Day Tripper (Chapter 2)

Natalie was still a little cautious stepping outside of her room. Despite being hallucination-free for a few days now, she always worried that when she walked into the kitchen she was going to see something that she wasn’t meant to see. She didn’t dare tell anybody about what she saw… how she saw her brother that day. It was too embarrassing. Luckily, she was beginning to think that it was just a one-off occurrence. Just one of those things. They happen. Like spontaneous combustion. Sometimes people and things just light on fire for reasons we can’t figure out and sometimes you think you hallucinate your brother standing naked in the kitchen right in front of you.

She kept telling herself that it was fine. The more that she distracted herself with her reading and her music, and the more that she told herself that it either didn’t happen or was a fluke that would never happen again, the more that she did those things the more she could keep herself from freaking out about it. The first day she didn’t leave her room at all, that was how startled she was. She snuck out early the next morning to grab something to eat when it was quiet and she was sure that everyone was asleep. For the next few days she managed to work up the courage to walk into the kitchen, and every time she did, it was normal.

She took a deep breath and stepped out of the hallway and into the kitchen. It was normal, everything as it should be. No naked brothers. She felt her heart rate slow down as she opened the fridge to get something to drink. Just as she was grabbing the milk, she suddenly got a chill. This was how it happened before. It didn’t happen when she walked into the room, it happened when she turned her back. She told herself that she was stronger than this. She can’t let this incident keep its hold over her. She turned around and looked at the kitchen. Normal as before. She went back to the fridge.

As she was making herself some toast she heard the front door open. She realized it must be Saturday. Her father always went out for a morning jog on Saturday’s. That must be him getting back now.

"Dad?" she called out.

"It's me," she heard her father's voice call out.

"How was your run?" Natalie asked. She heard her father leave his shoes at the front door. She heard him pull his yoga mat out of the closet, as he always did. He always liked to stretch out after a workout. She focused on applying butter and jelly to her toast as she continued conversation with her father.

"Same as usual."

"How's the weather?"

"Nice. You know, you could go outside and see for yourself."

"I know, I just haven't gotten out today."

"Just like you 'just didn't get out' all of yesterday either."

Natalie knew he was just teasing her. He knew that she was just not a very outdoorsy type of person. She finished making her breakfast and took a bite. She walked out to continue conversing with her father and nearly choked on her food.

"Oh no," she thought. "It's happening again."

Her father was stretching out on his yoga mat in the middle of the living room floor, just as he always did, but like her brother before he was completely naked. The only difference was that his penis was flaccid. She hated that she noticed that. "This isn't right," she thought to herself. But she managed to swallow the bite of her food and take some deep breaths in and out. She didn't want to run, she wanted to figure out what was going on, but she couldn't stop herself from freaking out. That pinch of doubt started bothering her again, the one that told her that it felt completely real the last time, and it was only out of refusal to accept that what she was seeing was real that she convinced herself that it was a hallucination. There was no doubt in her mind now that her mind was clear, and her thoughts were sober.

"Did you go out like that?" she asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Your workout outfit." Just in case she was hallucinating, she didn't want to admit it. It would be too embarrassing.

"Oh this?" he said, looking down and gesturing towards himself. "Yeah, I went out in it. Just trying out something new. I'm surprised you noticed."

"Yeah, well, something just seemed off."

"Now if you don't mind, can I continue my workout?"

"Of course, go ahead."

Her father, every girl's first crush. Every girl imagines how lucky her mother must be, and if she reminds him of how her mother looked when he initially fell for her. Every girl thinks about him forgetting to lock the door to the bathroom and she walks in just as he is getting out of the shower. Natalie has just seen it, and not just a quick accidental peak, but a full show, every inch of his body on display, from every angle. She watches his flesh shift as he changes positions and stretches. He was sweaty. Very sweaty.

She didn't stare at him directly, which would would look creepy. She took small bites of her toast and chewed them slowly, again keeping her breaths deep and steady. She tried to sneak glances when she thought he wasn't looking. A time or two he caught her looking, and she would play it casual, letting her eyes wander around the room, like she had only looked at him for a second. She thought he must think she is being really weird, but the only reason she was doing this was out of sheer disbelief. He was so casual about it all. After a few minutes she ran out of toast and finished her drink and walked back to her room in a daze.

When she got back to her room she laid in bed and actually fell back asleep, waking up a few hours later. When she awoke she was hungry, only having had a small piece of toast, and left the safety of her room to return to the kitchen. When she got there she was surprised to see William and Dennis, neither of whom she had seen since those "incidents", and she was relieved to find both of them fully clothed. They appeared to have been talking about something but stopped when she entered the room, which was a little suspicious, but she dismissed it as boys being boys.

"Hello boys," she said.

"Hey," they both said at the same time, glaring at each other after they did.

"What's up?" said Dennis.

