The light in your nightmares

The mattress is comfortable, the blanket is soft and the cushion is cold. Despite everything Dust manages to doze off once again.

When he comes to his senses he feels like some kind of acid is rising up his throat. He changes position to chase away the unpleasant sensation and sees that Red is still asleep.

Which is quite incredible.

With a hand caressing his stomach the young man straightens up to lean against the back of the bed.

Sitting down he thinks about food.

He wants meat. A very rare steak...

Why does he have to wait so long every time before eating?

The swamp, and now this...

He regrets a little the egg with the baby bird fetus inside....

A little. He is not yet at the stage where he would eat one.

At least he thinks so.

Already he wants to something, to busy his mind.

But here there is not much activity he can do apart from worrying all day long.

He contemplates his options and finally decides that running in a circle will be a good idea.

Just to stretch his legs.

He glances at the other man. He is still lying down and sleeping peacefully.

So Dust abandons the project to leave the apartments for a little exercise.

He gets up and searches the furniture.

Apart from belts and habits or shoes there is nothing. As he had noticed the first time he took possession of the place.

The boy nearly trip over the decorative stone he had previously placed in front of the door.

He moves it out of the way and goes to the living room.

Nothing has moved in this room since the mess they both made to find the secret entrance.

The heavy green sofa is shifted diagonally. The beautiful carpet is not completely laid flat. Small waves lift its fabric and highlight the golden mountains woven into its weft.

The cushions are as much on the armchairs as on the parquet floor.

And the round table is almost put on its side. Two of its carved legs even scratched the wood when they pushed it to see more clearly.

Dust thinks about tidying up later. He rummages in the chest of drawers, which has also been moved to block the hidden stairs.

In the 6 drawers he finds only an empty wooden box, carved on top like a checkerboard, small lead statuettes representing hares, foxes, wolves and deer, ... and a thin, square fabric. embroidered with the outlines, no doubt a handkerchief.

In front of these meager finds, Dust remembers that under the table he felt a bulge when he moved it.

He approaches it, puts a hand underneath it and realizes that he has a reason.

He crouches down to look underneath. Set back there is a small drawer.

Inside he finally finds something interesting.

A card game.

Put in a simple leather case, these cards are quite imposing and made of a thin wooden board...

Their backs are black and their faces painted in white are burnished.

Characters are engraved then painted. Dust does not recognize the game. Some are numbered from I to X, others are not. He assumes that those without are the kings and queens. In total there are 56 cards. Visibly separated by 14 types of characters.

He observes this one by one fascinated. The characters are very detailed and their very colorful habits capture his gaze.

He recognizes a harlequin outfit, variegated with blue and yellow for his top and for his bottom , a kind of knee pants with orange and green stripes ending in lace.

His mask has reflections giving perfectly the illusion of bronze, his small black almond-shaped eyes are highlighted by his grin that spreads to his ears.

Above his head, like bristling pics, his red cap ends with small bells.

They all have coats of arms on the upper right side.

Looking at them one by one, Dust understands that there are four houses. One with a red lion standing on its two legs on a white background, a second with blue lilies and a gold background, the third with a hydra with 6 black heads on a red background and a fourth much simpler. silver band crossing a midnight blue.

How to play it, the boy has no idea at all.

Dust does not hear his companion arrive.

He is only alerted to his presence when he yawns, his shadow projecting itself onto the boy's crouching form.

He turns around quite quickly and looks up to look at the man.

-Can't sleep?

His companion's voice is more hoarse than usual.

The boy gets up while answering him:

-I can't sleep because that's all I do.

Red shrugs, one of his hands ruffling his hair a little more. with his gesture a few red strands against gravity .

He yawns again and then sketches a closed smile that raises the right corner of his lips.

A teasing smile on which Dust's gaze lingers.

He asks a new question his voice getting deeper but his tone as light as a feather;

- Do you want to ... practice an activity that could relieve you of this excess energy?

The boy narrows his eyes as the man approaches.

He senses an innuendo in the proposition without fully grasping it.

Dust puts down the wooden cards he was still holding in his hand without paying any more attention to them:

- What?

Red takes a brief glance at the thin painted wooden boards placed on the table but quickly returns to catch Dust's gaze.

One of his eyebrows rises as he gives him a knowing wink:

- You know ... on the bed ...

The young man understands everything at once.

It's so sudden that it's like being struck by lightning in the middle of a sunny day.

While staring at Red he takes two steps back. Then realizing that it wasn't enough for him he moves behind the table, which acts as a barrier between him and the other.

The red-haired man stays in his place, watching him do as one would watch a clown at the circus.

After a silence and probably noting that Dust wouldn't accept his proposal he seems a little irritated.

His smile is lost as his eyebrows furrow.

He runs a hand through his hair for the second time with an annoyed look:

-Oh please Dust. We're all stuck here. Might as well have a little fun, right?

Dust swallows, he takes a second to answer:

-I'm not interested.

The man seems exasperated by this refusal, he sighs then shrugs. He goes back into the room with his feet dragging without insisting any more but not without having the last word:

-It's as you wish Dust. You or I are stuck in this game. We might as well have as much fun as possible.

After a good 10 minutes of silence, the man comes back, clean and changed.

He crosses the living room in front of the boy without further comment and opens the door to the entrance.

-Where are you going?

He turns his head to look at Dust, another smile on his thin lips:

-I told you; I want to have fun.

The door closes at the end of his sentence like a full stop.

Sitting on the green couch among the cushions embroidered with gold thread, Dust remains motionless.

What just happened?

How does he want to have fun in this kind of place?

How can anyone want to have fun after everything they've been through?

What's gotten into Red?

He feels... surprised and very deeply shocked...

Did he just had a dream where Red just asked him to sleep with? or is this reality?

Lost he looks at the cushions before taking one in his arms.

On the pillowcase a group of rabbits is embroidered. They jump over a dead tree behind them a hunter already raising his bow.

He observes the image before throwing the cushion across the room.

Since earlier he is afraid of leaving Red alone so he waits patiently here but the other man as soon as he woke up left him alone without worrying ???