This can’t be real. 

Kam tries to step away, but finds his body frozen in place. Asa’s toothless smile widens. Fear grips him. He’s not sure if he can’t move because of the chill running up his spine, or if this Asa look-alike creature did it to him. It reaches forward slowly, cautiously. His hand forms a claw and Kam can’t see it as anything but a spider’s leg tapping its prey. Exploring. Feeling. Preparing to strike. 

Asa touches Kam’s shoulder. Ice flows through his veins from where he is touched. Kam’s muscles relax. He gasps. He can move. He can speak. 

“I’m dreaming. I have to be dreaming. What the hell is this?”

Asa laughs. “Well, yea. You’re dreaming.”

“You’re not Asa. You’re dream Asa.”

“That’s wrong.”

Kam gestures wildly with his hand above his head. “Then prove it! Tell me something only Asa would know.”

“Kaaam, that makes no sense. If I was a dream Asa, which I’m not, I’d know everything you’ve told me because you know everything you’ve told me.” Asa shrugs. “Come on, let's dance and enjoy this.”

Kam shakes his head. “No, no, no, no. I don’t believe this. Tell me something about me that I don’t know that you know but will know as soon as you say it.”  

Asa rolls his eyes. “In 6th grade, you burned your favorite pajamas with all the different drums on it in the garage.” Kam starts to protest, but Asa continues. “You told your parents it was an accident with a lighter, but really, you first discovered how to masturbate and so much came out and got all over your PJs you didn’t know what to do with it. You woke up early while you thought I was asleep and burned your PJs. It’s so obvious you never washed your own clothes, cause there was that time wh-”

Kam puts up his hand. “Stop. Stop. I’m already freaking dying over here. You’re fucking Asa alright. Fine. I believe you. What is all this? Who are they?” He gestures to all the people swing dancing. “How am I moving, how am I-”

Asa covers Kam’s mouth. “Shhhh.” Asa stared into Kam’s eyes. An ethereal aura seems to glow around Asa. His expression brims with a calm confidence he’s never seen in him before. It’s like he is in his element. It’s like he’s home. “I’m special here. You are dreaming. This is your dreamscape: where your dreams take place.”

He lets go of Kam’s mouth and takes his hand. He leads him around the periphery of the ballroom. The people, if that’s what they are, keep dancing, but Kam notices that their faces are blank and featureless like mannequins in a window. 

“Right now, you are laying in bed, sleeping.”

Kam is too focused on Asa holding his hand to focus on questioning much else. “And you? You’re with me, right?” 

“I’m here…in your dreams.”

“But how?”

Asa turns around and spins Kam in place. Kam’s feet follow Asa's lead as they dance. Asa bends him over backwards while holding him up. He ignores the question. 

“Your mind is such a wonderful place, Kam. All your dreams are like this.”

Kam struggles to speak. His hand is still in Asa’s. He knows Asa is oblivious, but this is too much. “We’re reading Pride and Prejudice in English Lit.” Kam tries to take his focus away from his hand. “I know I daydream a lot, but this is ridiculous.” They pass a window. He reaches out to the drapes. It’s a felt texture. A gold leaf pattern is wound into the fabric that traces all the way to the top of the arched windows. 

“Why don’t I ever remember this?”

Suddenly, Asa bristles. “Come with me.”

“Wait, what is it. Wha-”

Asa dashes down the hallway, pulling Kam with him. Kam knows Asa is strong, but his strength in the dream is otherworldly. Kam may as well be paper. Asa turns a corridor and pins Kam to the wall. The million questions in Kam’s head compete with the thought that holy shit, he’s pinning me against a wall. Chill Kam, Chill. Chill.

He manages a whisper. “What’s up?”

Asa’s eyes shift back and forth before he smiles up at Kam. “Hush. Close your eyes. I’ll keep you safe.”

Without question, Kam closes his eyes. He hears Asa step away. And then, softly at first, Kam hears enough for his burgeoning imagination to run wild. 

Rrrrrrrip. Flesh tearing. 

Criiiiick, SNAP. Bone-like appendages releasing. Stretching. 

Skitter, Skitter, Skitter, Skitter. Something is coming.

Kreeeaaa. It is here.

Crunch. It is gone.

Then, as if singing a song. “Kaaaaaaam, are your eyes closed?”