Escana (Mature/Fantasy)

Rain had turned his back when she gave him her order, thinking that he was hallucinating...but when she called out his name...
"Jan?" He then handed her a mocha latte and motioned another worker to take over the counter, saying he was going on break. "Am I hallucinating?"

Emily nodded her head, before poking Alex on the shoulder to see if he was real. "What the heck is going on here?!"

Janette shook her head, "I don't think so." She said softly, not sure what to think of all this. She took a drink of her coffee. Maybe she was daydreaming. Something like that. But he was there in front of her.

Alex put a hand on his head, still in shock, "I have no idea..." He stated. She was real, was sitting next to him. It didn't make any sense! She was in his dream...and he didn't even see her in real life until now. Something was wrong here.

Rain had a questioning look on his face. "Here, sit down and let's talk." He ushered her down to a nearby table in the cafe and sat down. "So do you know anything that happened before we met in the dream?"

Emily had a worried look on her face, wondering what was going on. Her parents we're getting in the car and telling her to get back with them, but she brushed them off. This was far more important. "So...we know each other from the dream...but we've never met in real life?"

Janette thought a moment, still surprised and a little light-headed now. She finally said, "No...but I am sure I had never seen you before the dream." She was starting to get sightly flustered, "This doesn't make sense."

Alex nodded before starting to pull out of their driveway once everyone was in the limo. He didn't want a complaint about him or anything. He'd rather not have his boss yell at him later. "Exactly that." He agreed, glancing over at her briefly before returning his attention to the road. "It's more than weird. It's not even suppose to be possible." He stated quietly, extremely confused.

Rain scratched his head a little, trying to wrap his head around this impossible equation. "Well, do you got any ideas?"

Emily was as confused as he was. She had no idea what could've been the cause of all this. "Could it be...deja vu?

Janette sighed and looked up at him briefly, "No clue." She replied, tapping her fingertips on the tabletop as she thought. This was so difficult. There wasn't any sure explanation that she could think of.

Alex shook his head, not peeling his eyes from the road, "It can't be. I had never been in that mansion before, have you?" He tried to figure it out in his mind, but nothing popped up.

Rain rubbed his eyes, thinking of one thing quickly and spurted it out loud. "Do you think it'll happen again tonight? You know, when we go to sleep?"

Emily looked at the door window of the car, watching the landscape pass them by. "I live in one, but I've never been in a mansion like that before..." She bit her lip trying to figure it out. "Are you sure it was a dream?"

"Maybe. I'm not sure." Janette answered, and then looked up at him, her eyes gazing into his briefly as she asked, "What do we do if it happens?"

Alex answered surely, "Yes, I mean, someone like me probably wouldn't ever be in a place like that unless..." He trailed off, although she could most likely figure out what he was going to say. "I'm sure of it."

"We should probably look more closely when we do meet each other up in the dream, see if something is wrong or off." Rain replied, keeping his eyes on her as always.

Emily nodded and guessed at what he meant. He must've been like her when she was little, alone and poor. But then again she found happiness, she just hoped that Alex will find happiness too. "I wonder why we were both in the same mansion, though."

Janette nodded slowly in understanding and took another sip, "I don't think that'll be an easy thing to do." She stated, and then explained, "It seemed like...someone or something didn't want us to notice something was odd." She glanced down at the table and back up at him, "That seems silly, doesn't it?"

"Maybe it has something to do with what we want..." Alex suggested, finding a plausible answer through the mass of others in his mind. He shrugged after he said it, showing he wasn't too sure about that or not.

Rain understood with what she said, though logically it did seem silly. "I would think, but...you may be right." He rubbed the back of his neck and replied: "So what should we do when we get back there?"

Emily thought about it for a moment, it making a little more and a little less sense with every time. "Well, I guess I want a better mansion than the one I have, but...what about you?"

After thinking a bit, Janette answered, "Act normal, like we did last time. It may not be good if...'they' or 'it' think there's something up." She laughed almost dryly at herself and stated, shaking her head slightly, "I feel like I'm going insane."

Alex seriously thought about it and said rather softly, just so she could hear, "A life that's better than the one I live now." He felt embarrassed talking about something like that, but he had to in order to figure this whole thing out.

Rain nodded, thinking that it would be the best option they got. "I can second that motion." He looked at her, liking the smile on her face. "So...until we figure this out, should we met up here after each dream?"

Emily's expression went to empathetic; the times that she thought that to herself when she was young. "I see." She then looked over at him, even though he was still looking at the road. "Do you think we'll meet up again in the dream?"

"That would be a good idea." Janette agreed, crossing her ankles underneath the table, her foot brushing his slightly. As she looked at him again, she seemed to just finally notice how he looked. She hadn't been paying attention before. She was focused on other things and only now she realized how...good-looking he was to her. She continued explaining, trying not to get distracted, "Just in case we do end up there and don't see each other."

"Possibly." Alex answered, glancing over at her before looking ahead on the road, brushing his black hair out of his face so he could see better. "I wouldn't doubt it or anything else after all this."

Rain nodded in agreement. Looking at her in a different light as well. She was much prettier somehow--not that she wasn't pretty when he met her. "So...meet up later?"

Emily looked away when he glanced at her, a little embarrassed for looking at him so blantantly. "I guess, we should met up again after the next dream. Any ideas where?"

