Abby 2

“Abby,” a soft, familiar voice sounded in my ears. I fought opening my eyes, desperate to see the face of the stranger in my dream. But to no avail could I hold onto the dream in my mind, it disappeared into the darkness. 

“Abby, Baby, it's time to wake up.” Reluctantly, I began to open my eyes. My dream had passed and the hope of finally seeing my stranger's face today was now gone.

For as long as I can remember, I have had the same dream, it almost haunts me. It's always the same. Laylan with her long, pure white hair hanging to the small of her back, tucked behind her pointed ears, opening her perfect face and her high cheekbones that accented her large bright eyes, her left eye of dark, emerald green and her right of deep, royal blue. She's always standing on the cliff-side peering out on a land I had never seen. Artimous; a beautiful, white unicorn; and Greagan; the leader of the elves; would always join her looking exactly the same every time. Their appearance was always the same, and they always had the same look of contentment on their faces. Then my stranger always walks up just as I wake up. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't keep the dream long enough to see his face.

“Come on, Abby,” his voice became firmer as I fluttered my eyes into focus.

“Yeah, Baby. I'm trying,” I began to blink my eyes slowly trying to fight the grogginess that was attempting to take me back to unconsciousness. Finally, my eyes focused and I looked into Josh's deep brown eyes. A smile crept across my face at the sight of him. In a slightly raspy voice I finished, “Good morning, Darling,” and a small giggle came out with my cheeriness.

“Good morning,” he said, and then kissed the tip of my nose. “So, when are you going to tell me about these dreams that you have from time to time?”

“What?” I spouted out at him and shot straight up as shock washed over me. I had never talked about Laylan and the others to anyone before. It was my own little personal world and I never thought about sharing it with anyone. I gathered my thoughts and tried miserably to get my composure. I coyly smiled at him as I asked, “What are you talking about? How do you know what I'm dreaming?”

“I know because every time you have that dream you talk in your sleep. You talk about Laylan, Artimous, Grealan and Ivy. Then you're hard to wake up after that. I was just curious as to what your dream was about,” he finished and his lips curled at the edges into a smile.

I felt my cheeks burn in a blush before I answered, “Oh, well, first off…” I bit my bottom lip and fiddled with my fingers for a second before continuing. “It's not Grealan, its Greagan. And it is a reoccurring dream.” I looked deep into Josh's eyes. “I just didn't think you would be interested!”

A look of astonishment crossed his face as I spoke, and he pulled back slightly as if I had offended him with my remark. With confusion and hurt on his face he asked, “Why wouldn't I be interested?”

“Well, for starters, Artimous is a unicorn, Greagan and Laylan are elves and Ivy is a fairy. Why would you really be interested in some fairytale dream your silly wife has from time to time? I just didn't figure that a big, strong strapping man like you would be interested in my crazy dream,” I rambled as I ran my fingers in his chest hair. I bit my bottom lip as I always do and waited for his response. My mom used to tell me that one day I would end up biting my lip off completely if I didn't quit. Of course, I never really listened to her so I never stopped. I looked into his face but I couldn't read his expression, it was blank.

It was a few minutes before I saw any kind of thought come into his mind, he looked into my eyes with one eyebrow cocked up in a sarcastic gesture and very quietly spoke in a low sultry voice that almost made me melt. “Well, maybe, just maybe I believe in that kind of thing. Is that so hard to believe?” He paused then finished. “Maybe, I believe that in some dimension or on some planet they do exist. They have to for them to exist in fairy tales. If they never existed, then how do we have such images or thought about them? It might seem a bit strange for a grown man to believe in such things but as you know, I am a thinker, and it only makes sense that it must have been real at some point in time, space or dimension.” He stopped and looked at me.

I sat for a moment and thought about what he was saying. He was right; he was a thinker, always thinking. Sometimes, too much of a thinker, he would always get these cute little 'deep in concentration' looks on his face when he was going into overdrive. I can only imagine what all goes through his mind when he goes into that mode. I learned once that unless you have a pen and pad ready, do not interrupt him or ask him what he is thinking about, because he will rattle at the speed of light.

He is my light and my life. We married a little over three years ago, and I can still remember it like it was yesterday. He didn't want a big formal wedding just something nice, so he wore a nice black suit (not a tuxedo, by any means). His blazer and shirt were black as night and his tie, a brilliant, vibrant red. He stood at the gazebo that was dressed in radiant red roses. I came walking down the aisle, holding my dad's arm. As we neared Josh, I could see the tear in my dad's eye, giving his little girl away was wearing on him.

