LUCID

LUCID Part 4

Expertly drawing my firearm, I aimed at the giant rat laughing evilly on the balcony above me. The disgusting thing appeared the same as it did in the library and on the island; a rat with a human's face. This time, however, the thing manifested itself a full six-feet tall instead of rodent sized.

As it had before, my firearm magically vanished from my hands before I could pull the trigger.

Interesting. I thought as the weapon disappeared. He magically makes my guns vanish. Can bullets really hurt him?

"You're not allowed in my house!" Kenzie shouted up to the Great. "Those were your rules! I'm supposed to be safe here! Those are the rules! You said never in my house! Not this! Not here!"

"I've altered my rules, Miss Mason. I mean, what's the use of even having rules if you can't break them? What's the fun in that?" The human-sized rat thing replied. "After all, Miss Mason, you broke them first by bringing this wanna-be pirate man into your house. Wasn't that one of our rules? Did you really think you could just teleport back to your house and I couldn't follow you here? Once I locate you in the Dreamlands, you know you can't hide from me."

"This is my house and they call him the Corsair! And he's not a pirate!" Kenzie retorted, no sign of fear in her voice. "And he's more of a man than you will ever be!"

"Yeah. Right. Whatever. Oh, and Miss Mason, for your information, the new rule is you're no longer safe anywhere in the Dreamlands. To include in your house. And that is one rule I promise I won't break." The Great replied, falling to all fours and scurrying his massive rat body down the staircase toward us.

Still half-convinced all of this is just a bad dream, I continued my banter with the rat-man as my mind worked to devise a way to either stop the Great or get back to the library. "So I guess rats can swim after all?"

Arriving at the bottom of the staircase, the Great sat back on his hind legs again, this time, however, eye to eye with me. "You know, Mister Corsair, I'm not really a rat, right? I'm whatever I want to be."

"So you can be whatever you want to be and you choose this body?" I countered. "A giant, hairy vermin with a talking face? I have an idea. How about you become a nice guy and leave us alone. What do you say? One gentleman to another?"

The rat laughed obscenely. "Leave you alone? Gentlemen? Are you crazy? Never! This is my world to do as I please! My world! If you only knew the horrors I could turn myself into! Maybe you'll see some of my many forms? Maybe Miss Mason will tell you about them. If she has the courage. Tell me, Mister Corsair, did she explain to you what happens if I kill you in the Dream Realm. What would happen to you? If you die? You know, I could. If I wanted to. Kill you? With a snap of my fingers... or a snap of my jaws. This is my universe to do as I please. It's my dream to control!"

"Yeah, she told me. If you kill me in this stupid dream, I simply wake up in the real world." I lied. "So what? No big deal."

The rat glanced angrily at Kenzie and then back at me. After several moments, it calmed down and we continued our conversation. "You're very clever, aren't you? That's not at all what she told you would happen, but somehow you figured it out. I heard everything you two said in the library. I hid behind some books and listened to you two idiots. How did you divine the truth? You didn't have time to read the book. Whatever. It doesn't matter now... Well done, sir. Well done. You figured it out. Yes, you just wake up if you die here. No big deal."

"I figured as much." I lied again.

"But her!" The Great retorted angrily. "If I kill her in this world, then that would be a much different story. She signed her name in the book! She thinks this is a nightmare now? If I let her die here? Maybe drown her in her own pool? Oh, that would be a fate worse than death. Yes, that's how I have power over you, Mister Corsair hero guy. Mister big brave man. But don't worry, I won't kill her off just yet. I still have years and years of fun planned for the two of us. Hell, I dream up new ways to play with her all the time. And now, she's really made me mad by bringing you here! Oh, don't worry, she won't die anytime soon!"

"Help me, Nash!" Kenzie shouted, suddenly terrified.

"Nash?" The rat-man asked. "Nash, is it? How interesting. Care to tell me your last name? Is it Nash Corsair? Who exactly are you? Her boyfriend? I hope not. Did she tell you what we do together in the Dreamlands? I bet you wouldn't be her boyfriend for long if she did."

"Don't worry." I told Kenzie, emboldened by the news that the Great couldn't kill me permanently in the Dreamlands. "I have a plan..."

The sound of someone rudely honking their car horn on the street outside woke me up.

What? I thought, momentarily confused.

Leaping out of the overstuffed chair in Kenzie's rented attic loft, I found myself wide awake and back in the real world.

"Damn! Kenzie!" I shouted, running to the woman's bedroom.

Finding the bedroom door locked, I took a step back and kicked hard directly next to the locking mechanism. After three kicks, the door, along with part of the door jam, flew open.

Running to the bed, I found Kenzie tossing back and forth, mumbling, but still asleep, obviously in the throes of some sort of nightmare. I began shaking the woman's shoulders violently and screaming at her. "Wake up, Kenzie! Wake up!"

After several minutes of shaking, slapping her face lightly and shouting her name, Kenzie stopped rocking back and forth and groggily opened her eyes. "Nash? Am I awake? Is that you?"

"Yes!" I shouted. "It's me. I'm so sorry I left you in there. Someone here woke me up with their damn car horn. Yanked me right back into the real world. I warned you I was a light sleeper. Are you all right? I'm so sorry."

"No." Kenzie lightly sobbed. "I'm not all right." Lifting the bottom of the shirt she slept in, Kenzie showed me the dozens of freshly-made, rat-sized scratches covering her entire abdomen.

What the hell? I thought.

Suddenly sobbing uncontrollably, Kenzie's head fell into my shoulders.

I let her cry as long as she wanted.