Heavy breathing and footsteps was all Aaron could hear. The footsteps sounded like they were slapping against the pavement, and Suddenly they sounded like they were crunching leaves in the forest. Aaron could now see his surroundings. He was in a forest filled with thin tall trees that were all deprived of any sort of leaves. Leaves were cluttered all along the ground in an almost foot-deep blanket across the forest floor. Aaron stopped running and put his hands on his knees, breathing heavily from the constant running. He turned around and frantically searched his surroundings to see if anybody had been following him. As he turned back around to start running again a pair of hands grabbed his neck and squeezed tightly making Aaron choke and grapple at the hands that were causing him this much pain. The entire forest went dark and all he could see was a pair of green glowing eyes in front of him as he slowly began to lose consciousness and sink to the ground.

Aaron woke up breathing heavily bathed in his own sweat. He reached up to his neck and felt around making sure that he was surely awake and wasn't still trapped in his nightmare. He glanced around him at the other bunks and saw that his two roommates were still slightly snoring fast asleep. He then leaned his head slowly over the side of his bunk to see if his new bunkmate was still asleep. Aaron was shocked to see that the new boy, who he had learned was named Jamie, was staring right back at him with his creepy green eyes. He caught his breath as his bunkmate stared back at him.

“Sorry,” Aaron said.

“Did I frighten you?” Jamie asked

“No... I just.. didn’t know that you were awake.” He put his head back on his pillow and stared at the ceiling. A couple of minutes went by and Jamie began to speak again.

“ I don’t sleep much. Ever since I came here I haven’t been able to sleep at all”

“Oh.” Was all Aaron could say. He was now thinking about how the green eyes in his dream had looked just like Jamie’s. Maybe Mr.Nyx could help him interpret what the meaning of his dream had been. No, Aaron thought, Mr.Nyx didn’t have much interest in Aaron’s personal life. Their relationship mostly revolved around work.

“So,” Aaron could hear Jamie clearing his throat below him “what kind of things should I expect with Mr. Nyx?”

Aaron froze. Could Jamie really read his thoughts? How did he know about Mr. Nyx? Not many people knew that he had been given the opportunity to have his internship with Mr.Nyx. All of the boys were assigned an internship to learn a skill after they left the orphanage, another program set up by Elle’s father and the other executive board members. Aaron debated about what to say to Jamie. Finally, he turned and peeked over the side of his bunk giving Jamie a very stern face and said in a monotone voice

“how do you know about Mr. Nyx?”

Jamie scoffed and rolled his eyes placing his arms under his head

“you’re kinda a jerk you know. I’ve only been here for a week and you haven’t done anything to even be remotely welcoming.”

“Don’t change the subject,” Aaron said, “how do you know.”

Jamie rolled over and sat up on the edge of his bed. He was already fully dressed in his trousers and vest and quickly pulled his boots on tying them into tight knots. He stood up and faced Aaron who was still laying in his bunk giving him a very unpleasant stare.

“There weren’t many internships yet so they said I had to double up with you. My first day is today and they haven’t told me much about it except that I’ll be helping you and a man named Mr. Nyx. But you would know that if you ever tried talking to me.”

Jamie pulled on his coat which was of a pricey material. He had only brought with him a few pairs of clothes but all of them looked like they were worn by the boys who went to the private schools of West Point. Most of the boys at the orphanage stopped attending school at around fifteen and started learning a skill. Since Jamie had come from money and had just recently come to live here, unlike the other boys who had been there their whole lives, he still attended a private prep school three times a week that was all the way on the east side of WestPoint. He walked over to the door and turned to face Aaron again before he walked out.

“I’ll see you later today at work.” Then he walked out the door softly shutting it behind him.

Aaron laid in bed and stared up at the ceiling feeling irritated. Not only did he have to share a bunk with this stuck-up imbecile be he also had to work with him and share his precious time with Mr. Nyx with him. Aaron drifted back to sleep thinking about how much he truly hated Jamie.

~

Mr.Nyx was sitting at his desk in the same exact position as last time. He took his glasses off and carefully wiped them on a little cloth from his jacket pocket then placed them back on the bridge of his nose.

“I have good news, Aaron.” Mr.Nyx said. Aaron had been there for about thirty minutes and was wiping down the counters in Mr. Nyx’s office.

“Another boy is coming to be my second apprentice.” Aaron looked up from his work. “Oh yes, I’ve heard.” He replied with an unamused tone. “It seems like he’s more than thirty minutes late though.”

“This is his first day. He probably got lost.” Mr. Nyx stated. Aaron stared at Mr. Nyx. Every time he had been only a couple of minutes late Mr. Nyx had been very disappointed in him. He had never had any sympathy for other people, so even this small sign of acceptance of another’s mistakes was truly shocking.

