Unprepared...

Have you ever built something up in your mind so much, that when it actually happens, you are left feeling completely unprepared?

I've been laying low the last couple days, nursing my wounds. Getting my head straight. Trying to figure out my plan of action.

In the mean time, Gabriel watches over me.

I've been reaching out to Justin. & to the boy who calls himself "Ch1M3Ra". I sent him a dream--I showed him how to find me....

However, I was still surprised to find the young man huddled in the doorway of the abandoned tenement building I've claimed as my hide-out. Temporarily anyways....

I awoke, & padded outside to see if Gabriel was still...frozen, & there he was.

Ch1M3Ra--no more than a boy --at least that's how I see him. A young twenty-something, curled up like a child in the doorway. Battered & broken. Shaggy blonde hair masking bruises & puffy, tired eyes. Plagued by nightmares--he was dreaming when I found him. Waiting for me...

He screamed when I touched him. Now--what ever will I do with him?

.....

His name is Anthony. & he's mine now.

We're linked somehow--he & I. The question is why?

Anthony is remarkably "in tune" with us--me & my kind. Not only is he an open receiver in the Dream Realm--but he slipped through a crack. He shattered reality as you know it--if only for a moment--& slipped into the Ciudad de Monstruos. My world.

How did he do that? I asked him--drilled him is more like it. I assaulted the poor boy with questions until he was exhausted. But I got no answers. He doesn't have them.

Right now--Anthony sleeps. I'm shielding him--so he can get a few hours of much needed rest. But it's hard--there's something about him. He's more than he seems...much more. It's taking all of my concentration to hold the barriers in place. Something wants him--badly. The Bandaged Man? Perhaps. My shields are taking one hell of a beating--but still they remain in tact...

When Anthony awakes--we're going through. I'm going home --not in the Dream Realm--but for "real" this time. & I'm taking him through the crack with me...