EPISODE HUNDRED AND NINETEEN
THEME: A curse or a gift?
JAYLEN’S APARTMENT, CHICAGO.
Jaylen gripped the bedsheets tightly, trying to free himself from the hold that he couldn’t get away from. Right in front of him was Lorelei dangling from a rope tied to a tree and every time he made an attempt to move towards her, he ends up feeling held back by a force he couldn’t even see.
Jaylen struggled hard with the force until he yelled out angrily and only for him to fall off the bed with a huge thud.
“Fuck!” He cussed loudly.
Jaylen tried to stand up but his head almost bobbed off his neck as a striking line of pain raced through his forehead. Still he ignored the pain and he stood up from the floor. Immediately, he ran to the kitchen although feeling really restless. His inner man kept panting and pacing back and forth.
“Relax for fuck sake!” He growled at his wolf. “It’s nothing.” He tried to reassured his wolf after some minutes of trying to calm down.
All of a sudden, Jaylen slammed the bottle he had retrieved from the fridge on the kitchen island and he bit hard on his lips when the pain in his head struck him again. He searched through the kitchen drawers for any sign of aspirin. It felt like the view of heaven when he eventually got one, a full sachet for this amusement. Jaylen popped two of it in his mouth and gulped down half of the water in the bottle.
Eventually, he pulled out a stool for himself to sit on. Jaylen rested his head on the kitchen island, trying to relax himself for the aspirin to do its intended work. The effect was beginning to kick in and he felt better than when he had woken up. Focusing his mind, he tried to decipher the dream again but nothing came through just another bout of headache.
He checked the wall clock and it was almost noon. Looking through his phone screen, he wasn’t surprised Rosalyn hadn’t put a call through. Since it was a weekend she wouldn’t need any reason to call him. Jaylen was sure he would have been pissed if she had called him. All he wants to do is rest in and do nothing all day.
Jaylen chuckled to himself when the lyrics to Bruno Mars lazy song came to his mind. Deciding it might be nice to sing along, he tapped on his phone rapidly and played the tune.
Today, I don’t feel like doing anything
I just wanna lay in bed
Don’t feel like picking up my phone
So leave a message at the tone
Cause today I swear I am not doing anything
Jaylen hummed delightfully as he strolled his way back to the bedroom. As he attempted to rest into the comfort of the bed, the doorbell rang. Jaylen groaned inwardly as he stomped his way out of the room and motioned towards the door. He hoped for the good of the person they had something important to tell him.
Jaylen opened the door but soon shut it back. Again he peeped from the little space that was created between the door and outside and his eyes rounded like saucers as he got a closer look at the person when he opened it.
“What the fuck Rex! How did you get here?” Jaylen bellowed.
Rex ignored him, pushed his way in and moved past him. “Like I said once before and I would say again, you aren’t that hard to find. And I am not sorry for saying it. Your right hand human seems to find me attractive and would do anything to keep flashing her eyes at me.”
“Rosa!” Jaylen murmured under his breath. He sounded a bit frustrated.
Rex settled himself into a comfy couch. “Excuse me, why are you looking like a homeless one? No one sent you out of the pack house?”
Jaylen slumped into the beanbag and glared at him. “Rex.” He called out slowly. “Probably I haven’t told you this before but your presence weakens every fiber inside of me.”
“Oh!” Rex mused. He looked amused as he paused for a moment with his ears catching the song playing softly from the device in his hands. “Did you play that?” He queried, pointing towards the direction of the music.
“Can you mind your damn business?!” Jaylen sneered at him.
Rex was laughing hard now. “You do look like you don’t want to do anything. Homeless my man!”
“I don’t like you.” Jaylen rubbed his temples.
“That’s not a new thing though.” Rex sat up abruptly with a serious look on his expression. “Are you still not going to say anything about what is going on with you? Those eye bags looking like that of a raccoon, you want to tell me it’s just sleeping for too long.”
Jaylen eyed him unconventionally. “It’s weekend and I slept in for a while. And judging by my playlist I guess that should be enough for you to understand it is my day to sleep in.”
Rex watched him carefully without taking his eyes off Jaylen. There was no doubt he was being consistently haunted by the nightmares. What worries him the most is Jaylen eventually almost losing his mind before admitting nothing was normal anymore.
“It won’t hurt to admit the truth. There is always a way to handle things and sort them out. We would work our way around this if you just talk to me.”
Jaylen stared in confusion. “What the hell do you mean?”
Rex shut his eyes tightly as he tried to calm himself down. “Until when will you keep up this facade?”
“This is no facade, Rex. And it would be nice if you mind your business and not barge into my home whenever you feel like.”
“Don’t you fucking tell me what to do or not. It is my duty to ensure the Moon Stone Fortress is saved from future dooms which your stubbornness is about to cost us. I don’t give a damn about what you think of me! What matters is you coming the fuck home and make things right!” Rex growled with anger dancing in his eyes.
Jaylen looked unfazed. “Get out of my house, Rex.”
Rex took in a deep breath. “Jaylen, can’t you see what I am saying? You would lose your mind at this rate because you can’t keep up with this nightmares sifting your visions. It is you envisioning the future and its consistency implies it would happen and only you can save us. Please.” He pleaded with sincerity in his eyes.
Jaylen stood up from the beanbag. “Stand up, Rex!”
Rex raised his hands in surrender as he walked to the door. He stepped out to the door but held the door knob. Jaylen stared square faced at him. “Don’t ever come back here, Rex. I mean everything I just said.” After saying that, he shut the door tightly and leaned into it.
Jaylen tried to calm his hitched breath but soon tears streamed down his face uncontrollably. Almost as if on cue, the visions began running through his head putting the headache on a hundred.
He screamed out loud at the painfulness of the ache. Unable to endure it anymore, Jaylen passed out.