to take a look at her alone, too,” Jake called once more. This time the boy’s voice registered in Lavie’s mind and she crept towards Jake, never taking her eyes off Dysear. Jake took Lavie out of the tent, and led her to the fire, where he sat her down and tried to calm her with soothing words.

“You sure you don’t want anything to eat? You look sickly pale.”

Lavie shook her head, “I’m not sick. I just saw someone with their shoulder torn open!”

Just then Davyn called, “Jake, come in here. I need your help.” Jake looked from the closed tent’s door, back to Lavie’s scared face. He gave the girl a small smile, then hurried into the tent.

When Jake reentered to the tent, he found bandages and all kinds of medicine bottles strewn across the floor, while Davyn was wrapping a thick band around Dysear’s upper arm.

“What do you need me for; I’m trying to help Lavie outside.”

“I need you for a blood transfer. Before we left, remember how I checked everyone’s birth records to see what we’d need?”

“Yeah, but what do you need me for?” Jake answered, watching Davyn’s movements.

“Jake, she’d lost a lot of blood. I don’t want to take any chances out here,” Davyn patted the floor space right next to him, “Come one, Jake. I need you to sit right next to me, right here.”

Jake took his seat next to the bulkier boy.

“What is all this on the floor?”

“What do you think? I grabbed it from my dad’s medical cabinet. It’s everything we might have needed on this trip for cases like this,” Davyn explained casually, “Come here; I need your arm, too. You’re not afraid of needle or blood are you?”

Jake offered his arm to Davyn, who wrapped a thick band tightly around his arm. It was cutting off some of his circulation.

“No, of course not. But, she is!” Jake pointed at Dysear’s stirring body.

“It’s fine, I’ve given her a pain killer. That shoulder must have hurt like hell!” Davyn looked up at Jake’s scolding face.

“What?! She’ll thank me when she wakes up. We need to get her properly treated, but for now this should be enough. We can start getting back tomorrow.”

“No we can’t Davyn, you and I both know that was no ordinary wound!”

“What do you mean, no ordinary wound?” Davyn questioned.

“Are you high?! She was bitten by a wolf, she could already be infected. And then what, what will we tell the police or whoever? They aren’t gonna be happy if we tell them she was bitten by a wolf on property that we have been trespassing on for three nights!” Jake explained.

“You have a point. But, we still need to get her some place to be taken care of right.”

“Davyn, let’s worry about getting her some place tomorrow, for now let’s just get this over with. I don’t want her waking up and seeing a needle in her, with my blood draining into her. She’d flip, even if she’s half loopy from that pain killer,” Jake finished.

“I need you to keep squeezing your hand for me,” Davyn looked at Jake’s disturbed face, “You don’t have to look if you don’t want to.”

“No it’s fine, I just hope this works,” Jake replied.

“It will be fine. Both of you have complimentary blood. You both have type A blood, lucky for you! I won’t work for you though - type AB. And although Lavie has type O, I don’t think she is willing to give up her blood to Dysear just yet.”

The last bit bothered Jake, just because of what Dorien had said Dysear would need. But, he didn’t believe Davyn was playing him and pretending to play dumb about what had happened.

“Alright, that’s good. You can stop squeezing now,” Davyn halted. He picked up a needle from one of the syringes, placed it on the end of a tube that held another needle on the other end and then stuck it into Jake’s vain. Jake almost pulled back from the pinch and the forcing of something foreign into his body, but then the feeling subsided. He placed the other needle in Dysear’s arm and Jake watched the red liquid pour out of his arm, into the tube, then into her veins. The sight was slightly nauseating, so Jake had to look away. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply.

“Good, you need to keep taking deep breathes,” Jake heard Davyn’s voice in his ear. Then Jake could feel himself falling onto his side, then a warm hand was holding his shoulder, keeping him upright.

“Wow Jake! Keep your eyes open if you think you’re going to fall over something!” Davyn raised his voice in alarm.

“No, I’m fine. I just need something to help keep me upright. I feel kind of sick from the needle’s pinch.”

“Oh sorry,” Davyn apologized

“Here rest your head on my shoulder,” acknowledged Davyn, timidly. He was sitting behind Jake, off to the side. Jake moved closer to Davyn and placed his head on the other boy’s shoulder and closed his eyes. After a few minutes, Jake could feel Davyn’s arms wrapping around him. Jake smiled at the gentle brush of Davyn’s skin against his own and fell asleep.

When he woke up, he was no longer hooked up to Dysear by the blood transfer. He was tucked inside his own sleeping bag on top of his cot, with a bandage covering the small hole from the needle. Jake looked over to Dysear, who was fast asleep in Davyn’s sleeping bag. Jake tried to be as quiet as possible when he got out of his zippered sleeping bag, then opened the tent door and crept outside.

He stretched and looked around the camp, then took a look at his watch; it read 9:26pm.

“Jeez, it must have only been about 6 when we got back, right Davyn?” Jake asked.

Davyn was over by the roaring fire, sitting very close to the flames and staring at them.

“Yeah, I think it was just turning 6 o’clock when you two returned. Sun set’s early around here,” Davyn commented. His eyes never wandered to Jake, as Jake unpacked some of the food and made himself and Davyn sandwiches.

Jake sat down next to the other boy and handed him a turkey sandwich with lettuce, mayonnaise, pepper, tomato and half an avocado, the same sandwich he’d made for himself. Davyn took the sandwich gratefully and they fell silent. The only sounds were of two teenage boys munching on their sandwiches and the occasional pop or crackle from the fire. It only took the boys a few minutes to finish off the food in their hands, then Jake went back for a second sandwich and Davyn got out a carton of milk.

