2020-08-28 - Dry as a Bone

You want me?
Well, come on and break the door down.

You want me?
Fucking come on and break the door down.

I'm ready.
(I'm ready.)

After Byron's birthday party brunch at the casino, eventually, the couple gets to come back home. In the car, they talk about how well it went, even though it was more of a public affair than an actual personal celebration. But that's who Byron Thorne is, it's part of how he's tailored his life to suit his ambition and Lilith was able to cater to that. Besides, they had their personal time the day and night before the party. When the couple walks into the penthouse of the Bayside Apartments, they're close to giddy on arriving home, champagne buzz still lingering, along with the relief of having the whole shindig over with.

Already, Lilith is getting out of her heels and turning, making sweep of hair off of her shoulders to hold with gesture for Byron to unzip her dress. They've barely made it out of the entry hall and he's happy to comply, catching the coy look she sends over his shoulder when she says she's going to take a bath. Naturally, to Byron, that means he's taking a goddamn bath too, it's his birthday and she's gone and made the eyes at him.

Byron swats the brunette playfully on the ass and tells her he'll be in after he feeds the cat, she can start the water. Then they prepare to break in different directions across the open living area. Oddly, the cat is not ambushing them or attacking their ankles, no meowing bossily for food after they've been gone all day. Instead, it's sitting behind a potted plant in the corner of the room, glowering stealthily at the terrace doors.

Lilith and Byron do not see the cat, but both of them stop in their tracks when they realize in passing glance what's out on the terrace through the glass doors.

There's a bone crow out on the railing. The doors don't have to be open for them to hear it caw once. When it's made the noise, it dives swiftly off of the railing and disappears into the night. Behind the plant, the cat arches his back and hisses. The two humans don't hear a bird noise. They each hear something different.

Stephen is what Byron hears.
Byron is what Lilith hears.

(It invokes dread in them for different reasons.)

When they go to investigate, there's no signs of the bone crow, but they don't feel safe after that rattling omen. They try to relax in the bath, but mostly, it ends up silent and pensive with resting press of bodies to soothe the churn of foreboding in their guts. They stay up late watching a movie neither of them really could recount if you asked them, but they know going to sleep is probably going to take a while, so they kill the time until the king-sized bed finally beckons.

That night, and for a few nights after this night, Lilith and Byron have the same dream. They whisper worries and compare details in the dark, and even though they play comfort together among the covers, the foreboding grows.

In the dream, they're walking in an endless salt pan desert, starving and parched, with no idea who they are. A small pond lies in the distance always, taunting relief, a shimmering oasis of hope. If they could just reach it...

They never reach it in the dream. Instead, they wake up with dry mouths and cawing in their ears. The parched feeling persists through the day and night and nothing they drink can slake it. It's highly unpleasant, they grow tired with lack of sleep and disturbing imagery, they get snippy and impatient, being thirsty all the time is awful and frustrating. And they still have so many other concerns and their jobs to tend to. Despite their low moods and high potential for agitation, however, they try to prepare mentally and together for...

They don't know. They know this has to stop. They're ready to fight through whatever needs be done to stop the dreams and constant thirst.

(They're not ready. They're not ready at all.)

When it happens, it happens in the night. It happens in a Dream. It's the same and different, so much more intense and dangerous. They pull through and awaken roughly, surged with emotions and adrenaline and physical pains. They have their Names again, the Dream is over, right?

They bring something else back with them. Their palms have matching scars. There's another mark on them too.

This mark is harder to see.

It's only a matter of time, though.