Flotsam & Jetsam
an excerpt

He was on a beach, it was familiar. Allie was beside him, holding his hand, laying on her side, facing him and smiling. “Hey stranger.” She said, under her breath. “Where were you?” And he saw the love in her eyes and started to cry. “Shush. It's okay.” She snuggled up next to him. “We're both here now.” He knew it was a dream. He'd had it before, many times over the past few weeks. It was his happiest day, that Sunday. Laying in the sand, with an old two liter bottle of soda they'd filled with water, from the nearest drinking fountain, and maybe a dollar between them, things couldn't have gotten much better, he thought. In the dream he could feel her heat, different from the suns rays, against his skin. A slight breeze pulled the hairs on his legs and arms up and waved them about. As dreams went, this one was real. And then the happiness was replaced with panic. He couldn't speak. All the things, in his head, he needed to say, they were stuck there, hiding from her, from his lips. And he knew there were so many things he needed to get out, time was short, but they didn't know it, except, in the dream, he knew. He knew that soon she would be gone and something would be torn from him, from deep inside, and he'd never be good again, they'd never be good again.

He woke with a start, feet kicking out before him and an arm swung out, grabbing at something. And soon the memory of what he dreamt about was gone, just a feeling, fading, that it was a good dream