By RavenBlack and Anna
She sat up suddenly, shocked from... from what? A dream, of course, another stupid dream. Jay untangled her legs from the sheets and stumbled into the bathroom. She left the light off, and caught a shadowy glimpse of her reflection.
'... Jay, Jay.' He was calling to her, it was a voice she knew, yet didn't know. 'Quickly, get out!'
She groped through the heavy black darkness that wasn't darkness, reaching, reaching for his hand...'
Then it was gone. 'Damn,' she mumbled to herself, 'why can't I ever remember these dreams, only feel them, lurking in the back of my mind?'
She forced the half-memory out of her head, and fumbled her way back to bed, falling into her dreams once again.
Zak awoke with a groan. He reached towards the pneumatic drill which he knew to be his alarm clock, and pressed the 'shut up' button. It shut up.
He tried to take advantage of the extra ten minutes sleep this could give him, but he felt there was something important to do. As he concentrated on figuring out what this could be, all semblance of sleep left him. With some difficulty,Zak pried his eyes open, then slammed them shut again as light from his window did its best to burn his brain.
The memory of the previous night struck him. At least, some memory did. He remembered going to the pub, and drinking. He remembered getting into bed... Oh no! Fully dressed. That ruled out these clothes for the day ahead. What happened between drinking and bed? Zak assumed he must have walked home, and somehow managed to unlock the door and get in. Anyway, that didn't matter now, Zak had to...
His alarm remorselessly went off again, causing him to leap out of bed, knocking down his stack of tapes. He fumbled with the clock, trying to find the right switch to silence it for more than the ten minutes. Reluctantly he opened his eyes again, identified the switch and flicked it to the 'off' position.
Zak chucked the clothes he was wearing into the washing machine, and redressed. He saved himself the bother of choosing a good set of clothes, by having only three black pairs of jeans, seven black T-shirts, six black pairs of socks, and two black denim shirts. Since black doesn't clash, any combination of these intensely similar clothes would do.
After a quick check in the mirror - at which he cringed, not considering himself very attractive - he set off for college.
Jay staggered against Ben who steadied her, then lowered her to the ground. He was speaking to her but all Jay could think of was how he must be growing up to have been able to bear her weight.
" Wha - what's wrong with me, uh, what did you say?"
" It's okay, it's like that at first, I think that it must do something weird to you. " His calm voice penetrated her stupor and she opened her eyes.
" No, don't get up, " as Jay tried to push herself to her knees. " I had real problems before, look at my scabs - " Ben started to pull his trouser leg up then realised that this was not really sticking to the role of the experienced guide that he had assigned himself. " What you have to do is crawl, like you do when you're a baby, try getting to - where are we going?"
Jay grinned at his faltering authority, "I don't know any more than you do, where do you think? It's not as if one way is any different than another to us - take your pick! "
" Well...we could go to those houses in case it rains..." He said it falteringly, as though weather were a strange concept - which in the huge black Dome , it was. " There might even be some people." Tendrils of hope filtered though the doubt in his voice.
'Houses? Where?'
'Oh, they're that way,' Ben pointed to their left. 'I saw them when I was in here before but didn't go in. You can see them when you know that they're there. Can you now?'
'I... think so. Could we just stay here for a bit so that I can walk - maybe you could tell me about what happened to you in here before?' Jay didn't want to push him back into bad memories but she thought that being back in the Dome might make it easier and they needed all the help they could get. It wasn't as if they could take a class or read a textbook about it...
" I can't - I... " Ben's voice trailed off as he realised that something was different, he could talk about what had happened now. Wondering why being in the Dome should make a difference revoked memories of horror films watched from behind the sofa. Ben shivered and began his tale.
Zak awoke with a start. He looked around, trying to remember where he was. It was dark, but Zak felt that he had slept for more than twelve hours. If the sun had been about to set, it should be rising again by now. Zak checked his watch, and found that he had slept for fifteen hours - the sun should have been up if it was setting before!
Confused, Zak decided to leave the dome, and set off for the edge. A few minutes later, he reached the edge, and walked through... "OW!"... Into the wall. Zak started to panic, thinking himself trapped, then remembered that he had run into the wall to get in, perhaps the same would work to get out? He ran at the wall, shoulder first, and passed through again.
Outside, Zak could see guards around their brazier again. He felt a little dizzy, but managed to walk to a place where they wouldn't be able to see him, even if they were aware for once. After a couple of minutes, Zak felt less dizzy, but much more hungry - he hadn't eaten for nearly twenty-four hours!
Zak set off for home, trying to work out what had been happening for the last... however long it had been. As he rounded a corner, Jay ran right into his arms. She breathed in sharply, as Zak caught her, then held her away so that he could see her. "What's wrong? What is it?" He questioned.
Jay swallowed, hard, and tears started to pour down her face. Zak felt a bit uncomfortable, not knowing how to react, but he did his best to be helpful. "Calm down...." He was about to say Jay, but his voice spoke her nickname, almost unintentionally, "Raven. Get your breath, then tell me what's wrong." Feeling a bit pushy, he added "If you want to, that is."
"There's no time, no time." Jay stammered, struggling. Zak let her go, then was dismayed to see that Jay almost fell over. He reached to catch her, and she grabbed his hand, pulling herself steady again.
"Help me. Please?" Jay said. She looked so... helpless, and Zak knew that he'd do anything for her anyway. He nodded. Jay ran on, neglecting to release Zak's hand, so he held on tighter and ran with her.
Zak realised that they were heading back to the dome, by the road. Knowing the positioning of guards, Zak pulled Jay along the way from which he had come, and indicated that she should be quiet. She looked slightly confused, so Zak pointed to one of the `hidden' guards. A look of comprehension spread across her face.
Zak saw a young boy near the dome. It was Ben, who Jay had introduced him to a couple of days ago, and accused him of rescuing. Zak saw that Jay was about to call to Ben, and grabbed her arm. He pointed to the guards, and Jay nodded slightly. No noise. Zak ran towards Ben, and kept going as Ben leapt into the dome. Zak scooped Ben up into his arms, and ran in a wide arc, back out of the dome.
Some distance away, where Zak had stood with Jay only seconds ago, Zak saw Jay and a boy, looking towards the dome. Correction - towards a small boy near the dome. It was Zak and Ben! But how could it be when they were here? The other Zak ran towards the dome, and Zak ran, carrying Ben, towards Jay. Very quietly, he put Ben down and tapped Jay on the shoulder. Seeing her jump, he put his hand over her mouth, quickly, and `Shhh'ed in her ear. She looked around, and looked very surprised. As Jay reached down and hugged Ben, Zak ran quickly and quietly away.