Page 18 of Bruised MC Bear
8
Axe
Axe was backin Vincent’s study the next day. This trip was not about business. For the longest time he just sat there, listening to the sound of his breathing. Vincent relaxed in his office chair with his fingers laced behind his head, patiently waiting.
“What do you think it all means?” Axe asked the only person on the planet that he would ever consider being completely honest with, already hating himself for sounding so weak.
Vincent straightened up in his chair. “I’m not sure it means anything at all. It was a dream.”
“More like a waking nightmare. Do you know it’s been years since I’ve dreamed about them?”
“Perhaps you should walk through it again.”
Axe shot his eyes at Vincent. “You want me to talk about it? Are you shitting me?”
“No, I’m not.”
“But what’s the point, though? I was there. You were there. We both know what happened, so what good would it do to flap our gums about it all over again?”
“Trust me, all right? Start right from the beginning. But this time, do not place yourself inside the events when you relate them to me. Just imagine you’re right there in that chair, watching the events play out…like a movie in your mind’s eye.”
Axe glance over at Vincent. “This sounds all kinds of sick and twisted, so pardon me for being a little skeptical, brother. By the way, do you see why I don’t want to undergo the psych eval? I can’t even bring myself to tell Silas or anyone else, let alone some highfalutin, pompous shrink who’s got no fucking life experience, let alone lived through anything this catastrophic. And what the hell am I supposed to say about the shifter part?”
“Calm down, son. Just try. Quiet your mind, and then start.”
“All right, but only because you’re the one suggesting it,” Axe told him.
Leaning back into his chair, he closed his eyes and allowed the images to return.
“The dream always starts off earlier in the day. It was a scorcher, hotter than the usual Nevada desert summer mornings. I was thirteen, and Nancy was almost nine. Nancy and I took our bikes to the corner store for candy, which was out of place, because Mom never used to let us eat sweets. That day though, Dad shoved coins in my hands and pushed us out the door. Mom was so relaxed, resting her head on his shoulder. And happy, like euphoric and smiling to the point of giggling. I’m not sure why that’s how the nightmare starts. We got our fill of sugar, and when we got home, Nancy kept asking why Mom’s shirt was inside out. I remember laughing about it and Dad glared at me with a warning side eye to get me to shut up. None of us gave Nancy an answer to her question.”
“After dinner that night, Mom made me go up to my room to start on some Math homework that was already two weeks late. Dad was hounding me about it for days, and I only gave in after he took away my video game console and threatened to sell it. The threats were usually empty, but that was the night he actually put it on lockdown somewhere in their room. So I was working on some math questions, and not enjoying it one bit. Half the time I was just looking out the window, staring out at the same dark spot outside behind the back of the garage.”
“I did that for a while, until I was sure I saw something move out there. At first, I figured I was imagining things, but then I noticed it again. A really subtle movement, then another. I went over to the window for a closer look, and then I saw them. I was about to holler at my dad, but he walked into my room just then, and asked whether I was done my homework. I remember turning to look at him, and as the words ‘soldiers’ came out of my mouth, he sensed them too. Dad shouted for me to get away from the window, and rushed me off to get Nancy hidden away as he hurried out and down the stairs to find Mom.”
“I scrambled over to Nancy’s room and yanked the door closed behind me. I dragged her under her bed from where she’d been coloring at her little table, and put my finger to her lips to keep her quiet. She was so shaken up by how abruptly I’d entered her room, she started bawling. I had to cover her mouth to quiet her down so I could hear what was going on downstairs. There was a loud crack of wood, which was the sound of soldiers breaking down the front door, and then a loud rumbling, which I realized later on were many heavy boots rushing through the house.”
“We heard a loud blood-curdling scream on the other side of the door, and Nancy clung to me, shaking like a leaf as I pushed her behind me. The rumbling suddenly stopped. The screaming died down. Nancy wouldn’t stop crying, even when I covered her mouth again. Dad must have broken free of them and barricaded Nancy’s bedroom door, because I heard his sharp snort and bear snuffle just outside. There was a lot of gunfire, and something heavy dropped to the wooden floor. After that, the door rocked on its hinges. I told Nancy to stay put under the bed so I could fight off whoever was trying to come into our room. I threw a blanket over her to hide her and found an umbrella in the corner of her closet. It was the only thing I could use to fight off whoever it was that had stormed our house.”
“I remember shouting, telling the soldiers on the other side to leave us alone, but they crashed through the door anyway, stepping over the Dad’s lifeless bear figure in the hallway outside. The door burst open, and four or five soldiers in what I now know to be Special Ops uniforms stormed in, gun pointed forward as though Nancy and I were any match for them. I was too young to shift to bear form back then, but fuck, I would have if I could. I remember closing my eyes so I wouldn’t have to see them fire their weapons at me. A second went by, then another, and they stood there, doing nothing.”
“That’s when you showed up, Vincent. You moved so fast, you were like a flash of moving light zipping around them until they were all either dead or close to it. You flipped the bed and scooped up Nancy and took me in your other hand, even though I was fighting you off too. Do you remember what you told me?”
Vincent nodded. “I do.”
“You said you were not the enemy. That you would take us somewhere safe, and you needed both of us to keep our eyes closed until we got outside. I did for a while, but with the scent of bear and blood creeping up my nose, I couldn’t keep my eyes shut. Dad on the landing, and Mom was at the bottom of the stairs. They were both so still, lying there in pools of their own blood. I still don’t understand how their bodies didn’t heal like shifters normally do.” Axe took a few long inhales and exhales. “You know everything that happened after that, except the part where for a few seconds, underneath the bed in this last dream, both Nancy and Angel were hiding under the bed. What do you think caused that change after all this time? I can’t believe the dreams are back.”
“They were your parents, Axe,” Vincent offered. “You suffered an unimaginable trauma back then. It’s not the type of memory that will ever disappear. Take it from me, son. I’ve had over three hundred and fifty years’ worth of life experiences, and there are many I have yet to make peace with.”
“Hmmm. What about the new part? How is it that I only just met this woman and she was in it?”
Vincent shrugged. “The mind tends to play such tricks. Do you want my honest opinion?”
“Of course.”
“Don’t think anything of it. It was just a dream.”
Axe rubbed a tingling hand across his chin, closing his eyes again. Why the fuck was this bothering him so much? He was used to discarding women after chance meetings like what had gone down with Angel, so what was the big deal now? How did she end up in his vilest, most terrifying nightmare? No amount of deep breathing or happy thoughts would shake the tightness growing in his chest. Tiny bright spots flew across the insides of each eyelid and dizziness wrapped around him until he had to force himself not to go back to that dreadful night. Even with the powerful reminder, he couldn’t think straight. The walls were closing in on him. The memories found a way back into the front of his brain.