Janette smiled softly, "Yep." She answered simply, and finished her coffee, feeling more awake now and not all lethargic. She wasn't usually a morning person, but for some reason, that was different today.

Almost arching an eyebrow, but stopping himself, Alex shrugged slightly, not immediately thinking of anything. "What's near here?" He asked since he rarely came out this way and wasn't too sure about the landscape except for the roads. That he definitely needed to know, otherwise there'd be problems. Problems that would effect his income.

"Alright," Rain replied...feeling a little more at ease today. "it's a deal."

Emily looked around, wondering where they could meet up. "What about somewhere in town? You know, where you live? I can definatly meet you up there."

((Time-jump?))

(Sure. To when though?)

Janette nodded before throwing her cup away into one of the garbage cans. Yes, it is... She thought to herself. If only it was under, well, better circumstances.

Alex thought, mapping every street in his mind before deciding, "I know there's a small cafe in town. How about there?"

((Hmmmmmmm how about to the next dream??))

Rain looked back at his work station, seeing his pissed off co-workers getting mad that he's sitting there talking to a pretty lady. "I'd better get back to work. See you later?"

Emily nodded. "That sounds fine. I'll meet you up there around there whenever is okay with you."

Janette almost laughed as she looked over at his fellow workers and said with a smile and a shrug as she left, "Yeah, maybe sooner than you think."

Alex nodded and sooner than he had expected, they arrived at the other mansion. "So, see you later?"

(And skipping to Janette's right now if that's all right.)

Janette stayed out until it was late at night, and somehow made it to her bedroom without waking anyone. Almost immediately she fell asleep and found herself in the same meadow but that soon changed suddenly into a dimly lit street and a dark alleyway. This wasn't right. What was going on?

Rain smiled and watched her leave, then continuing to go back to work. Later that evening, he went back home. He made himself dinner, took a shower, and went straight to bed. And of course, he dreamnt of the meadow...but instead of Janette being there...he saw his parents far off.
"Mom? Dad?" They didn't respond, and slowly...they disappeared. "Wait! Wait!"
What's going on here?

((I got Rain's time jump there and now Emily's...))

Emily smiled back at him and walked towards her Aunt Tootie's mansion.
She ended up staying the night over there, and when she began the dream...she was not in a fabulous mansion. Instead, she was in this small, torn down apartment. Huh? She thought, this can't be right...

Janette started walking slowly past the alleyway. Before she could take in her surroundings, someone grabbed her and pulled her in. She soon realized it was a man who had one arm wrapped around her torso and arms so she couldn't move or really fight back and had a blade to her neck. "Scream and die." He threatened in a low, raspy voice and in that moment, she forgot it was a dream and that he couldn't hurt her. It was too real. Fear overtook logic. She was speechless.

Alex eventually made it to his apartment after a long day and collasped on his bed, knocked out cold. He opened his eyes to see he was in a living room. Not any living room. The one that was in the house he had lived in with his parents when he was a kid. It was a rather beaten up old place even then. He saw someone in the reclining chair and peeked around to find his father. Dead. A bullet through the temple. A suicide after his constant failures at finding and keeping jobs, lending money but unable to pay it back and other things... Alex stumbled back on instinct at the sight. But that was what motivated Alex. He didn't want to end up like his father, a failure.

Rain kept running towards his parents, trying to reach them. But no matter how far his legs took them, it seemed that his parents were becoming farther and farther away from him. "Dad! Mom! Wait!"
Suddenly he couldn't even hear his own words, that his own calls became nothing to even him.

Emily looked around in the apartment and saw that it was run down to hell. She found a doorway, so she opened it. When she exited out of the apartment she saw busy street. She tugged at one of the women to ask where she was at, but the woman pushed her away.
What the--?
One by one, each person she talked to the harsher they rejected her. After a while she was getting scared. Wanting out of this place, wanting to wake up. But somehow she couldn't.

Janette wanted to do something. Fight back, scream, wake up, but she felt powerless. She wasn't in control. The man soon pinned her against the cold, hard brick wall with his body, knife still at her neck as his now free hand traveled under her shirt and inched higher. His lips crashed onto hers brutally as she closed her eyes, not wanting to see what would probably happen next. She felt his chapped lips go down her throat and then moment he removed the knife just a bit off her skin, she kneed him between the legs and scrambled to get away. The knife had nicked her throat but it wasn't serious and she really didn't care as she started to run into one of the shops on the streets. She shouted when she rushed in, "You have to help me, please!" Except her plea was met by blank stares. From everyone. She stood, stunned before running again out the door and down the street. It didn't seem to matter how fast she went. The man seemed to be catching up to her.

Alex eventually left the room in a daze and walked out of the single-floor home to have the scenery change. He saw himself as a seven year old, playing with his friends until his father shouted at him to come inside. Once he clambered up the steps, he noticed his father smelt of something...off. Before he could comment, his father dragged him inside the back of his collar. Alex closed his eyes, saying softly but with emotion, "I don't want to see anymore...I wanted to forget all of this."

Rain kept running, until the meadow faded into a street full of people. He then heard screaming. But it seemed so far away, that didn't matter though. He needed to find his parents. So he kept running.

Emily's kept walking until she found a orphanage that seemed familiar to her. It seemed like the one she went to as a child. She went inside, where she found herself as a young child. Where she was being beaten by the Mistress of the orphanage. She wanted to leave, but the door was locked. She tried to close her eyes, but the sounds of her younger self screaming was still there.