just a dream Who: Tanith (and Eztli, duh) When: 7:19am Where: Ad Gustum, Tanith's room
Tanith gasped for breath and opened her eyes. She was confused by the sight that awaited her; rather than a dark road lit only by her car's headlights, she was looking at her own bedroom ceiling. Her chest was tight, and tears were streaming down her face. Bless was dead.
Wait a minute. Who the hell was Bless?
Only, Tanith knew. She shouldn't have known, she had no way of knowing, but Bless was Treat's little sister. And she was dead.
Tanith moved to push herself into a sitting position, but found she didn't have the strength to. She managed to move a few inches before her head swam and the room spinned around her. She collapsed back into the pillows and groaned. She felt movement beside her, and suddenly Eztli was looking down over her. The familiar looked and felt alarmed. Before this very moment, he probably wouldn't have believed Tanith was capable of crying anymore.
"Tanith? What's going on?"
That was an excellent question really, but Tanith didn't even bother trying to figure out an answer just yet. Her heart was pounding, and she was burning up. She could still feel the fire burning nearby. Hell, she could smell it. She summoned up all her strength and tried to push herself out of bed, which actually sort of worked. Well, she fell out of bed. Close enough. Her legs just weren't willing to support her yet. She managed to move into a sitting position, and grabbed her phone off of the bedside table. She had dialed Treat's number and was just about to connect when the question finally sunk in.
Wait. What the hell is going on?
Eztli jumped off the bed and sat cautiously at her feet, still eying her as if he expected her head to explode in the most literal sense at any moment. Tanith reached up and wiped her face. She wasn't crying anymore. If asked, she would deny to her dying breath that she'd ever cried in the first place.
"It was just a dream," she finally said. Eztli cocked his head to the side. Tanith fixed him with a pointed stare. "It was just a dream," she repeated, strength returning to her voice.
"Then why do you still smell smoke?"
Tanith blinked. Eztli knew what she was smelling? Wait, better question: "You don't?" Eztli shook his head. Ugh. It was so creepy when he did 'human' things like that. Tanith took a deep breath and shrugged. "It was a very vivid dream." She looked down at her phone. Holy hell, she'd almost called him. Why would she have done that? Why did she know his number?! Tanith slammed her phone back on the table, and clumsily climbed to her feet.
"Tanith-" Eztli started, but Tanith held up a hand in warning.
"Don't," she warned. "I am in no mood."
It was just a dream. She was going to keep repeating that until she believed it.