"Nothing much, " she replied. "I saw Dad this morning. We talked a bit"

"Oh really? He didn't mention it."

"You saw him?"

"Yeah, just as he was getting back from his morning jog."

"Did anything seem... off about him?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know, just off."

"No, not that I can think of. I saw him when he came in the door and pulled out his yoga mat."

"That can't be right."

"Why not?"

"Because that's when I saw him."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, he got his mat out of the closet."

"Maybe he went out twice?" offered William, who had been quiet until this point.

"Maybe," said Natalie.

"Are you sure you didn't just dream it?"

"Are you sure you didn't dream it?"

"Yes, not unless I'm dreaming now. I have been awake since then."

"I can pinch you if you would like," teased William.

"Do it at your own peril," replied Dennis, before he turned back to Natalie. "Are you sure you didn't dream it. You look like you just got up."

"I did," she replied. "I went back to sleep after it happened.

"Well there you go," said William. "And that explains why you thought there was something off about your dad."

"Yeah," said Natalie. "Yeah, you're right. It was all just a dream. Hey Dennis, do you remember when we met in the kitchen a few mornings ago?"

"When?"

"I don't know, a few days ago."

"No, I can't say I do."

"That must have been a dream too."

"Why, was there something 'off' about me too?" he looked at William and the two of them snickered at this.

"Whatever guys," she said. She grabbed something for lunch out of the cupboard to take back to her room, and as she walked back she felt much better. She thought that must have all been a dream. It all made sense. That pinch was gone, her mind was clear.

But as she stayed in her room she couldn't help but analyze her dreams. She knew from a psychology class she took in junior year that it wasn't really agreed upon what dreams were. Some theories proposed that they were just white noise in the brain, some theories said that they were signals from the **** mind, some religions thought that they were predictions of the future. Why was she dreaming about her father and brother naked, and William too? She rationalized this to herself. Yes, she was a woman, she had needs, she had a libido, she'd watched porn before from time to time. She didn't really date through high school, although she had her eyes on a few guys, but would never have dared to act on those feelings. These were the two men in her life that she trusted the most. It made sense that she would develop an attachment to them, it had to. Why else would she be fantasizing about them in this way? And perhaps William got just caught in the crossfire.

She continued this excavation of her feelings until she fell asleep yet again, not waking up until it was dark outside and the house was quiet again, and having gone without food for another several hours, she was hungry yet again. She left her room once more, quietly so as to not wake anyone up. She walked down the hall. As she rounded that corner she thought she saw something moving around in the dark in the living room. She walked closer to see what it was, and as she did the dark blur took the shape of a familiar sight.

"Dennis?" she whispered.

Her brother, in a familiar state of undress, spun around in a panic holding his arms up, startled by her presence. At first she was concerned, but then she remembered the previous day's revelation, and smiled to herself. She thought that she must be dreaming again. This isn't her brother. He isn't really standing there. In fact, neither was she. She was still asleep, in bed. This was just Dennis as her mind saw him. While he stood there stunned, she looked him over. He looked exactly as she had remembered, in continuity with the absurd encounter before, all but confirming her theory. She also noticed that his penis, which she no longer felt any shame at staring at, was noticeably flaccid. She wondered what this meant. Could this represent how she had figured out that she was imaging it all? Was this her subconscious saying it had been caught?

Her brother, or at least the dream version of him, leaned forward to look at her.

"Talia?! Sorry... I'm... just..."

She slowly stepped forward, to which he stepped backwards.

"Why is he doing this?" she thought to herself. "He isn't real. I want to act on my desire."

"What are you doing?" he said.

He continued backing up until his back hit the wall, nowhere to go. She continued advancing until the two of them were very close. She could see he was about to talk but she put a finger up to his lips and shushed him. With her other hand she reached down towards his penis. His eyes went wide and he reached down and caught her wrist pulling it up and then with both hands he pushed her away and made a run towards his room. Confused, she tried to reach out and grab his arm but her foot slipped and she fell on the floor. He heard this and turned around, looking like he was about to walk over and help her, but after looking down and remembering the state he was in, decided against it.

"I'm sorry," was all he said before once more attempting to retreat to his room, this time succeeding, disappearing behind the door as it closed, leaving Natalie sitting there in the silence of the dark house, alone and confused.

"What is happening?" she whispered to herself. "Am I dreaming?"

She got up and walked past the kitchen towards her room, forgetting what she came for. Stopping outside her door she looked back at the door to her brother's room. She knew that there was a way to know for sure what was happening. She could leave behind some element of change, to confirm that all of this was real. But she didn't want to. If this was real and that really was her brother and she really just did that, then she wanted to believe that it was all just a dream. And so she entered her room and closed the door behind her and climbed into bed, knowing that if she were to get up again she wouldn't be able to tell the difference.