Sweet Dreams

The nightmares were beginning to wear on me. The past two nights I had gotten less than five hours of sleep. Every time I closed my eyes all I could see was some warped perception of reality, and Crane was always there. The worst part was that he was getting this grin on his face all the time that almost made me think he knew…but how could he? I was really starting to get concerned about my notepad too. I had practically turned both my apartment and office upside-down looking for it, and it was nowhere to be found.

I had just finished working a 12 hour day, and was desperate to get some sleep. I decided to try something different, and stopped at the liquor store on the way home. I’m not much of a drinker, and most of the time I just get extremely tired after a drink or two.

After a quick hot shower, I filled myself a full glass of white wine. I’d picked out my favorite kind, which was more sweet and easier to devour. I sipped it generously as I watched some syndicated sitcoms. One episode of Friends, and my eyes would barely stay open. As soon as I washed up and hit the mattress, I was out cold.

I lay sprawled on my stomach, in my underwear, across my queen sized bed. It was a cool, fall night, so I had opened one of my windows to let in a cool breeze. Waking up slightly, I let out a yawn and curled back up to fall asleep again. My body shivered slightly, and I realized my covers had fallen off of me. Eyes still half closed, I reached down to pull them up again but my hand found nothing. A low sinister laugh crept around me, and my eyes snapped open. The room was empty and dark, and I saw Crane’s face peer up from the far end of my bed frame. He hopped up onto the mattress with me and slowly crawled his way closer.

“What do you want Jonathan.” I tried to be as calm and commanding as I could, but my voice was wavering. By this time he had made his way next to me, and propped his head up with one of his arms. I clutched the one sheet I had close to me, as if it would protect me from anything.

“Oh Emma, you know exactly what I want” he ran his finger along the fitted sheet, but looked up at me with icy blue eyes and no sign of humor in his face. His hand grabbed my throat and forced me down on my back.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, just tell me” I said frantically.

“Everyone is saying what good results you’ve been getting. It’s the formula, Doctor. I need to know the formula.” His grip tightened.

“It’s not done yet. And even if it was, I would never put it in the hands of such a psychopath!” He squeezed tighter and I began to cough. Without warning, I felt him engulfing me with a kiss, his hands frantically surveying every inch of me that was exposed to him. I decided if I was going to keep having these nightmares, I might as well start enjoying them. With authority I flipped him over so I was on top, and began tracing the side of his neck with my tongue. He tasted sweet and salty, and I nipped him on the soft skin of his collar bone eliciting a guttural moan from the back of his throat. He sat up and put an arm behind my back, smoothly flipping me again so he was back in control. With a strong hand, he pinned both of mine behind my head.

I stared up at him and he looked like a fallen angel. His blue eyes were clouded with desire, and his plump lips were swollen. His shirt was unbuttoned and revealed translucent skin underneath, while his nearly black hair fell in slight curls around him. And then, as quickly as he had appeared, he was gone. The blackness around me slowly began to dissolve back into my bedroom. I sat up.

“Typical, once one of them finally starts getting good I wake up.” I slowly got up and walked to my kitchen to get a little bit more wine to put me back to sleep. The bottle was in the refrigerator where I left it, but when I pulled it out and uncorked it I realized there was nothing left. That couldn’t be right. I stood in my skivvies trying to trace back how much I’d had…only one or two glasses. There was no way I could have finished the whole bottle. There were only two explanations: I was going crazy, or someone had been in my apartment.

Surely, with each night I got insufficient sleep, I was looking worse and worse. The illuminated screen of my computer was giving me a horrible headache while I typed my daily patient report. Finally, I gave in and popped a couple aspirin and washed it down with a large gulp from my water bottle.

There was a soft rap at my door and I saw the face of our small cleaning lady Melinda. She was older and had some gray in her hair. She had a beautiful accent that lingered with all of her words.

“Hi Melinda, how are you today?”

“I am fine Miss Avery.” She timidly approached my desk.

“There’s something I wanted to tell you Miss Avery. Last night when I was cleaning around the hall, I saw Dr. Crane. It was pretty late, about 10 o’clock. It looked like he was trying to break into your office.”

“Trying to break in?” I said.

“Yes, he kept jiggling the door handle and even tried sticking something in the lock. I know it is not my place to accuse one of the Doctor’s of anything, but I thought you should know.”

“Well Melinda, thank you for letting me know. I appreciate it.” I told her with a smile. She gave me a small smile in return and shuffled out the door.

What the hell was he after? I didn’t understand why he was so concerned with my research, unless he was determined to steal it and try to pass it off as his own. That was part of the reason I was always secretive about my works in progress. While I am more than supportive of working together with others on new breakthroughs to aid in psychiatric development, I have seen far too many collegues get…well…screwed over. About 80% of people will acknowledge you and work with you, but there are still the 20% who try to take credit.

We’d just finished our monthly departmental meeting when I approached him. The other doctors were gathering their files and shuffling to the door. Crane had just finished zipping up his briefcase, when he noticed I was standing to his side and looked up with agitation.

“Ah, Dr. Avery, can I help you with something?”

“I was just wondering why you feel it necessary to try to break into my office outside of hours?”

“Break into your office? Where did you get that from?” He said expressionlessly.

“A trusted source”

“Well, I would hardly consider it ‘trying to break in’. I merely was checking to see if you were around because I had something to ask you.”

“Oh yes, and what would that be?” I looked up at him and slowly blinked my eyes. He got up and began to head back to his office from the conference room. I followed him, determined.

“Simply if you wanted to join me for a late dinner to discuss your…assertions…on my research. And maybe, afterwards…” He stopped and turned around to face me

“Find out what’s behind the…” he got close to me and ran his fingertips along my collarbone

“…cold exterior.” I snapped back to reality and slapped his hand away.

“Drop dead.” I spat back.

“Touchy. My offer still stands, whenever you change your mind” I walked away, but then turned around again at an afterthought.

“And by the way, try to break into my office again, and I will get your ass fired so fast it will make your head spin”

“I’m sure you would just love to fire my ass” he said smugly.

“UGHHH” I stormed into my office, locked the door shut behind me, and began pacing.
The phone rang and I jolted up.

“Dr. Avery.”

“Emma. You need to come down to the infirmary right away.”

“What is it?”

“Kevin Johnson. He’s…well he’s dead.”