Human Spines

Bus Seats-II

Dumaine

        There are graham crackers on my lap and I am not even going to question them. I can't tell how long I've been asleep, but I did have a better dream than last time.

        Hans is smiling to himself, twiddling his thumbs, his feet tapping light rhythms. Emmeline is... upside down in her seat. Her hands tangled in her hair, creating messy braids. She has itty bitty feet.

        I lean forward and clothes fall behind my back. Well I guess they made a nice pillow.

        "Did you get bored of being right-side up?"

        "Dumaine!" She jerks up. "Yes, actually, it's quite a bit more interesting upside down. Try it." She lets herself fall back, watching me.

        "Ummm...?"

        "Yes, my dear, try it." Hans is upside down. How did Hans get upside down?

        "Dumaine, why aren't you upside down? Upside down upside down upside down." Emmeline chants.

        And I'm upside down. How?

        Our heads hanging side by side, our backs in our chairs, our feet are straight up in the air. Emmeline giggles, grabbing onto the sides of my face. I can feel the blood rushing to my head, my palms sweating. Not cool.

        But as she leans closer, her eyes light up. Literally. They send blinding rays of white light, just like...

        Then together, our foreheads—

        BANG!!

****

        There are graham crackers on my lap, and this time I am going to question them. I lean forward and clothes fall behind my back. My neck is stiff. They weren't a very nice pillow. I feel Hans to my left, twiddling his thumbs, Emmeline to my right, upside down, hands tangled in her half braided hair, itty bitty feet in the air.

        "Emmeline, did you put graham crackers in my lap?"

        "Dumaine!" She jerks up. "Yes, actually. Did you want some? Did you sleep well? Did you have a silly dream? Did you have a nightmare? I hope you didn't. Hans and I figured some things out while you were sleeping. Is this how you feel when I come back? How do you refrain from constantly holding on to me? Or hugging me? Do you ever feel the urge to tie a string that connects us together? You were asleep for four hours, I missed you."

        "Uhh..." Which questions am I supposed to answer and what exactly were they? "Yes?"

        She tucks her feet under her and twists around in her seat, facing me. "What'd you dream about?"

        I'm telling her my dreams, the first one I had where Hans and Mom danced in the street while Dad and I played for them. I start telling her the second one and she stops me.

        "You weren't asleep. That actually happened."

        "What actually happened?"

        "Hans and I talked. We figured out why they call me Church. We figured out—"

        "That the Opaque and Translucent made a deal."

        "See, you weren't asleep! You were listening!"

        "He was asleep. He was simply sucking in information as he slept." Hans joins in.

        "Did you watch my dreams?"

        "No, you suck in information like a thousand sponges. Then you store it somewhere in your head you can't even find. Sometimes it does weird things to your dreams. And you'd do anything to gain more knowledge or protect what you already know. You don't seem like a mind hoarder or information glutton, but you are. You listen when no one thinks you are there, you disappear into the background and don't even know, can't even hear the conversation you're recording, storing for the day it becomes useful. The only reason your mind hides these away from you is because of the way you were raised. Your parents told you what you know and you believed them. Your parents told you not to know certain things and you didn't know them. It's quite simple. And you're very good at protecting what you know."

        "Oh that makes sense!" Emmeline's hands are in the air.

        "What?" I can't tell if I understand what was just said or not. Or maybe I just don't want to. Emmeline grabs my hand and shoves something inside it. It's wet. I'm unfolding the wad of paper, oozing what feels like saliva. And it's that paper.

        The one from the hotel that just reads

        8.

****

        There are graham crackers on my lap and I think this time, I'll just eat them. I reach forward—I attempt to reach forward, but Emmeline is connected to me, her head on my shoulder, her arms wrapped around my waist, her legs pressed against mine. Well at least she's still in her seat and not upside down this time.

        I gently move my unpinned arm, trying not to wake Emmeline. As I eat the crackers, I wonder about my dreams. This time I'm sure I'm awake. I can smell Hans beside me, powdered sugar and cantaloupe. I can feel the sleep leaving me, slowly becoming more alert, noticing a middle-aged man, by himself, staring at Emmeline and me. I can taste and smell and feel and see clearly now.

        I'm just going to assume the things I learned in my dreams actually are true. Except for the part where Emmeline's eyes lit up like Amistifer's. Honestly, that part nearly made my heart stop. I didn't know what to do.

        But the things Hans said... what's wrong with me? Why would I need to know that the woman at the front of the bus is on her way to a very advanced hospital to cure her illness. An illness I know is terminal. There's no reason for me to know, but I have to. Even while I was sleeping I had to listen to her phone call, the conversation she had with the passenger across from her (who will be stopping in the same city to visit her brothers), and the words she muttered to herself while I listened to her flipping through a booklet. Simply so I knew all I could. And I'm still doing it! Listening to every single person around me!

        "Hans, can you see what I'm doing?" I whisper.

        "Which thing? You're doing a lot of things. Like being awake, you're finally doing that after those crazy dreams." He snickers. So he was watching my dreams.

        "No, can you see me... I don't know, sucking in information! Storing unnecessary junk in my head. Listening and watching other people and just being nosey!" I aggressively whisper.

        "You've always done that. From the first moment I saw you. It's just who you are." He shrugs.

        "I don't think so. I think it's what I am." Oh gosh, I feel sick. I am not human.

        "I told you you're a fairy-alien-vampire." Emmeline's head lifts from my shoulder. "Did you eat my honey crackers?" She's poking my stomach.

        "I really hope fairy-alien-vampires aren't a real thing." I talk as she shifts around in her seat and see that she did try to do something with her hair. Now it's a tangled mess.

        "Would it really be that bad to be an Opaque?" Hans asks. Emmeline and I are frozen at the thought of it. Briefly, a picture of me falling away from the Earth overthrows the rest of my thoughts. I nod to Hans.

        But I can change this. I can figure all this out, just like Emmeline and Hans can. Well maybe in a different way.

        But first, I have to tell Emmeline about Amistifer before I get distracted again.

Thank you all so much for reading! Sorry this is such a short chapter but I think I've worked out my schedule so that I can update on Wednesday's. Don't forget to vote and comment what you think!