Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 Author: Invid Fan
Title: A Friend in Dream
Summary: An author's mind, distracted, finds solace.
Keywords: No Sex

   **** A Friend in Dream By Invid Fan (c)2012

   **** I was sitting on the bank of a small stream.  A rock, flat and
almost smooth, kept my shorts out of the mud, but it was angled such that
constant attention was needed to keep me from sliding forward.  One bare
foot was on a rock in the water, the other squishing nicely into the muddy
bank.  A stick, to poke various things, was my toy of the moment.

   My mind, such as it was, was elsewhere.

   I sensed her, behind me.  Part of it was just a wish, enough so that I
wasn't sure until she spoke.  So few wishes had come true...

   "Hi."

   "Hi."

   Liz sat down beside me.  She was about ten, thin limbs poking out of a
black t-shirt and cut off jeans.  Your first impression might be she had
the dark tan of a tomboy, until you saw the rounded face under short black
hair, the eyes behind wire framed glasses, at which point you corrected to
"Asian".  To me, she had always been just Liz.

   "What are you doing?"

   "Dreaming."

   I said it without thought, for in a dream thoughts were not to be
trusted.  They swirled, confused.  I did not want to think.  Not now.

   "We're dreaming?"

   Her voice was speculative, unsurprised.  Turning a small flat rock in
the stream over with my stick, I nodded.

   "I am.  I know that."

   "Hmm...  so, that's why you're a kid."

   Smiling, I turned to look at her.

   "So are you." Her eyes widened, looking down at herself for the first
time.  I nodded.  "Yeah, I know.  I never see myself in my dreams, so
honestly didn't really notice until I saw you."

   "Huh."

   We both turned back to the stream.  Liz let her bare feet drag in the
water, toes appearing to bend at unnatural angles under the surface.  Her
own stick, the same size as mine, began poking.  With unspoken division of
labor, we began moving rocks to try and dam a small section.

   "So," she said, low voice sad, "you're asleep?"

   "Yeah.  Tried to take a nap.  Looks like it worked." She nodded.

   "No news?"

   "Nothing I've gotten a call over.  My alarm's set, so I can go meet the
bus.  Eric may go right from work to the hospital, or he may stop home to
pick up the kid." I sighed, watching a small cloud of mud float away from a
black stone as I dug around the edge.  "It's all in flux."

   Liz sighed.  She was bigger.  The pre-teen I never knew was replaced by
a teen, curves hidden under an oversized shirt, still black.

   "She'll be OK.  The operation is...  well..."

   I nodded, shoving the point of the stick into the mud.  My arm was no
longer smooth and tan, dark hairs now scattered over the skin.

   "Yeah.  But, then there's the nuking, the chemo..."

   "Yeah..."

   I could feel tears coming.  I was sleeping to avoid this.  To avoid
thinking all my sister was going through, WOULD go through.  With a burst
of anger, I threw the branch into the river.  The leaves caught in the
wind. For a moment, it hung before us, then dropped into the rapids.  It
only floated a few feet before catching on the rocks.  There it stayed,
mocking me.  I wanted to go get it.  Try again.  I could stand, walk over
the slippery rocks across the rapids, the roar of the unseen falls in my
ears...

   "Can I do anything?"

   At Liz's quiet words I turned from the small stream.  She was the
twenty-ish young woman I had first met online, all those years ago. 
Withdrawn, more than shy.  I closed my eyes.

   "Yes."

   The word hung between us.  She seemed to blush.  I could always hear her
blush, on the countless phone calls we've had in the decade and a half of
our friendship, but had rarely actually SEEN one.  She turned back to the
water, thirty something year old body sighing.

   "I'm not good at this."

   "You're good enough for me."

   She blushed more.  Looking out over the endless lake stretching before
me, calm as glass but with unseen monsters just under the surface, I cast
out my line.  The sinker took the hook out a good thirty feet, before
dropping into the water.  I could see the red and white bobber as I sat on
the end of the wooden dock.  Behind me, I knew, was the old cabin we used
to rent on the Rideau river.

   "If I call, will you come?"

   My eyes are on the bobber.  I can't look away.  If I do, I won't see it
drop, won't see the fish take the bait.  They'll nibble on the bait and
take it all.  I'm out of worms.  This is the last one.  I have to catch a
fish.  Mom and Dad said I had to catch dinner.  If I don't, they'll be
sad...

   I feel a warm hand on mine.  A hand that is unsure, unused to gestures
like this.  Turning from the small brook, I see the friend I had spent a
week with that spring.  The woman who is everything to me, except a mate.
She squeezes, the most intimate contact this friend, this soulmate, has
ever given someone.  Tears come to my eyes, as she nods.

   "Ask, and I'll come."

   ****

   I lay awake on the unmade bed, eyes on the white ceiling.  The 2 PM
alarm won't go off for another few minutes.  I dreamt.  I know that.  It's
already going, though.  It was about...

   Something.  Something wonderful.  Something...

   The alarm goes off.

   Time to face reality, and all the terror and uncertainty that there
lies.

   For some reason, I'm not scared.

   ****

   Edited by SciFi Nut

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