Although I know why.
I kinda know why he stabbed me. I was thinking that maybe he was too angry at me because of everything that I said to him. Maybe he was so done with me that he wanted me dead, at least in a dream.
–Devyn–
[DAMN! HAHAHAHAHA LT WHY DID HE STABBED YOU?]
[THE FUCK! THAT'S WHY HE'S HANDSOME! I'LL CHOKE HIM TONIGHT!!! DOES HE THINK IT WAS FUNNY?! IT WAS FUCKING HURTS!]
[HAHAHAHAHA HE TRAUMATIZED YOU.]
[BUT GIRL, THAT'S SO COOL, HE GOT INSIDE YOUR LUCID DREAM.]
[Yeah, I wonder what that means? He's not dead? Only in a coma? What the fuck…]
[Damn girl. You have your own version of Dreaming Freedom. What if, right? Shit.
[What the hell… I suddenly got nervous. He's older than me, then?!]
[But for sure, when he wakes up, he won't remember a thing.]
[That's what I read from other stories, not in Dreaming Freedom though.]
[I hope he doesn't remember me. He's too handsome, it's overwhelming.]
[Damn HAHAHAHAHAHA]
[And also, him being a ghost in our house, he's thin. Like, what an average high school looks like. But in my dreams, HE HAS A GREAT BODY! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!]
[Damn girl, your love story trope is so cool. It's unique.]
[Is this even a love story…? He was better off as a ghost, he was sweet. But in my dreams, he stabbed me. Is he also trying to kill me? Trope, Confusion Lovestory. Title, Stab at First Encounter.]
That night, since I already knew it was Vin, I bravely slept, intended for a lucid dream. I didn't imagine any scenario. I imagined dim light surroundings, like when he always appears. And just a few minutes later, he appears in front of me.
I can finally see him fully. Before, as a ghost, he was wearing black pants and white polo, but now, he's only wearing pure white. White long sleeves, and white pants that look a bit bigger than him. Maybe I didn't realize I was frowning, until he said, "Are you still angry with me?"
"First of all, before anything else, why the fuck did you stabbed me?" I didn't forget to specify the word fuck and stabbed.
He reached the back of his head and smiled, "To wake you up. I thought you're already late for school."
I couldn't help but feel a bit of annoyance, and no voice could come out from me. But I sighed and still tried to speak, "Why'd you stop coming to the house?"
And obviously, he noticed the annoyance and irritation from me because he tried to explain in a bit more detail, "Well, after I left the day we got into… umm…"
"Fight. The day we got into a fight. Just say the fucking word."
"...fight… Weird enough, I can't go back to that house or your room. I tried multiple times, but I couldn't. And suddenly, everything went dark, and when I woke up, I saw you with a… handsome guy. I knew immediately that it was a lucid dream, but I couldn't help but feel mad. And then, I thought you might be late for school, so I stabbed you to wake you up."
I sighed, and put my hand on my forehead, having a headache inside my dream, "You felt mad, to the point that you stabbed me?"
"So jealous, you have someone as handsome as that." He said with a pout.
My eyes widened and curiosity hit me, "Huh? Why? You're gay?
"Fuck no! Are you fucking stupid?!" He yelled.
"Hey! Don't yell at me and don't curse at me! I'm older than you!" I yelled back.
He shrugged his hands with a smirk, "Who knows."
He suddenly sat down, hugging his own legs and he rested his chin between his knees. Even with that position, I could see how great his body became but I didn't want to ask anything. He became even more handsome than when he was a ghost.
I sat down in front of him, "I'm sorry… for everything that I said to you. I know you were just a ghost, but I shouldn't have told you those harsh words."
He looked at me, "You know what—"
Then I suddenly woke up. I couldn't even bother looking at the clock, I grabbed my hair and rolled over the bed, "Ah! Why did I wake up?!"
I told everything to Devyn, and that's when she recommended that I write everything. For a record, and maybe for a novel someday, and so I did. I started typing everything, from the start of our encounter. I couldn't finish everything in one day as I'm busy with school work. Just a reminder, I'm a Nursing student.
But I didn't let it pass. I didn't let a night pass without us meeting in my dream.
"Vin, every time you say you know what, I always wake up, as if it is important."
"It is. But I won't say it tonight. Because I want to be with you a little bit longer."
I chuckled, "Stop saying things like that. I might fall for you."
He looked at me and shrugged his hands, "Why not?! I'm handsome, nice body! I even have abs now, look!" He tried to show it to me by pulling his shirt up, but I looked away.
"You jerk! Stop! It feels wrong because you're a minor from what I remember!" I peeked a little bit to see if he finally pulled it back down, and when I saw that he did, I looked at him, "You've changed."
He was looking up, then he suddenly looked at me with a curious face, "What do you mean?"
"It's true that you have a greater body. You're much taller now, you have a paler body as if you're never gone outside under the sun, and you have a deeper voice, not too deep though." I said as my eyes went around him, observing.
"So you mean, physically?"
I nodded, "So far, your attitude and personality hasn't changed. Only at first, I won't ever forget that you fucking stabbed me."
He chuckled. He stood up, and my eyes followed him. But as he walked closer, my eyes went down to his left hand. The silver ring that I saw in his thumb in our second encounter, it's really there. He's really wearing it.
