run2thesuonlight | Fill 9: Dream (Reply)

Matt woke up gasping, his heart hammering. The dream he'd just woken up from had been too real. In it he and George had been chasing a suspect down by the docks with all its mazes of rusty railings and slick wooden planks. In his dream, the ocean was dark as it slapped against the pilings.

As he watched their suspect, Will O’Wisp, had suddenly turned with his eyes wide, and he then shoved George.

Hard.

Even while he sat there on the side of his bed trying to catch his breath, Matt could still see it all: The sickening moment when George's balance was lost, sending him towards the dark waters below. The moment he knew that there was no way he'd could do anything to stop it from happening.

He eventually laid back down, and tried to go back to sleep. But that had been a lost cause for that night as the nightmare of watching his partner fall to his death had been burned into his mind's eye. Then for the next three days, what he saw in his sleep continued to haunt him for the next three days: the echo of footfall on the wet planks, the heavy salt smell in the air, the sheer terror in George's eyes as he fell.

It was that Thursday, in the afternoon, when they'd been called about a burglary suspect near their location. When Matt heard the guy was spotted at the docks, Matt's stomach flopped, his lunch suddenly not settling so great.

Of course, George had noticed, "You're looking a little green, Matthew. Was it something you ate, or maybe it's a little seasickness?"

Matt had shrugged it off, "Yeah, something like that... and before you even say it, George, no I am not gonna sit this one out. The guy's hiding out at the docks. You know by the ocean? There's no way I'm about to let you go after another Newcomer who clearly having suicidal thoughts."

Thankfully, George hadn't argued the issue.

When they'd finally arrived, the air had smelled exactly the same way Matt remembered it smelling in the dream he'd had days before. When they got of their car, he told George to be extra careful.

"You too, Matthew."

Matt's pulse started roaring in his ears as they'd separated and begun to look for their suspect. Matt was searching around shipping containers when he heard George say over the radio that he'd spotted the suspect and was in pursuit.

"Where are you?" Matt asked immediately.

George hadn't responded, and with a choice word, Matt had taken off running in the direction he'd seen George go in.

Matt came around a stack of crates and that was when he caught sight of them. George was chasing O’Wisp down a narrow dock. The wood was old, it groaned under their pounding steps, and the ocean was below smashing darkly around the pilings.

Every single detail matched his dream.

The rusted railing.

The very way O’Wisp's head would jerk to look back over his shoulder.

Even down to the panicked determination that George would not catch him.

Matt's legs were burning as he pushed to his limits to get to them.

"George! Watch out!"

He gave no thought as he caught them then used all the force he had left in him to grab George and bring him down the ground.

"Matthew, what-?"

George was cut off as O’Wisp had turned and had made the motion to shove his pursuer into the water.

The fact his hands met air didn't stop O’Wisp, and he took off running again.

"Celine," George muttered, "He would have pushed me into the water."

Breathless, Matt nodded, "Yeah."