Dream King by Elise Knight

9

The next day, or night—It was impossible to tell which—followed a similar theme. He left me for hours to do his job, whatever that consisted of. I’d figured out he was going into people’s dreams, but what he did in there was anybody’s guess. Probably jerked off to people’s subconscious desires, the sick fuck. I wanted to not care, to ignore him as he ignored me, but it was difficult when he was literally the only thing in this whole forest to look at. After his warning last night, I daren’t take my eyes off him. Every ten minutes or so, he’d come out of one door then go in through the next, never stopping, never taking a break. I only caught glimpses of him through the gaps in the doors. I’d not seen him eat once in the whole time I’d been here. Nor had I seen him pee or do anything vaguely human. I calculated as best I could how many hours I’d spent in the forest. The constant darkness made it difficult, but it felt like I’d slept a good amount. He’d taken me in the early hours of a Tuesday morning. I was pretty sure I’d had at least one more night here, so it was probably around Thursday morning. I thought back to the sad packet of dry crackers in my kitchen cupboard and wished I’d have thought to bring them with me. Not that I could have foreseen being tied up for two nights without food. My stomach grumbled painfully every time I thought about food which was pretty much all the time. When I was sleeping, my bowl had mysteriously refilled with water, so I wasn’t going to die of dehydration any time soon. Plus, he’d taken me to the stream a couple of times, so my bladder was no longer a problem.

“I’m hungry,” I grumbled to the raven, who ignored me. It was a trait he’d probably learned from his boss. The two of them suited one another.

The raven squawked and took off into the sky. It came back a few minutes later and dropped a couple of worms into my lap.

My stomach lurched at the sight of the fat wriggling monsters in my lap.

“Take them away!” I hissed, jumping my legs about in an attempt to throw them off. The raven picked them both up, then threw its head up and swallowed them both down whole. If I’d had any food left in my stomach to lose, I would have lost it.

“Thanks,” I whimpered. At least it was trying. That was more than its boss was doing. It ruffled its feathers and took off back to its favored branch. Then it turned its back on me.

The doors moved, and I saw Asshat stepping from one door to the next.

“I’m hungry,” I shouted out, temporarily forgetting my self-mandated plan to never utter a word to the bastard ever again.

I thought he was ignoring me again, but then he appeared in the gaps between the doorframes.

“I need to eat, or I’ll die.”

He narrowed his eyes and tapped his feet impatiently, clearly annoyed that I was interrupting him. “What do I care? Starve then.”

He was a wily asshole.

“You obviously brought me here for a reason,” I pointed out. “The first time I followed you, but the second time you pulled me back in. I doubt that reason was to watch me die, tied to a tree, even if you are a sick bastard.”

He grimaced, then turned away from me and headed to the red door. With one swift movement, he was through it, slamming it shut behind him. The sound rattled the frame and reverberated through the forest.

It was the first time I’d seen him use that door since the first time he’d brought me here. Then it had led to my bedroom. I wondered where it led now. I didn’t have too long to wait to find out.

The door opened again. I was sure I heard someone screaming on the other side of it, but then it was once again slammed shut.

“Here,” he said, throwing a fast-food pizza box at my feet. I recognized the brand straight away. It was one of the worldwide pizza brands. The smell of it almost took me to heaven. Only one problem. I couldn’t reach it. I raised my eyebrows at him.

He huffed then raised his hand. The purple bonds holding me to the tree evaporated. I lunged for the box, throwing it open. In my food-starved mind, this was a trick, and the box would be empty, but when I opened it, I saw the most delicious-looking pepperoni pizza. I grabbed a slice and shoved it in my mouth, letting the molten cheese drip down my chin.

“Mmm, thssgggd,” I mumbled.

Asshole took a step forward and sat opposite me, with the ashes of last night’s campfire between us. “Am I supposed to understand that?”

I waited until I’d swallowed the last of the slice before gracing him with an answer.

“I said, it’s so good. Want some?”

He curled his mouth down at the edges the way I was certain I’d done when the raven had brought me worms. His loss. I picked up a second slice and took a bite.

He watched me as I ate with the same curiosity he showed when I went to pee. It was like basic human needs were weird and foreign to him. Maybe they were.

“Why don’t you eat?” I asked between mouthfuls. “Or sleep, or pee?”

“Just because you don’t see me do any of those things does not mean I don’t do them. I just choose not to share them with you.”

Haughty bastard. “So you’re shy then?” I knew I was stepping on thin ice, but I couldn’t help myself. There was something about the arrogance of this guy that triggered my smart mouth.

“Why did you come here?”

Not the answer I was expecting. It wasn’t even an answer at all, but I’d roll with it because this was the first conversation we’d had, and color me curious; I wanted to know more about this strange world.

“You brought me here,” I reminded him a second time.

“You followed me here, then you tried to find me when I threw you out. Why?”

The first time I’d followed him without really thinking. He’d been in my room, and I’d chased him. The second time was because I needed to find out about my mother. Not that I was going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that.

“I like to travel,” I smart-mouthed back at him.

He snarled and stood up. “You are not what I thought you were. In fact, you are a disappointment.”

Yeah, and I love you too, Dickwad.

At least I managed to keep that thought in my mind rather than on my tongue.

With one swift movement, he raised his arm and conjured the purple ropes that bound me to the tree. At least this time, my arms were free. He turned and went back to his job of invading people’s dreams.

I mused his words as I chomped down on the pizza. If I was a disappointment, then he’d been expecting me. But why? I hadn’t even known he existed before he showed up in the sleep clinic.

It was another conundrum left for me to ponder.

How the fuck did he know me, and what exactly was he expecting that made me such a disappointment?

Fuck only knew, but I was going to find out.