Mr.Sandman

(8) Please, Turn on your Magic Beam

I yawned dramatically and leaned forward on the table. I had slept but in all, not well. I was looking forward to more sleeping, but I would wait until 4 PM before leaving the theater.
Natalie sat by me, sipping on an ICEE and darting glares at everyone, somehow trying to spot Raine.
I yawned again and stretched my legs, holding my stomach and resting my head against the wall.
“You said he had a friend with a Mohawk?”
“Yeah.”
“Is it green?” she asked pointedly, and I turned to the direction in which she stared angrily at.
From several feet away came Albert with a stained muscle shirt and leather pants tightly wrapping the thighs. He didn’t seem to be the actual owner of them.
Eww.
“Yo.” He greeted with a slight snarl. I was taken aback but found his recognition of me interesting.
“Hello Albert.”
Standing in front of us, he crossed his arms. “Alright, who are you?”
I glanced at Natalie but she glared darts into the pores of his face. He didn’t seem to notice.
I loved her.
“Depends what you need to know, doesn’t it?”
He snarled again. “Cut the crap. What’s your name and what’s your relationship with Raine?”
I inhaled sharply and retorted quickly. “Tracy. I’m his dream girl.”
Albert’s lips quirked with emotion. “His dream girl? And how would you know that?”
I closed the space between us and sneered at him with equality. “Because he has dreams of me. Doesn’t that make me his dream girl?”
His jaw clicked and his gaze shifted briefly to a steaming Natalie.
“Whatever, I don’t really want to know what you mean. Listen, I don’t know if it’s because of yesterday, but he’s been in bed all day and won’t leave the room. Either he’s making a bomb to blow up McDonalds, or your gonna have to explain a lot of things to his parents if he doesn’t leave a note behind.”
“Did he send you here?” I felt heavy. What invisible weight had been added to the load on my shoulders.
He sighed, meeting a blockage in the road of his mind to success. “Naw. He said you told him to come at this hour, then he started cracking up like a freakin’ loon. You better not leave him like that!”
“And what do you propose she do about it?” Natalie hissed out before I could.
He shrugged, his stance relaxing. “Get him out of bed. Bring back the old Raine.”
“How will I do that?”
He curled his finger, “I’ll take you to him, but you better get him out of there. I don’t care if they fire me, I can get another job, I can’t get another Raine.”
I began to follow him but Natalie clung to my arm. “Tracy!”
“What?”
“Are you crazy?”
“I can at least try to help! Come with me.”
She pouted, staring at the floor and held on to my arm as I began to trot after Albert to the parking lot.
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It was a small light blue house with the structure of the 70’s beach party craze imprinted on every detail. The windows had the customary white painted metal bars with ugly patterns and half curved shutters collapsing from the top of each one.
Albert pulled out his keys; jamming one into the rusty lock and kicking open the door.
“Alright, look, his door is to the right at the end. Don’t give me a reason to call the cops.”
I nodded and pulled Natalie with me down the hallway. There were portraits of younger kids, some from school, some faded by the sun beyond recognition. There were a few doors, one, by the smell, I identified as a bathroom.
At the end there was a doorway, peeling white paint curled at the edges revealing water stained wood. I reached and knocked.
There was no sound or reply.
I knocked again.
And again and again till I heard the shuffling of feet.
The door suddenly swung open and I gasped. I wasn’t prepared to see a bed head Raine in loose boxers. “What the fuck do you want??” he yelled before taking his hand away from his eyes which he had been rubbing.
I pulled my hand back and his face fell with shock at the sight of me.
He looked behind me at the gaping Natalie and slammed the door screaming, “FUCK!”
“You weren’t kidding.” Natalie whispered softly.
I stood there without a clue at what I should do next.
The sounds coming from the room were as if it were being tossed around till things fell in its place like a maze puzzle.
The door swung open again and I stepped back.
Raine had reappeared with pajama pants with blue stripes on them.
He was breathing harshly and gave me one confused look then one to Natalie.
Looking at me almost timidly, he nodded to her, “Who is she?”
I stuttered. “My-m-m-my-”
“Her best friend.” She finished for me quickly and I looked down with embarrassment, staring at the pajama pants.
“ALBERT!” he bellowed.
And from across the house, Albert came running with fear. “What? What happened?”
“What is this?” He waved at the air in front of Natalie and me.
Albert narrowed his eyes. “Bastard, you scared me. I thought something caught on fire.”
“Albert,” Raine seethed angrily, his dark eyes scorching.
“I brought her over here alright? I thought maybe she could get you out of bed.”
“Who?” he seethed again. I understood then.
“Tracy and her friend.” Albert grumbled turning to walk away seeing as how he’d suddenly lost Raine’s attention when he’d spoken my name.
He paled. “Your name is Tracy?”
“Yes! Her name is Tracy! And if you so much as-”
I cut Natalie off with my hand on her mouth and she quieted.
Raine looked her over with sudden fear.
“Let me come in, Raine. We need to talk.”
He swallowed, and his eyes still on Natalie, he parted the door further.
“Nat, stay in the living room, please.”
She nodded reluctantly and stomped away, I slid in the room when he wasn’t looking.
It was a dark navy in color and the dark wooden furnishings were similar to mine but in different locations than I would have put them. His medals and trophies gleamed in a box on the floor near the open closet.
The door shut behind me and I stood motionless.
“Raine, I-”
“Are you really here?” he cut in. “Do you actually exist?” He sighed raggedly with awe.
I turned to find him leaning against the door with a sickened expression.
I nodded as words choked me.
He rubbed his face, looking to the side and sniffing.
Slowly, his knees buckled under him and he lowered to the floor, clasping his face and letting out a sob.
I felt strangled, like hanging from a noose. “No, Raine!” I ran to him, kneeling and pulling him carefully into my arms. He complied with misery and grabbed on to my arms as if they would save him from drowning.
“Raine, I’m right here, don’t cry! What can I do to help you feel better?”
After a few spasms of his shoulders he relaxed and dropped his hands.
“Raine?”
He replied but his words were muffled into the cloth of my shirt.
I shifted my arms till I could see his mouth was free. “Raine?”
“I need you.” He said softly.
I shuddered but nodded at his request. “I’m right here, Raine.”
His face crumpled again.
“Raine, No! What I meant was that I was always within reach! We live in the same city, and by the looks of it, less than 10 miles away from each other. I have always been right here.”
He pulled away.
“I’m here, really! How can I prove it to you? I found you on the internet. On the day I dreamt, or I guess we dreamt, of the classroom, you had a teacher plaque on the blackboard that said your last name. I looked it up and got an article from the Miami Herald on your swimming. I have a friend called Amy that was the captain of our swim team and our girl’s soccer team. She remembered you and told me you worked on 8th street. I already knew you worked at McDonalds by the dream…Raine, please believe me. I don’t know how else to prove it to you.” I pleaded.
He shuddered and reached out, cupping my face in his large palm.
“I thought you weren’t real either, Raine, until I saw you at the theater two days ago with Albert and other friends. You were laughing and I recognized your voice, but…I couldn’t reach you.”
His fingers curled into my hair as his face whitened further.
“Raine,” I smiled idiotically. “Please say something to me!”
“Your really here.” He whimpered before taking his other hand to my face and pulling it to his in a kiss.
I threw my arms around him and tightened my hold.
This was what I wanted. This was what I needed.
And no one was ever going to take it away.