When Jake was finished with his second sandwich, he automatically reached his hand out for a sip of milk from Davyn’s milk carton. The carton was in Davyn’s hand. Davyn shrugged, then handed over the carton over to Jake, who took a giant gulp, then handed it back. Jake wiped his mouth with the back of his palm, then asked abut Lavie.

“What happened after I blanked out?”

“Nothing, the blood transfer went well.”

“What happened to Lavie? She okay?”

“Yeah, she’s shaken from Dysear’s shoulder. You wouldn’t know it, but that shoulder was torn up big time before I got a hold of her. “

“Did Lavie eat anything?”

“Of course, I had her eat some cereal and watched her for the next hour. There was no way she could have done anything behind my back. But, once I let her off the hook she told me she was tired and going to take a nap. I haven’t checked on her since then,” Davyn explained.

“I think it’s time to give her a visit then,” Jake announced. He got up from the camp fire log and grabbed his little flashlight from on the table, then walked over to the girl’s tent. The door was zippered closed, so when Jake went to pull it open it made a rather loud noise against the night’s noises. He turned on the flashlight and used it to scan inside the tent. But immediately when he turned on the light as scream escaped his throat, a rather rough, girlish scream.

It spooked Davyn, who jumped at the noise.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!”

“Davyn,” Jake’s voice quivered, “ come here!”

“What you bloody ass,” Davyn said sarcastically, “ You better not be playing with me like before in the tent.”

“No, I’m serious. It’s a mess in there. Look!” Davyn had come up to the tent door and Jake pointed at the sticky, red, half-dried mess inside. Davyn looked in and gasped as well.

* * * * * *

Inside the other tent, Dysear had stirred from Jake’s yelp. The sound had already been unpleasant to the ear, but Dysear had been experiencing an unusual amount of nightmares in her sleep and the sound had further shaken her. She picked up her head, from the pillow, and sleepily blinked her eyes open. Then, she drew back the sleeping bag and stepped out of the bed. She stretched, then grabbed the small lantern inside and left the tent. Slipping back on her shoes, which had been taken off and placed by the side of the bed sometime while she’d slept.

She crept out of the tent, to be blasted by a new frigid cold breeze. Dysear looked towards the fire first, then over at the other tent, noticed the boys and walked over. The others were peering into the tent and Dysear slipped her head between the two boy’s bodies and looked in at the scene.

A scream flew into the air and Dysear backed away from the tent, then started to break down into hysterics. The sight in the tent was horrible. Lavie was in the bed, her head lolled off the side, while a deep gash of red went across her wrists. A razor blade was in her right hand and blood was all over her wrists, sleeping bag, clothes and upper body. The sight made Dysear’s stomach want to spill out onto the floor.

Right as Dysear pulled away, Jake snapped out of his shaken daze from the scene in front of him and went to Dysear and held her. He turned them to the side of the tent, so neither were directly facing the tent, and held Dysear. Then, he noticed Davyn’s statue-like form and called to him.

“Davyn! Check her! I saw her chest rise and fall once, right after I screamed,” Jake admitted the last part half-heartedly. Jake’s commanding voice shook Davyn out of his shock. Soon Davyn was attending to Lavie’s wrist, while Jake continued to try and comfort Dysear.

She pulled herself closer to Jake and rested her head against his chest, letting tears rain down her cheeks. Jake put his arms around her waist and squished her closer to him. Dysear’s elbows were bent, with her hands by her face; Jake’s tight hug made it harder for her hysteric breathes to flood her lungs. Jake released Dysear slightly and her legs buckled, however Jake caught her and held up Dysear up.

For Dysear, every breath came with a sob that shook her to the core. They tore threw her throat, creating an aching pain. But, she couldn’t stop them, so she let the cries escape and shatter the night’s silence.

Jake didn’t know what to do for her. He had never been good at confronting emotions of his own. And he certainly wasn’t in control of others, so Dysear hanging on him was nerve racking. He wanted to comfort her, to hold her. Then let her sit down with him and hold her some more. But it wasn’t possible here. He needed privacy to calm her. For now, all he thought he could do was hold her and listen to the racking sobs, that he knew, would turn into a swollen throat and harsh cough.

Jake realized he needed to do something for her, to halt the tears and make sure she wouldn’t get a cough. Then an idea popped into his mind. He let go of Dysear, went to the tent and picked out the razor from Lavie’s hand and placed it in his pocket, then walked back to Dysear. He placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back, to look at her face. Her under-eye was puffy, her eyes red, her lower lip still quivered with the tears. Jake took a hand from her shoulder and reached to pull Dysear’s chin up. He gently tipped her face so that she could see the sparkle in his eyes and the smile on his face.

Dysear’s reaction to Jake was a weak try to smile, mixed with more tears flooding her vision. The smile was the hardest thing to do for her, but her blurry vision just mad her annoyed. Although tears clouded her sight, she was calming down, giving her the more sensual feelings, a normal person has, back. She closed her eyes tight, trying to make the tears fall down, when she felt a hand grasp her wrist and pull her away from the camp. Dysear opened her eyes and let Jake lead her someplace.

Once they were on the initial path, Jake lightened up on his hard grip around Dysear’s wrist and led her towards the spot he deemed appropriate. The old, thick tree that Dysear and he had first fallen asleep under would now be the spot for Dysear. It was ironic, however, the spot would be a soothing place for her.

Jake led Dysear along the park that his feet found easiest, then he let her wrist go and held her hand, lightly, as they walked in the clearing to the tree. Its thick trunk was perfect to rest your back against, lie back and let someone do their work. Jake knew that the tree worked to comfort him when they’d fallen asleep, why couldn’t it work for him to sit against it, while Dysear fed.