We made it to the end of the aisle, and he placed my hands into Josh's, and then took a step back waiting for his line. I looked up into Josh's eyes and felt all the happiness and joy of love well up inside and wet my eyes. I don't remember the exact words that the preacher was saying, it all kind of droned out with the sound of my heartbeat as I looked into Josh's eyes. Finally, he asked the question and I smiled from ear to ear and said, “I do.” A few seconds later Josh did the same, we exchanged the rings and the preacher said the final words. “You may kiss the bride.” And he did.

Now here we were three years later and I looked into that same face. I allowed my eyes to trace the outline of his bare, naked body. His muscles rippled in his abdomen as he leaned back on his arms. His strong muscular chest stood out as he held himself up. His tough yet gentle face looked at me with a delicate jaw line, and his slender nose with a small notch at its bridge, from being broken at some point, but that is a story for some other time. His big brown eyes that were deep and gentle peered down at me in anticipation of my reply. “I'm sorry, Babe. I just never figured you to be interested in that sort of thing.” A slight giggle escaped as I finished.

“Well,” he said softly as he sat up straight and threw the blankets off of his legs. He stood and started toward the closet to grab his pants. As he bent down to slide his legs into them, I watched the muscles in his back ripple and move. “I'm going to go cook breakfast.” He turned back toward me with a smile on his face. He fastened the button as he walked across the room toward me. “Do you want anything, Baby?”

I sat there a moment and thought to myself, it hadn't even crossed my mind yet but now that I thought about it my stomach answered for me. I giggled and answered for myself, “Yeah, I'll take some breakfast. What are you making?”

He furrowed his brows before answering, “I don't know,” Josh began and bent over the edge of the bed to look me in the eye. “What do you want?”

I smiled coyly then answered, “Mm, bacon and eggs. Sound good to you?” 

He smiled in reply and answered, “Sounds great!” He softly kissed me and pulled away. “Then you can tell me about this dream, if you want, because you were wrong. I am interested.” He tried a coy crooked smile that I loved so much. He always tried to look innocent but I never fell for that from him, though it was cute. “I am interested in everything that you do or think, you should know that by now.”

I thought about his words and blushed at the idea of telling him about my notorious dreams. “I guess…I could if you really want to hear about it.”

“Good, then I'm going to go start on breakfast,” he said quickly, then turned out of the room and down the hallway. I could hear his heavy footsteps all the way down the stairs and laughed to myself about all of the times he said that I sounded like a herd of elephants walking around upstairs.

I sat there on my bed, rubbing my eyes, trying to get the sleep from them. I pushed myself to hoist my still tired legs off over the side and found my house shoes that I always left on the floor beside the bed. I looked over and spotted my tank top and sweat pants at the foot of the bed and stood up, pulled my pants on and scooted my feet into my awaiting house shoes. I grabbed my top and began walking around the end of the bed toward the bathroom. I pulled my tank top over my head and caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror.

“Yeesh, Abs. You look like a train wreck,” I exclaimed at myself. My already unruly, curly, dark brown hair was a mass of frizz around my face. I reached over and grabbed a scrunchie off of a hook on the wall and began wrestling my wild curls into a high ponytail at the crown of my head.

I took a closer look at the woman in the mirror looking back at me and thought to myself, 'What can I do with this?' I rubbed my finger under my eyes to remove the remainder of the mascara from the day before that now made my under eyes look dark and tired. I washed my face and patted it dry then headed down to the kitchen.

Josh was turning on the fire under a skillet lined with bacon when I came around the corner. I walked up behind him and wrapped my arms around his hips and laid my face on his bare shoulder as I whispered, “Morning, Sexy.” I hooked my hands into his hip bones and pressed against his butt.

“Good morning, Beautiful. But you better go sit down before you get yourself in trouble,” Josh said kiddingly. He glanced over his shoulder at me. He took a deep breath and whispered, “Gosh, you are so beautiful in the mornings,” and he kissed the tip of my nose. “Now go, sit down.”

“Yes, sir, I'll behave,” I said as I loosened my grip and walked away smiling. I glided over to the table, sat down and continued watching him. I tilted my head at him as he cooked, concentrating on the food. He knew I was a stickler about my food, and he always took such care as he cooked for me.

