Home Plot: Benne Seed

[polly_okeefe]

On one random night in Tabula Rasa, random things began to happen once again. At precisely midnight, Zell Dincht, Polly O'Keefe and Calvin O'Keefe began dreaming much deeper. They no longer responded to the outside world. Their dream took them to a world far away. Eventually others would come to make sure their sleeping bodies were okay, but none

Comments

[polly_okeefe]

When the change hit, I snuggled closer to Zell. The bed was warmer and strangely familiar, and the combination of that and being close to the man I loved allowed me to doze happily, without realizing what was going on.

It was when the light started to come through from the wrong direction that I opened my eyes. It was an odd feeling, seeing something that was so familiar and yet so unfamiliar at the same time. Was this... This was, wasn't it?

My bedroom!

I sat upright, discovering that I hadn't worn a shirt to bed. Pulling up the covers against the sudden chill, I immediately felt beside me. To my relief, Zell was there, but with that came all sorts of questions. Was I really home? Was this an Island trick?

And Island trick or not, how was I going to explain this to my parents?

[spirited_hero]

[polly_okeefe]

Oh, of all the times... I pulled away with some effort. "Zell, wake up. I'm serious, you need to see this."

[spirited_hero]

[polly_okeefe]

When we stepped outside my bedroom, we were mobbed by siblings. Johnny and Rosie were back. Peggy stood behind them, frowning. Den looked perplexed. Xan was nowhere to be seen.

"Who's the guy, Polly?" Johnny asked. "Is he really your boyfriend?"

Peggy shook her head. "Mother and Daddy are going to kill you."

It was... overwhelming. It was good to see them all again, but at the same time it was so fraught. I didn't know what to do. Behind us, Charles placed a comforting hand on my shoulder.

But then we heard my parents' bedroom door open. Xan came walking back, looking like he'd seen a ghost, though I didn't notice that at first. I drew myself up, bracing myself to see my parents and to have to explain to them again what I'd told Charles. I thought it wise to get off the first words early. "Mother, I..."

Then I froze. There was mother, exactly as I'd remembered her before I left for Connecticut. And beside her was Daddy... as a twenty-year-old man.

[spirited_hero]

[polly_okeefe]

Well, this changed things. Daddy looked... awkward. And no wonder, given where he must have woken up. Worse was the way my siblings stared at him. No beard. No grey hair. Who was this stranger standing a little behind Mother, and why did he look so much like Daddy

[spirited_hero]

[polly_okeefe]

Upon waking up from two days straight, there are priorities. Having a shower was one. Eating a big breakfast comes next. Then I thought that Zell and I needed to stretch our legs; walk around a little, so that our muscles wouldn't atrophy. So, after taking Zell to breakfast at the Winchester, we headed up to the northern beach to check in on Daddy, in case he wanted to go for a walk, too.

Truth was, I still wanted to talk to him. He'd looked so lost when we found him at the phone, trying to get in touch with his family. It was alarming enough to wake up beside a woman you hadn't seen for over a year; it was something else again to discover that we didn't have any phone numbers of my many aunts and uncles on my father's side.

But as we neared Daddy's hut -- the one he'd shared with Mother and now shared with Adam, I frowned. The place was quiet. Too quiet. I picked up the pace and walked around to the front to knock on the door.

[transluminary]

When Adam wakes up, everything is a familiar dark. The air is too warm and for the briefest of moments he thinks he feels Calvin breathing deeply beside him. Back, he thinks, more tired than he can imagine, and immediately rolls over and falls back asleep.

By the next time he cracks open an eye, the hut is empty and bright with late morning, and his head is aching from dehydration. He forcibly pushes himself out of bed, Fortinbras whining mournfully as he stands, and eventually chucks himself into the shower for want of something productive to do.

More awake, he's thinking of checking in at the Compound and the lab when the sound of knocking breaks the quiet. He pulls open the door and blinks in surprise. "Oh. Hi Polly. Zell."

[spirited_hero]

[polly_okeefe]

I smiled to see Adam. That was a sign of normalcy, at least, though something still gnawed at the back of my mind. "Hi, Adam. Calvin, Zell and I were on another of those dream trips. I wanted to make sure he was okay."