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The Dream, Page Two

The Dream, Page Two





When Jenny was walking home from school that day, she was thinking about how lucky she was to have avoided Tom all day at school that day. He would've known right away that something had happened. He could see right through her so she wouldn't have been able to lie to him.

Just as she was getting in the door, the phone rang. She raced to the phone, but she didn't make it on time. She heard the beep and knew the answering machine had gotten it. Since it played the message out loud, she didn't need to wait.

Tom's voice came on through the answering machine, "hey Thorny, how come I didn't see you at school today? Were you sick? Are we still on for tonight? If not, can you give me a shout?"

Jenny heard another beep signaling the end of the message. She had forgotten that Tom had made plans to go to a movie that night with her. Forgotten plans from the moment she had seen Julian's face.

---------------------

What was she going to do? Jenny was in a panic. She had phoned Tom back and said that they would still go on with their plans. When she had said that, she had thought that she would be able to control herself. Now, she wasn't so sure.

Just then the doorbell rang and her father answered it. "Jenny!" he called, "Tom's here!"

"Drat," Jenny muttered. She wasn't even ready because of all of her worrying. "Hold on!" she called down to her dad. Jenny quickly threw on some clean clothes and ran the brush through her hair.

She ran quickly down the stairs and gave Tom a quick hug. He looked at her oddly for a second and then shook his head. The look quickly passed as he looked up to say something, "everything all right?" he asked.

"Yeah, everything's fine," she replied, "why?"

"I didn't see you today and you seem a bit out of sorts." As an afterthought, Tom said good-bye to her father who had just slipped out of the room.

"I was really busy today. Something important came up."

"What?"

"An old friend came to visit, but they're gone now."

"You still up to going to the movies?"

"Yeah..." Jenny trailed off as she caught a glimpse of someone with blue eyes in the bushes. No, it couldn't be, Jenny thought to herself. It's just some one's cat. That's all. "Are we gonna go to the movie or just stand around here all night?"

"Yeah, we're going. By the way, we still haven't picked the movie yet."

"We can do that when we get there. Let's go!"

-------------------

Later that night, just after Jenny got in, she found a note saying:
Jenny, we've gone to bed already, so please be as quiet as you can as your father has to go in to work early tomorrow morning. A visitor come over tonight for you while you were gone. Said you had to work on a school assignment together and that you must have forgotten it. I told him that he could wait up for you in the living room because it was important, you know we want you to do well in school. Please don't get to sleep too late.
Mom

Oh no. Jenny thought silently to herself. It's him! I knew he didn't mean it when he said he would leave me alone! What if--

"Hello Jenny," a soft voice said from behind her.

Jenny whirled around to face Him, only, it wasn't him! Jenny looked at the guy carefully. He was about five feet seven inches tall, he had brown hair, and blue eyes. He looked nervous, but that could mean anything. "Who are you?" Jenny asked coldly.

"Who else?" he replied.

"What do you mean who else? I asked a question! Answer me," Jenny said impatiently.

"Take a closer look," he responded dryly. "I'm your worst nightmare's friend."

"You were the one who brought him back," Jenny gasped. "Why?"

"Well, it's a long story, but to say it plainly, I did it to get back at my creators. They carved my name into the 'stave when they didn't have Julian to toy with anymore I did it 'cause it's gonna piss the elders off when they find out about it. Where'd he go by the way, I thought he would come straight here."

"He's come and gone, why?"

"Well, I figure he owes me, and while talking to you, I've figured out just what he owes me," he said. Just as he said that, His eyes looked her over. "Do you want to know what he owes me?"

Jenny was getting a sinking feeling as she replied, "what?" As an afterthought, she added, "and what the hell is your name!"

"My name is Alex, and what I want is... you."

"Well Alex, I am not his to give or yours to take, so you can go to hell! If you have any time left over, don't forget to write! I need some kindling to get the barbecue started for quite some time now!" Just as she finished saying that, Jenny slammed her knee up, not really caring where she hit, and at the same time said under her breath: "Julian, get your ass in here!"

Then, after a moment, her head cleared and she looked for Alex to see what she had done. Oh boy, she thought, I must've kneed him where it counts. He was on the floor moaning as Julian walked in.

"What's wrong?" He looked around. "Oh, Jenny, did he say something naughty?" Julian asked with almost a goofy grin.

Jenny, as she was turning a little bit red, said, "no, not at all," it the most innocent voice she could muster then burst into laughter.

Julian was looking a bit confused about a couple things which he decided to voice, "okay, what happened? and did I just make a joke or something?"

Julian had an extremely puzzled look on his face, which just made Jenny laugh even harder. When she got over her laughter, Jenny explained what had transpired before Julian got there.

Julian walked over to where Alex was just getting up and kicked him, hard. "You piece of shit, you leave Jenny alone, you understand me?"

"You owe me, Julian, she'll be mine, just you wait and see." With that said, Alex disappeared.

"Great!" Jenny muttered. "If it's not one Shadow Man after me, it's another!" Jenny flopped down onto the couch with no particular grace. Turning her head so she could face Julian, she asked, "Do you have anywhere to stay? I'm asking because it's not as if you'll be welcome to stay in the Shadow world."

"Well, actually, I hadn't planned on living like a human, no offense, do you know anywhere that I could?" Julian asked wistfully.

"Well, it's not as if I can make up the guest room for you, if we had one, that is. You can sleep on the floor in my room tonight and we can look for a more permanent residence for you tomorrow. Just don't be getting any ideas."

"I wont," Julian responded solemnly.

--------------------

"Good morning," said a soft voice.

Jenny woke up startled. Who said that? Then as her thoughts came back to her, she remembered that she had told Julian that he could sleep on the floor of her room. What had she been on? Oh, well, what's done is done. "So, how did you sleep?" Jenny asked politely.

"Very well, thank you," Julian replied with a goofy grin on his face. "Thank you for letting me stay here. Do you still want to help me look for a place to live?"

"Yes, I'll still help and you're welcome. I must say though, I've never seen you looking goofy two days in a row. Actually living as a human must have done it."

"Done what?" asked Julian confusedly.

"Brought you down to my level, your high and mightiness," Jenny said with a grin, "I've got to say though, it's kind of cute."

"Cute?" Julian asked with a pained expression on his face. "Well, your sarcasticness, let us go home shopping."

"All right then. You stay up here while I get breakfast and tell my parents something. Okay?"

"Okay."

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"So, how did your project go? Did you finish?" Jenny's mom asked.

"Yeah, mom, it's finished," Jenny replied with a dry tone. Under her breath she muttered, "it's finished all right. It better be!"

"What was that?"

"Oh, nothing mom. Just talking to myself. Well, I'm off to Audrey's place. Be back after dinner."

"Bye honey! See you later."

-------------------

As Jenny was getting into her car, Julian materialized next to her. "How do you do that by the way?"

"I don't know. I just do. So, where are we off to?"

"We're going to Audrey's, like I said to my mother."

"Why are we going there?"

"Because Audrey will understand and Tom doesn't casually stop by there. He always calls first."

To Be Continued.

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