I read through the whole thing and recognized every part. “What’s going on here?” I asked no one in particular. “You’re being watched,” Marie replied, stepping onto my office with a smile. I looked up at her with an expression that was mixture of fear and shock, “What do you mean?!” She looked down at me and rose her eyebrows, seeming surprised by my expression. “Um...Mika. Your client. He’s staring at you.” I looked out just in time to see Mika step into the elevator. She rolled her eyes, “Well, he was. What did you think I meant?” I shook my head, “Never mind. It’s nothing.” She shrugged and took Mika’s paper off my desk. “Is this what he’s written?”
“Yes.”
“Is it a poem or something?” she asked, biting into the bagel she was holding. “No. I’m helping him write a novel.” She looked at me, now really surprised. “You’re what?” I shrugged, and she looked back at the paper she was holding, muttering, “Geez, he must be really good.” I watched her expression carefully as she read the paper. She looked up and studied my face. “What?” I asked finally. She shrugged, “I mean, its good, but its not really your...type. I’m surprised you would agree to put that much effort into a story so unlike the ones you usually approve of." I sighed and stared at the paper as she put it back onto my desk, “I guess this one’s just...” I paused, once again scanning the words on the page in disbelief. “Special.”
I got in bed that night telling myself that I had only had deja’vu. I had never actually dreamed those things, I had simply read the words on the page and...had deja’vu. Yea. It was all in my head. I went to bed with this in mind and fell asleep quickly, after such a tiring day.
I wake up almost immediately after I have fallen sleep but for some reason feel completely satisfied. “What was that noise?” the voice repeats, closer now. I sit up. The bed shoots back up to where it was before so that I am sitting on it normally. I look down at the confused man on the floor and recognize him to be someone I have met recently. Perhaps in the living room? “I dropped my ladder,” I yell down at him. He looks up at me. “Oh.”
“Could you pass it up to me so I can get down?” He shrugs, “I think you can jump.”
“Nuh-uh! It’s so high!”
“It only looks like it from up there. From down here, you look very close." I bite my lip, “Really?” He nods. “Alright. Will you catch me?”
“Sure.” I close my eyes, stand up, and jump. It seems like I am falling forever, but then I finally land in the man’s arms. “I’m Mika,” he says. “I’m not,” I reply. He nods, “Yea, I know.” I take his hand and say, “Did you know that in the backyard there is a jungle gym?” He wrinkles his nose. “I don’t like jungle gyms.” I look at him, taking a sip of the drink I have just pick up from the little table behind me. It tastes like water. I hand him the cup, “Is this water?” He takes a sip and nods, “Yea, that’s water.” I blink as we suddenly shrink until we are about the size, (and shape,) of four year olds. He looks at the cup in his hand, now seeming much larger than before. “You really don’t like jungle gyms?” I ask. He shrugs, “I don’t know.”
“Do you like swings?” He smiles and nods energetically. I smile too and say, “Ok, let’s go!” We hurry through the hallway and all the adults stare at us. “Where did the kids come from?” a man asks. I looked up at him and recognize him as the man who had asked me where we were. He must recognize me, too, because his eyebrows rise and his jaw falls open. Mika and I go into the backyard and it is very, very dark indeed. “Oh dear,” I say, “I’m afraid of the dark.” Mika squeezes my hand, “Don’t worry,” he says, “I’ll protect you.” I smile and we run over to the swings, pumping ourselves with our feet and keeping our hands connected as we swing higher and higher. Mika starts singing ‘Two is Better Than One’ by Taylor Swift and Boys Like Girls. I listen to him as we swing, and then I start singing too, at the part where Taylor Swift usually joins in.
“And I’m thinking two is better than one,” my alarm clock sang. I sat up and turned it off. I blinked, and smiled. A weird dream, another connected dream, proving that it hadn’t been deja’vu...but for some reason it made me really happy. I guess that’s the four-year-old side of me shining through.
I walked into the office with a Starbucks cup and Marie looked up at me. "Whoa!" I exclaimed, jumping backwards as she smiled and ran a hand through her newly-cut-and-dyed-red hair. "Going for the Irish look?" I asked. She smiled, "It's temporary."
"It looks real. Looks good." Her smile grew, "Thanks. Anywho, lotsa work to do today, though not quite as much as yesterday." I glanced at her from over the rim of my cup and asked casually, "Am I meeting Mika today?" She looked up at me with a mischievous smile, "Miss him already?"
"Hardly. I... just wanted to know if he's written anything more."
"Mhm. Sure. No, you're not meeting with him today, but he did schedule an appointment with you for tomorrow. Longer this time."
"Time?"
''3 to 4."
"Sounds good. Now, what am I doing now?"
© 2010
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