A couple of minutes later Aaron heard footsteps hurriedly running up the steps. They stopped once they sounded closer to the door, paused for a second, and then in came Jamie, slowly breezing through the door as if he had not been running at all.

“Hello, Mr. Nyx,” Jamie said in a calm voice. “Please pardon my tardiness, I’ve never been to this part of town before.”

Aaron rolled his eyes.

“That’s quite all right Jamie.” Mr. Nyx responded. He pulled out a chair next to him.

“Please have a seat.” Jamie slowly walked over to him and sat down while Aaron remained crouched next to the files glaring at him.

“Aaron?” Mr. Nyx called.

“Yes, Mr. Nyx.”

“Have you finished separating the fetish dreams?”

“No sir I haven’t yet” replied Aaron

“Well, you might as well come over here and listen to the introductions. Even though you’ve already heard all about me and what I do it doesn’t hurt to get a refresher”

Aaron walked over to where they were sitting and leaned up against the closest file since there were only two chairs.

“Now Jamie” Mr. Nyx turned his attention back to the other boy

“As you may have heard my line of work is in dream interpretation. All of these filing cabinets here hold the dreams and recordings of my talk sessions with clients. Aaron has been helping me organize to start my new project.” Mr. Nyx suddenly stood up from his chair and skipped over to another table covered in a white sheet.

“I’ve been retired for quite a while now you see, but since I was forcibly assigned to look after Aaron.” Mr. Nyx glared over in his direction “It has given me the inspiration to start a new project.” He suddenly whipped off the sheet to reveal two top-of-the-line typewriters.

“With the two of you helping, my dream sessions will all be typed up and made into an instruction manual slash autobiography that details the inner workings of the serious task of dream interpretation while also telling readers of my journey.” Mr. Nyx stood there grinning while still clutching the sheet a little too hard.

Aaron looked over at Jamie and saw him still sitting perfectly upright in his chair. His facial expression had changed to one of confusion. An awkward silence filled the room.

“Why don’t you just use a computer to write your book?” the boy finally said. Mr. Nyx’s eye twitched as he tried to maintain his grin.

“Well, because…” He fostered towards the typewriters with wide-open arms “They look nice, and It’s much more interesting to have your autobiography typed up on a typewriter than a silly old computer.”

“ I thought it was also an instruction manual,” Jamie stated. Another awkward silence filled the room. Aaron stood up straight

“If I may interject,” he started

“You may not.” Snapped Mr. Nyx

“Okay.”

“The typewriters will work, just trust the process and you will see it all unfold splendidly.”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Mr. Nyx pulled his chair back around to face his desk and sat back down. He held up his hand in a shooing motion towards the boys.

“Aaron, show Jamie what to do. We have a lot of work to accomplish”

~

For the next couple of hours, Aaron and Jamie did the dismal work off organizing files as well as some light dusting around the room. Now that it was time to leave Aaron thought about what he was going to do now that Jamie would be walking back with him. Usually, on his way back he would take a quick detour to see his girlfriend Elle, but now that Jamie would be there it complicated things. Both of the boys said their farewells to Mr. Nyx and clunked down the stairs to the lobby of the theatre. Jamie turned to Aaron like he was about to say something but Aaron continued walking straight out the door without stopping. Jamie ran to catch up with him and then slowed to his pace so they were walking side by side.

“Hey I wanted to get out of there too but I guess not as bad as you,” Jamie said. It’s not that I wanted to leave, thought Aaron, I just didn’t want to be there with you for another second.

“So, um I got kinda lost on the way here, probably took me a lot longer than it should have. I’m still not used to not having a pod to take me around.” Aaron rolled his eyes. Of course Jamie probably never had to walk anywhere. A shiny little pod would just show up at his front door whenever he needed to go anywhere.

“So have you ever been to real school?” Jamie asked in an attempt to finally get Aaron to talk. After a long pause, Aaron finally responded

“I did up until a few years ago, and then I started working with Mr. Nyx.”

“If working is even the word for it,” Jamie mumbled

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Aaron said back defensively.

“You don’t think it’s odd at all? The old uncleaned theatre, the sorting disturbing dreams, the stupid typewriters? Is dream interpretation even a real career because it sounds like something I’ve seen at the circus when I was younger.” Aaron didn’t respond and kept walking faster as they neared the busier streets of the town, his fists clenched in anger as he tried to resist the urge to punch Jamie in the face. Jamie it seemed was also a fast walker, partly due to the fact that he was slightly taller than Aaron, and managed to keep at a perfect pace with him.