He looked up at me as he cracked open eggs into a bowl. “So, is it always the same dream? Or is it different every time?”

I was hoping he had forgotten about my dream and was slightly disappointed that my hope was false. I looked at him and I ran over the question in my mind. “Well, it's the exact same dream. Exactly the same, every time,” I paused for a second. “And the result is always the same. I spend the day off in my own little world thinking about her.”

“Huh,” he muttered more to himself than to me, but it was loud enough that I could hear it. I watched him as he flipped the bacon and contemplating what I had said. I watched and waited for more of a response from him and found my mind wandering again. I could see Laylan's face in my mind clearly as I sat in my kitchen. Her perfect white hair, her beautiful colored eyes; one blue and one green, and those red lips, pouty and smooth. Everything about her had always fascinated me.

I snapped back to reality as Josh began talking again. “Maybe you should try writing them down. You know, get it out of your head and onto paper. Maybe that would help you from thinking about it all day,” he shrugged his shoulders.

“Maybe,” I announced at the thought. He might be right. I had never thought about that but it did make sense. If I got it out on paper and out of my head then maybe I could focus on other things. And even if he was wrong, I was willing to give it a try. I looked over at the desk in the nook of the kitchen and walked over to it. It had a computer on it that Josh updated every year and it looked out into the backyard through a large semicircle window. I had always loved the nook for that and at one point I had even thought about constructing a seating bench at the window so that you could look out and enjoy the roses that grew around the edges and under the window.

I opened one of the drawers and pulled out a legal pad and a pen. I sat back down at the table, my leg curled under me, and thought for a moment, 'where to start.' I looked down at my paper and just let my hand go. I described what Laylan looked like, how she was dressed, the others walking up and standing beside her. I wrote about the expression on their faces and the stranger that I never could quite get a glance of. I explained the others and tried to draw, in words a vivid description of each and every one of them.

“Honey, breakfast is served.” I looked up from my paper and saw Josh standing beside me. In his hands were two plates of food. I slid my notebook over, and he set my plate in front of me.

“Thank you, Baby, this looks great!” And it did. The bacon was crisp and dark, just the way I liked it and my eggs were scrambled hard. I began to dig in as he set his plate beside me and sat down.

“Nah, I think you're just hungry.” He laughed as he took his fork in his hand and started stabbing at his eggs. “So, when or what do you want to tell me about these dreams?” he asked as he took a bite off of his bacon.

“Well, first there is Laylan,” I continued on describing Laylan and the others in great detail. I explained their motions in the dream and the expression on their faces. He sat quietly intently listening to every word as I described everything to him, then I finished, “But I have never seen his face. This stranger, I don't think he is a foe to them but a friend. The look on their faces as they turn is more like they are going to greet him, not a look of fear.”

“Wow,” Josh muttered in astonishment. He had listened to everything not interrupting once in the entire conversation. He looked as if he were analyzing every word then finally, he asked, “So what are they looking at?”

I furrowed my brows as I said, “I'm not sure. All I know is that they always stand on the same cliff. And always with the same look on their faces. Always the same. Always!” I finished my breakfast, and stood up to take my plate to the sink. I glanced over to Josh and could see him still sitting there at the table in a way of comprehension. That look of deep concentration on his face, that look I loved. I was wondering what he was thinking about but knew better than to ask right now. So instead, I changed the subject by asking, “So what are your plans for the day?”

He broke his concentration and looked up at me. “I'm not sure, it's too damned cold outside, so I might just stay home and fix the billion things that need my attention.” He laughed and stood with his plate in hand. “Starting with the dishwasher,” he said as he reached me at the sink.

“That would be nice.” I laughed. “No more washing dishes by hand.”

“What about you? Do you have any plans?”

“I thought that maybe Veda and I might go to the mall. You know have a girls' day out.” I answered. Veda was my best friend, she and her husband, Mitchell had been married for two years and Mitchell and Josh were also best friends. I had met her on a double date with Josh about six years earlier, they had been together for a while already and Josh and I were still new. We were the girlfriends and became best friends over the last six years.

I looked up at Josh and watched him stroll over to the sink. “Sounds fun, I can call Mitchell and see if he wants to come help me.”