I didn't even notice that he was already in front of me, so near. He knelt down in front of me to be on the same level. His hand went under my chin, grabbing my face, which made my eyes widened and probably blushed because that's one of the sexiest move that a man can do, and he obviously noticed that.
Because he smirked while keeping eye contact, as he said, "Hmm… So, doing a move that those fictional men do is really a big help to make you blush."
I was there, frozen. Because apart from the fact that he just did what I want a man to do to me, he touched me. He is touching me. For the first time, I can feel his skin. But for some reason, I can't explain if it is warmth or cold that I felt from him.
He used his thumb, brushing my cheek, "Today is voting day. Your mom will get mad if you wake up late." He went closer, "You know what—"
As I woke up, I looked at the clock, 6:53 AM with 3 texts from my mom, waking me up. My heart was pounding too fast, that I need to bury my face on one of my pillow, and curse under, "Fucking hell…"
I slept even earlier than usual, and opened my eyes in a usually dim white light. I was looking around, and when I realized he's not here, I decided to wait for him a little bit more. When suddenly, someone hugged me from behind.
I immediately turned around and pushed him, "Stop doing that!"
He pouted so cute, looking up to a masculine tall guy with a pout is so adorable. He held both of my hands, swinging them, "I'm just happy. Didn't you notice? I can finally touch you. If only I knew sooner that I could feel your skin inside a dream, I would've gone inside sooner."
I sighed, "No."
"What do you mean no?"
I looked down at his hands on mine, "Because of you, I sleep earlier than I usually do. So, I finish my school tasks much later than I usually do. It's disturbing."
I looked up at him and I got shocked when I saw him smiling so wide, and as if his eyes were shining, "Does that mean you want to see me sooner so you sleep—"
"No! Don't get the wrong idea!" As I pulled my hands away from his. I turned my head in a different direction, avoiding his eyes, "I'm just worried that you might feel lonely here."
Then realization hits me, "Wait…" I looked at him again, "What are you doing when I'm not here? When I'm not asleep, are you still here?"
He nodded innocently, so adorable… wait no, he's not. "I actually can see what you do. It's like a TV flashing in front of me."
My eyes widened, "Like the movie Inside Out?"
"Yeah, but I can't control your emotions. I just watched your entire day."
"Wait what?! That's…! That's not…! How could you…?! Then, you know everything I read on my phone, everything I typed to my friends, or watch?!" I yelled in disbelief.
But he was still in a calm, innocent voice, "Yeah I do—"
"What about when I'm taking a shower?!" I said, definitely with a red face.
He smiled and scratched the back of his nape, "Oh, I turn away whenever you're about to go inside the bathroom. And I wait until I hear you go outside. I don't like to see your body in that way. I mean, I want to see it, but not in that way—"
"What?!" I punched him multiple times in his chest. Full power. But I guess, that didn't feel anything, because he didn't even flinch a bit. So this is what it feels like to punch a muscled body.
"I can even see when you're watching por—"
"STOP!!!" I yelled even louder and punched him even more and faster. "You better stop talking or I'll kill you!" And he just laughs.
When we both finally calmed down, we sat down like we usually do. I created a night sky with lots of stars, a forest around us, and a fire in the middle. "I see you're starting to write a story about this lucid dream." He said, while we're both looking up the sky.
"Yeah. My friend recommended it."
"She's such a good friend. She ships us, so hard. Sin, huh. Princess plus Vin is Sin, what kind of combination is that?" He said with a soft chuckle.
"Well, it really feels like a Sin. Shipping an 18 years old like me to a 17 years old like you."
"Princess…" he sounded so serious all of the sudden, so I looked at him curiously, "...do I still look 17 to you?"
I looked him straight in the eyes. I smiled, and looked back up at the sky, "Yeah, I admit that you don't look 17 anymore. More like, 28 years old if you want me to be specific." I sighed, and smiled bitterly, "But what can I do? I'm not even sure anymore if this is all real, or this is just a plot of my lucid dream and you're just another character in it."
"If I'm just a character in your lucid dream, what about me as the ghost in your house?"
"Exactly. What if… after that fight, you really went away, and I'm just making myself feel good by making a character like you in my lucid dream? What if… I'm just gaslighting myself that we're okay? That you're here…" I looked at him, "...that you're not gone…"
A few moments of silence, just looking straight at one another's eyes. My heart was pounding, thinking maybe he realized it, too. Maybe, I was right all along, that he was nothing but a character.
But then, he broke the silence, "Why do I feel like I'm more important to you, now?"
I softly yet bitterly scoffed, "I told you…" I looked up at the sky, "...don't get the wrong idea."
Silence, and silence… Silence surrounded us, too long this time. When I suddenly heard him grunting, I immediately looked at him. He was holding his head, as if he was hurting and in pain. "Ugh…"
"Hey, what's wrong?" I went closer to him. I was about to hold his hand when my hand passed through him. I can't touch him. "Vin…?"
He started glitching. My heart was pounding, my hands were shaking. I don't know what to do, because I can't touch him. He can't even speak, as the pain gets severe, I can see it. His glitching gets even worse. And as if turning off the light, as soon as he disappeared, my eyes opened.
Everything was quiet. The only thing I can hear is the fan, and my heart pounding so fast. As I found myself with tears, staring at the ceiling of my bedroom, and whispering his name, "Vin…?"