Chapter 1
The little town of Lilithen was pouring rain, like it always did. Milo and his boyfriend James, infarct, were dancing in it. All the other people of Lilithen were staring as the two men danced with each other in pouring rain, spinning each other around and smiling. The town of Lilithen didn’t really mind this type of behavior, but that did not mean that the people of Lilithen were too thrilled about it either.
Milo and James, to the townspeople at least, were an odd couple. They enjoyed dancing in the rain and they had a black cat. Yes, that was it. They loved dancing in the rain and had a beautiful black cat named Nox, and everyone thought that was a little bit different.
One day in late autumn, Milo and James were chatting over a pot of tea when they heard a rustling in the house. Not knowing what the strange noise was they left it alone thinking it was Nox making a mess or catching a mouse.
“The weather looks nice” Milo said smiling at James and then looked out the window into the pouring rain.
“Perfect for dancing” James smiled fondly at Milo standing up to take his hand.
“Shall we?”
Milo grinned “We shall”
They walked outside and danced. Nox slowly strutted after them meowing happily. Even Nox, a cat, loved the rain, of course she didn’t dance in it, she was a cat. There was something about the rain that made it seem mysterious. Yes, mysterious, in an elegant, beautiful way. The little droplets like crystals falling from the sky.
They danced for a wile and then went in. Their clothes soaked from the downpour. As they went back inside the hair on the back of Milo’s neck stood on end as if something unpleasant was about to happen or something was following the two men into the house. Of course he thought nothing of it and did not tell James.
James grabbed a book from the library and started reading while Milo cooked dinner and Nox napped in the window sill. As Milo stirred the pot of food he looked blankly at the window and said
“Do you ever just feel like something terrible is going to happen to someone?”
“Very rarely. Why?” James kept looking at his book and then looked at Milo who was still numbly stirring the pot of stew.
“No reason,” Milo stared out the window, barely engaging in the conversation.
After they ate dinner and fed Nox the scraps they went to bed. James was out like a light but Milo just lay awake staring at the ceiling. He did not want to go to sleep because he was afraid of something happening to James. And only James. He only thought of James for some odd reason. Almost as if the dreadful thing, he feared, would happen to the person he loved the most. He had friends, and family, of course, but he could only imagine the dreadful thing happening to his lover.
When he eventually did fall asleep he dreamt about finding James on the floor of the library in a pool of blood. This happened about five or six times, each time Milo woke up and cried. This same instance haunted him for three days until he decided he had to tell James. One night, the same routine of falling asleep from exhaustion and stressful thoughts, waking up to having the same nightmare five or six times, crying, and then not being able to sleep for the rest of the night. This night in particular, he decided to tell James. Milo, poor thing, had been awake for hours on end sobbing at the heart wrenching thought of his lover actually lying on the floor with a pool of crimson red liquid surrounding him.
“James!” Milo shook the sleeping man next to him attempting to wake him.
“James!” He shook harder and sobbed. James turned over and rubbed his eyes and sat up.
“What?”
“I have had the worst dreams for the past three nights,” Milo choked out and kept crying.
“Well, what were they about?” James said half asleep.
“The-They were a-about y-you” Milo kept sobbing.
“What happened in the nightmares?” James was now curious and trying to calm Milo down. Milo just kept sobbing.
“I would wa-walk into the li-library and would s-see you o-on the fl-floor a-and y-you were i-in” this part of the dream was particularly hard for Milo to get out as he kept sobbing. He took a deep breath and looked directly into the eyes of the man in front of him. With tears streaming down his face he choked out.
“Y-you were in a-a pool o-of bl-blood with scra-scratches on y-you.” Milo choked again and sobbed more as he lunged forward and hugged James. The sun eventually rose and James tried to get up. Milo tightened his grip, tears filling his eyes once more.
“Please don’t go. Please!”
James did anyway, breaking away from Milo’s grip and walking out of the room. Milo just sat there frozen staring at the window. He was absolutely terrified of what could happen to James. Maybe the nightmares were right. Maybe he might actually lose his lover today. This thought killed him. He didn’t want to think about it but he couldn’t stop thinking about it.
He just listened to the pitter patter of the rain on the glass, then, he heard a scream, crashing, and a loud thud come from downstairs. He panicked. He ran down the stairs and slowly walked down the hall. Nothing went through his mind but fear and sadness. The fear came from the fact that there was a chance of finding James on the floor like how he saw in his dream, the sadness came from the heartbreaking truth that his biggest fear was probably true. He started to feel as if there was something watching him, like the photos were following him down the hall to the library. His heart rate got faster, and faster, and faster. The dreadful feeling of being watched and what is going to happen got worse and worse as Milo got closer to the library. The hallway felt as if it went on forever, like a never ending maze of photos and rooms. He could hear his heart practically beating out of his chest and his breathing got heavier as he opened the door to the library and fell to the floor burying his face in his hands.
His worst nightmare had come true.