“Yeah, well, from what Veda said, he wasn't doing anything today besides coming over here to hang out with you. Maybe you two can go do something while we girls are out.”

“That might be possible, but first I need to get stuff done around here before my honey-do list gets any longer.” He laughed and wrapped his arms around my waist, I could feel his gentle kiss on my neck and I tightened from the feeling. I finished the last plate and set it in the drainer. He had a tight grip on my waist and I didn't really want to pull away.

“Well, I better go take a shower and get ready.” I twisted around in his arms and kissed his lips, “Love you, Baby.”

“Love you, too,” he smiled and kissed the tip of my nose. He loosened his grip on my waist and I began to walk toward the hallway. “Want some company?” he chimed after me.

I stopped at the doorway and turned halfway around to look at him and could see his crooked little smile and his rising and falling eyebrows.

Of course, I wanted his company, and he knew that I did. Trying to be seductive, I leaned against the door jamb and narrowed my eyes alluringly saying in a low velvety voice, “That's up to you, Sweetheart.”

His face lit up and his body stiffened as he nearly yelled, “You know it!”

“Race ya,” I announced playfully as I began to sprint to the stairs. I could hear his footsteps behind me by the time I hit the stairs. I grabbed the rail at the bottom of the stairs and slung myself up the bottom three steps, then hurled myself up three more. He was right behind me and a small giggle escaped me at the thrill of our petty little race. I rounded the corner into our bedroom and plopped down on the bed. “Ha, beatcha!” I exclaimed as he ran through the door and practically fell on top of me.

He held himself up with his arms and looked into my eyes. I could see the hunger in his eyes and I felt the heat coming from between his legs. I knew what he wanted I could tell he wanted it now. He lowered his face to mine to kiss my lips and I gave into him. His kiss was deep and passionate and stirred my own craving within. I closed my eyes and felt his tongue on my teeth, his lips enveloped around mine. His breath was hot and I fell into him.

  * * * * * * * * 

“So, like, what do you think?” Veda asked. We were at the mall, and she was trying on a pair of pants that she had found. After Josh and I had taken our shower together, I had dressed in a normal pair of jeans and a warm brown sweater. I had always loved this sweater; it was cozy and soft. And on a cold February day it was welcoming and snug.

I had gone and picked up Veda and told Mitchell that Josh wanted him to go over to the house. Now I was looking at Veda standing in front of me. Her thick body structure and hips filled the jeans nicely. She had jumped out of the changing room and said, “Ta-Da” enthusiastically. She twirled around modeling them for me and now was looking for my response. I looked them over and wholeheartedly said, “Yeah, I like them. They make your booty pop.” I made a gesture with my hands at my own to embellish my statement. “I think Mitchell will like, no, love them,” I finished with a head bob and an expression that suggested playfulness.

“Really?!” she asked surprised. She turned and looked at her butt in the mirror and excitedly announced, “Yup, they're sold!” She swiftly turned and headed back into the dressing room to change again.

We had been here in the mall for the last two hours, and I was finding myself unusually happy for being what I referred to as a 'Laylan Day.' I stood waiting as Veda emerged from the small dressing room with her pants in hand and her purse in the other. Veda stood a bit shorter than me and had, what we called, a thick body frame, unlike me. I had always been thin and slender. Her small round face was surrounded by straight, dark brown hair that wrapped under her jaw line. Her big, round brown eyes were hiding behind her oval, black plastic rimmed glasses. And her full lips were always delicate pink with chap-stick.

“Are you hungry? I skipped breakfast this morning, and now I am starving!” She announced.

I laughed at the irony, “I was just about to ask you the same. I ate breakfast but you know me. That was like, four hours ago.” That was one thing all of my friends and Josh knew about me, I could and had to eat every four hours or so to be happy. My metabolism was too high, and the extra calorie intake was a necessity in order to keep my weight on.

“Ah, of course, so what do you want to eat?” she asked me as we began to walk up to the register counter.

“I don't know. A chef salad sounds good.”

“Actually, that does sound good.”

“Then salads it is!” I announced as we reached the register, where a young girl stood awaiting us with a smile. She was a small, petite girl with green eyes that shined against her chestnut brown hair that hung straight down to the bottom of her bust. She looked as if she were probably still in school and it didn't surprise me to see someone so young here in the mall on a Saturday morning. Her name tag read, Tiffany.

