The light in your nightmares

Red enters the bedroom naturally, without even glancing at the small living room.

Dust watches him at the threshold of the front door, still hesitating to block it with a piece of furniture.

He doesn't really want the man to see how much all this worries him. He can already see his smirk...

The boy follows him after a moment of hesitation.

By the time he crosses the first room, Red has already made himself comfortable on the bed.

Among the dark green sheets, he has spread out at full length.

Like a feline, he stretches, his slightly half-open blue eyes watch him arrive.

Dust doesn't know what to do or what to say.

Basically, he just wanted to rest, but now the presence of the other disturbs him.

On one hand he wants to ask him to go sleep on one of the sofas in the living room on the other hand he thinks it's ridiculous.

He slept next to Red in the swamp without any problem and they are both men.

So why does it bother him so much?

The man is still staring at him silently, he now has both arms folded behind his head. It almost seems like he's on vacation.

The calmer the other is, the more the boy gets agitated.

Dust paces in front of the bed, well aware of appearing strange.

He also thinks about the possibility of a secret entrance here. He then looks behind the wardrobe, behind the back of the bed.

He even inspects the wallpaper.

Red is content enough to stay on the bed but the boy feels the blue eyes following all his movements.

Everything is so quiet and embarrassing that Dust, still finding nothing, tries a question that has been bothering him for a while:

-Do you think we're in a kind of... purgatory?

Maybe this kind of questioning that comes out of nowhere and quite philosophical would surprise an ordinary interlucutor but not Red, apparently:

-No

The boy frowns, he looks up and meets his own gaze in the mirror. His companion is not normal. Definitely not normal. On this conclusion he continues the discussion:

-That would be an explanation. We are here to suffer, maybe the wish we get would be a kind of second chance? A new life? Why have we forgotten everything?

Why make such a pact for a wish? Why such a risk?

Slowly as he wonders, the young man turns around, curious to see the expression the other has.

-You ask a lot of questions Dust.

The boy's brown eyes mirror Red's closed face. The only emotion perceptible is a brief weariness that crosses the blue pupils like a mist quickly chased away by the blink of an eye.

Dust thinks for a moment, then says slowly but confidently:

-Most here ask themselves questions.

What is abnormal are those who do not question a situation like this one.

His companion does not move an iota, his expression is also still impassive. A real wall if it is not that something in his tone hardens, becomes heavier, becomes more serious:

-Are you implying something?

Dust shrugs, answering one question with another:

-Do you feel targeted?

Here Red bite the bait or at least it is ehat Dust think at first. The man now straightening up on his two elbows to look at the boy better asks a little more playfully:

-Now that I think about it, it's true you called me... Suspicious at first, is that it?

He smiles, again. And continues:

-Very strange and simplistic as a name.

Dust grimaces for a second. In his head he says to himself "True" then defends himself out loud:

-Why not? Red is not a simplistic first name perhaps?

The smile widens, the man speaks faster and more surely:

-Yes simplistic except that this is an observation and not a judgment. Hasty what's more. You didn't tell me what other nickname you gave to the others...?

The smaller of the two plays the innocent:

-To the others?

The other man, for his part, doesn't let him get away with it like that:

-Yes to the others Dust, you gave me one of such caliber that I wonder what you named the rest.

The boy lowers his head, just a little.

The more he explains himself the more he feels like he's sinking:

-Simple qualifiers the old man is just the old man, Two for the one with the glasses, Pony for the one with the ponytail, Potatoes for the bald man, Charismatic for the one with her gala dress, Follower for the last one.

Red listens to his tirade and when he sees that it is over concludes with a sentence:

-I see my nickname is therefore the only one with such a negative judgment .

Dust comes to his senses, swallows.

A sudden realization hits him.

He's really good at deviating the subject.

He nevertheless continues to go down the slope that was chosen for him:

-Not really no. It's subjective. I admit that I wasn't nice in my choices. I didn't think about it like that

The man nods slightly, now clearly amused:

-mmm. That's what they say.

Dust tries to take him at his own game, in a cheerful tone he changes the angle of attack:

-Why are you fixated on this subject?

Red totally relaxed is content to answer him simply;

-It amuses me nothing else.

The boy gives up, holds back a sigh.

In his mouth his tongue is pasty.

He has barely left the room when he already hears the bed creaking and the man's voice is heard once again:

-Where are you going?

-I'm going to get some water, I'm thirsty.

-Water?... Aren't you afraid of fainting like the first time? Didn't you decide with the others to wait as long as possible before drinking?

Dust quickens his pace, behind him the red-haired man follows him pressing him with questions that make him doubt.

-You're the one asking a lot of questions now Red.

The smaller of the two stands in front of the sink, turning on the tap with a sudden gesture.

-Listen I'm sure of what I said. I drank water without any problem last time.

Dust holds out both hands to form a cup and passes them under the trickle of water that flows. But before he can drink the water thus collected Red becomes more insistent, more urgent behind him:

-We don't know the rules and what if it was just an exception made for the first dream? What if you were wrong and everyone wakes up in another nightmare because of this sip of water?

A second passes, Dust's lips almost touch the translucent liquid.

Then the boy sighs and opens his hands to let the water escape between his fingers. The man almost pressed against his back managed to scare him enough for him to give up...

-You're not drinking it after all?

Dust doesn't want to answer him, the silence itself is an answer.

Red suddenly moves, his arm passing over the boy's shoulder, his long fingers sliding under the jet of water, he drinks without hesitation.

Dust can't help but exclaim when he sees him do it:

-Why did you drink it?! You didn't let me touch the water with all your tirade? Don't you think I'm wrong?

The man takes another sip before answering him.

-I drink the water Dust because you said there was no risk, and I trust you.

The smaller of the two listens and frowns, shifting slightly to regain his personal space, the other continues his explanation:

-We need it so that we can survive together. Trust must be mutual.

Dust groans, almost eats his words:

- Was it really necessary to make me give up water to prove your point?

Suspicious chuckles, eternally amused, he holds out his palm to his companion as if he wants the other to drink from his hand:

- Yes for the pleasure of seeing you get angry. And look, this proves that I am ready to believe in you even when you doubt yourself.

Dust ignores the water thus held out, tilts his head under the faucet and drinks with his mouth wide open. The liquid splashes his jaw and traces its path from his Adam's apple to his collarbone.

When he has had enough, he raises his head and while leaving the bathroom says:

- I almost regret that you don't pass out after that.

Red turns off the faucet before joining in.

- Oh! It's rare that you try to joke around

The bed is in front of them again. Dust doesn't hesitate to spread out on the covers in turn. The other man joins him and gets a little kick so that he moves his body . His surprised "Hey" receives only one explanation from the boy:

-Who told you it was a joke? You're too close, back off. I'm going to sleep.