“Why are you so defensive of this man?” Jamie asked “It’s not like he’s even remotely nice to you. Also, how old is he anyway? He looks rather young but when I did a little research on him it says he attended Cadonia University years ago around the time our parents would have gone.”

“I doubt my parents went to C.U.” Aaron responded “And Mr. Nyx is nice to me, at least nicer than Mr. and Mrs. Melville are. Also, it’s not really any of your business is it?” Aaron and Jamie kept walking side by side in silence. The boys had now left the busy streets and were nearing the orphanage. Outside Aaron could see a line of pods parked up against the street and a few men with cameras circling the building.

“Not this again,” Aaron mumbled as he walked up to enter through a side door so as to not draw attention to himself. Jamie followed him inside.

“What’s going on?” He asked Aaron.

“Mr. Patty’s here on his monthly visit, which is really just an excuse to take pictures with sad orphans that will make him look good for reelection.”

As they walked closer to the dining hall, the hallways became more crowded with boys of all ages. There was a small woman who was holding hands with several toddlers while simultaneously trying to push a long carriage that several babies rested in. One of the toddlers kept pulling at the back of her long skirt and wailing to go back to the playroom. Aaron stepped up behind them and scooped up the young child in his arms.

“There, there Theo, we will have plenty of time to play after the show.” The small woman turned to him and smiled

“Oh, Aaron thank you so much. I have a hard enough time trying to wrangle them up for dinner, but with all this commotion, well it gets too much to handle at times.” Aaron followed her and the baby parade into the dining room where they took a spot in a corner farthest from the small stage that was being set up for Mr. Patty. He set Theo back down on his feet

“No more crying about playtime Theo, you don’t want to get in trouble do you?” Theo shook his head and ran to stand next to his friends on the other side of the woman.

“Now who’s this?” the woman asked looking next to Aaron, “It looks like you’ve got yourself a shadow.” Aaron turned to see that Jamie was still standing next to him.

“Hello mam, my name is Jamie, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” He offered out his hand and gave the woman a sturdy handshake. “You must be Ms. Lena, the caretaker of small children here at Westpoint Orphanage. I myself am not one for small children, but I am in awe of your ability to care for them. They’re tomorrow's future after all. I read in the brochure that you're from the Novid mountains. My parents used to own a house up there that we would frequent for holidays.”

“Oh, my,” Lena responded “What a strange and proper boy you are.” Aaron tried to hide his smile. Lena had been there since Aaron had arrived at the orphanage as a baby and had cared for him like she was his own mother. Even though they were both too busy to see each other much anymore, he still made it a point to have a conversation with her whenever he saw her walking through the hallways or in the dining hall.

After all the children had come into the dining hall and were standing quietly to face the stage, Mr. and Mrs. Melville walked out to introduce Mr. Patty, as if everybody didn’t know who he was already, and to lead the children in the Cadonia national anthem. Mr. Patty walked out on stage followed by his wife leading their daughters who were all dressed in long dresses with their hair up in a twist. Aaron caught the eyes of Elle who stood next to her sister as the second oldest of the Patty daughters. She always looked different in her hyper-feminine proper attire standing there next to her family. Upon making eye contact, Elle’s face immediately lit up and her cheeks glowed a rosy pink. The only good part about Patty’s visits for Aaron was being able to see the radiant Elle standing on the stage. A boy around Aaron’s age got out of the crowd and stood next to Mr. Patty’s assistant on the other side of him. The boy's name was Marcus, and he had received the role of playing apprentice to Mr. Patty himself. There had been a big deal about who would get that high honor when Mr. Patty introduced the program, but Aaron was glad that it hadn’t been himself. Mr. Patty awkwardly fumbled with the microphone trying to get it to work which led to his assistant having to help him for almost five minutes in trying to turn it on. Finally, they got it working which then led to Mr. Patty having to clear his throat for what seemed like a full minute and tapping the microphone to check if it was working.

“Hello, staff and boys of WestPoint orphanage, as you all know my name is councilman Patty. I’m glad to see all of your smiling faces on this lovely night.”

No one person was smiling.

“Er, uh, tonight I would like to talk to you all about something very important. As you know we’ve had great success with the apprentice program these last few years, and I do hope that you are all getting on splendidly with your assigned work. As I once told you all before the idea came to me in a dream when where I was blessed with the presence of an angel who told me that my job as WestPoint councilman was to help the children, and continue the legacy of raising brilliant young men to be the leaders of our fair Cadonia”

Aaron rolled his eyes and he heard a few scoffs throughout the audience. Mr. Patty always said that he got his, as he considers, grand ideas through some sort of divine intervention.