Her smile seemed to grow and take up her entire face as she asked, “How are you ladies doing today?”

“Good, thank you,” Veda answered as she set the jeans on the counter. Tiffany took the jeans off of the counter and scanned the bar code on the tag.

“Did we find everything alright?” she asked in her fittingly tiny voice as she smiled her big smile again.

“Sure did,” I answered as I watched her press a couple of buttons on the screen of the register. Then she turned back to Veda.

“Your total comes to thirty-six dollars and thirty-six cents.” Veda reached into her purse and pulled out some money from her wallet and handed it to the young girl. We waited as she got Veda's change and handed it to her along with her bag. She thanked us again as we began walking back toward the entrance that we had come in.

Before long we were at the diner and ordering. “So how was your birthday last week? I heard Josh took you out to dinner and dancing?” Veda asked.

“Ah, I knew you were going to ask about last week,” I laughed. “It was wonderful, my usual breakfast in bed, then a romantic day in the house together before we went out to dinner at Michael's. Then we went to The Edge for dancing. We finally went back home at about midnight but the snow and ice made us wish we had waited on the dancing. But anyway, we got home and made mad passionate love for hours,” I finished with my eyebrows twitching up and down. A smile crossed my face as Veda narrowed her eyes in a suggestive manner as she hummed. Laughter filled the air between us and we ordered.

“So, anything else new with you?” Veda asked smugly.

“Well,” I paused trying to think, “Well, not much of anything really. I still sit around the house not doing anything but keep the house clean. But Josh isn't really worried about any of it so I guess I'll stay home. How about you? Is there anything you haven't covered yet?” She had been talking most of the afternoon about everything in her life. She had told me about Mitchell's dad being in the hospital from a heart attack just after the New Year. She had told me about her own medical scare with her period and how she had thought that she had been pregnant just to find out that it was a cyst on her ovary. I figured that she had covered everything, but I was wrong.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you,” she continued on but I found it difficult to focus on what she was saying. My mind wandered off and I couldn't control it.

I could see Laylan standing at the cliff looking out over it. Her face was calm, her eyes focused and her hair moved around her as Artimous strode up next to her. I felt a sort of excitement in the air and I could feel another presence near. Laylan and Artimous turned to welcome what I was certain was the stranger from my dream. But as he approached it all faded away and Veda was looking at me in silence.

I looked at her and blinked a few times before she remarked, “Welcome back, Ab. What happened?”

I laughed nervously and looked down at my hands before answering. “I'm sorry, Veda. I was doing good so far keeping my mind straight but, in the end, Laylan always gets into my head.” I giggled again.

“What? Who's Laylan?”

I paused, thinking to myself, 'Did I really just say that?' I mulled over the idea of talking about Laylan, again and decided if I could tell Josh about her then why not Veda. She was my best friend after all.

“Okay, let me start again. I get this dream from time to time about a woman and a unicorn and an elf and a fairy.” I went on explaining the dream as I had to Josh. I described every one of them to her and as I did, I could see it all in my mind. When I got to the end where they all turn to welcome the stranger, I caught my first ever glimpse of him. His long, dark brown hair perfectly reflected the sun as it shined. His complexion was even and tan, almost like Laylan's perfect skin tone. But his eyes! His eyes were breathtaking! Warm brown rimmed beautiful blue eyes with dark lashes that lined them, making them stand out.

Then he was gone. They were all gone. I tried to recall his face but couldn't find it. I realized that I had stopped talking in my discovery of my stranger. I looked up at Veda who was attentively gazing at me. “Sorry, I did it again, didn't I?” I asked anxiously.

“Yeah, what was it this time?”

“I've never seen the stranger before.”

“Yeah, you said that. You said, 'All of my life, I have seen Laylan, Artimous, Greagan and Ivy but never the stranger.'” Veda recited back to me.

“Well, I just saw him.” I whispered across the table to her.

“Really? And?” Veda asked with wide surprised eyes.

“He was gorgeous. Stark brown hair, blue eyes with a dark brown rings around the edges, tall and…” I paused trying to find the right word. “Perfect.”

“Ah, but not Josh, huh?”

“No,” I answered.

“So, have you written any of this down?”

“Actually, I just did this morning. I think that, that is how I was able to keep my mind here for as long as I did. Normally, when I have the dream, I can't think of anything but Laylan.” I laughed and she began to laugh with me.