“Well,” Mr. Patty continued. “Last night I was blessed once again with yet another grand idea, from the same angel no less. I was sitting at the end of a river, The Wishers River that is, as the angel from before approached me once again. She congratulated me on the success of the apprenticeship program and asked me how I could take it even further. When I awoke I knew exactly what I had to do. This year, as a trial run, we are going to give out full scholarships for Cadonia University for five lucky young boys.”

A stir of excitement took over the room. Aaron felt his breathing get heavier as his heart filled with hope. He could go to C.U and become a master in whatever field he chose. He could be at a high enough caliber to publicly be with someone of Elle’s stature. They could actually get married one day, have a future. Aaron let out a small laugh thinking about how if Mr. Patty gave him the scholarship he would unknowingly be giving his future son-in-law the opportunity of a lifetime.

After the announcement, the standard script of Mr. Patty’s required statements seemed to fade out, and the dining hall seemed to overflow with the whispers of boys and their now effervescent smiles. Jamie, still standing next to him, of course, did not seem to be the slightest bit fazed by the good news. He already had a full ride to C.U with his family's money right when he turned eighteen.

After Mr. Patty finished up, everybody cheered for him, which was a rare occurrence, and Mr. Patty reminded them to vote for his reelection when they turned eighteen. He seemed very pleased with himself as he stood there waving goodbye with his wife and eight daughters, one of whom Aaron knew was waving directly at him. Elle gave Aaron a small wink as they were led off the stage and out of the orphanage. Dinner was served and Aaron hurriedly ate before running back off to his bunk. The next day was one of their days off, which coincidentally happened to fall on Elle’s birthday. They had planned to take Elle’s personal pod to a lake nearby where Patty’s second house resided and spend the day together out on Elle’s family boat and then near a nice fire before they had to return home. Aaron went to the laundry quarters to wash and press his nicest shirt and vest and then washed in the communal showers that the bunks in his hall shared. He returned to his bunk already dressed as not to relive any of the awkwardness of dressing in front of Jamie and saw that the other boy was nowhere to be found. Thankful, he climbed up into his bunk and pulled out a book that he had rented from the library that Mr. Nyx suggested for him to read. The book was entitled “Where We Go in Dreams vol. II” and was about theories on the science of dreaming. His other two roommates, Billy and Forest, were also not in the room, probably smoking like chimneys on the roof and getting drunk out of the special concoction that some of the boys put together. Aaron’s eyes got heavy and he rested the book on top of his chest before finally drifting off to sleep.

Once again Aaron found himself in the unknown forest, gasping for air and running for his life from the unknown predator. This time he made it to a river where he suddenly felt the urge to stop running and walked slowly to the edge of the water. There in the water were two items wrapped in paper. Even though fully submerged, the paper remained dry. As he looked longer he realized that two hands were also under the water holding up the paper-wrapped items. Slowly the hands lifted the items out of the water followed by the head and torso of a woman with long dark hair. Her eyes were a piercing green, the same as the eyes that he had seen last night, but this time he felt no fear about them. He took the first package out of the woman's hands and opened it. Inside was his pocket watch, the one that he had given Elle to hold for safekeeping. He put the watch back in his pocket where he usually kept it and took the other package out of the woman's hand. Inside this one was an item that Aaron was not familiar with. It looked like a mechanical part to a machine of some sort. He placed this item in his other pocket and then smiled at the woman in the water. She smiled back before fading away into foamy bubbles that washed down the river.

When Aaron woke up the room was completely dark. He rolled on his side and gasped as he saw the green eyes of Jamie staring back at him right at the edge of his bed.

“She told me to check,” Jamie said in a muddled voice

“What?” Aaron whispered back more confused than ever

“Check them. They’re there.” Jamie said back in the same muddled voice. As his eyes adjusted he saw that Jamie’s eyes were glossed over and there was a small amount of drill coming out of his slightly opened mouth.

“You’re sleepwalking you, idiot,” Aaron whispered. “Go back to sleep.”

Jamie stared at him a moment longer before climbing back into the lower bunk. Aaron waited a few minutes before he heard a slight snore come out of Jamie before he silently climbed down the ladder of his bunk and tiptoed over to his clean clothes that were laid out on a chair for the next day. Only using the light from the moon coming through his window, he fumbled through his clothes until he found his pants. Reaching inside one of the pockets he gasped as he realized the object that he pulled out was the same mechanical part that he had received from the woman. In his other pocket was his watch. As he turned back towards the beds he saw that Jamie was sitting upright, this time looking fully awake.

“They’re there, aren't they? She told me they would be.”