Something had gone horribly wrong.
When Avery woke up, he could see through his hand. Jake’s deep blue sheets were illuminating his body like a second skin. Avery could barely move them, but he found he didn’t even need to to escape the bed and run down the hall.
There were no footsteps. Outside it was raining but Avery knew he’d never feel it. He couldn’t even feel the carpet under his feet. He couldn’t feel wood or metal. He could only feel utter terror as he tore through the house.
No one was there. The front door was thrown open as if they’d left in a hurry or were just outside waiting in the hall. But when Avery ran out of the flat, no one was there at all. He ran into the lift and tried to press the buttons but he had no strength, no mass. Nothing to weight them down.
By now he was crying so hard that he could feel tears. He didn’t think he could feel anything. He ran back into the flat and screamed for them, but no one answered. The dog wasn’t there, the cat wasn’t there, and the longer Avery ran between the empty rooms, the more apparent it became: they were gone.
Avery collapsed against the window, pressed his head to the glass but felt no cool indication of the rain outside. He needed out.
Tearing down the hall, Avery ran for the fire escape, which was thankfully outside of an open window. Avery slid out and took the stairs as quickly as he could, spreading his wings the moment he got to the roof and gliding down. His bare feet hit the wet pavement and made not a splash even though he’d landed in a puddle. He ran down the narrow side street to the intersection. His wings were gone, but people still looked at him.
They could see him. Oh, thank God, he was still visible!
But cars slowed and slammed on breaks the longer he stayed out, so he knew it wasn’t okay. He still couldn’t feel anything, barefoot and pyjama-clad as he was.
He tore across the street when the light changed and ran the couple blocks until he reached the park and the bench. His heart skipped when he saw Jake there, hunched over, his collar drawn up against the wind.
Avery ran to him, collapsed at his side.
“Jake!” he gasped. Jake turned to him and turned white.
“Oh, God,” he breathed, grabbing Avery’s arms. Avery’s skin momentarily appeared opaque, solid, where Jake’s skin touched him, and, relieved, Avery pressed himself into Jake’s arms. Jake held him so tightly that Avery cried even more. He could feel. It was okay!
But then something happened. Jake let out a strangled cry. Suddenly Avery’s hands began to slip through the fabric of Jake’s shirt. Avery screamed and Jake tried to grab him, to hold onto him, but it was no use—his hands kept slipping through Avery’s body like he wasn’t there at all.
“JAKE!” Avery screamed. Jake looked panicked, stricken, completely white and trembling so violently that it could almost be felt. He was crying.
“Avery, oh God, oh God, no no no nonono! Avery don’t! Avery stop it!”
Footsteps behind them alerted Avery to Jack’s presence, and he felt arms that would normally be warm and comforting slip around his waist, and then slip through it.
“JACK!” Avery screamed. “HELP ME!”
“Avery…” Jack gasped. “Baby, please, what’s going on? Puppy? Baby, stop!”
“Avery don’t leave me!” Avery felt himself growing sick as Jake tried to grab for his hand, for the hand that still had their ring on his finger. But that hand couldn’t feel any of it, and it was nearly gone.
Avery screamed again, and Jack tried to grab him, to hold him, but he couldn’t. And he, too, was crying.
“Avery don’t leave me!” Jake was choking out. “AVERY!”
Avery felt weak, sick, alone, scared out of his mind. He tried to grab for his boys, but nothing could be done for it. Jack was screaming, Jake was crying so hard he could barely form the shouts, the protests, the Avery no please. They kept grasping for him, and suddenly the world began to mute. The sounds were dulled, the colors faded. Avery wanted to die, but not to be awake. To be gone and unaware if this was how it was going to be. He couldn’t be without them. No, no he couldn’t be without them. He’d promised forever to them. Promised!
And when Jake and Jack finally began to hold each other, it was no longer with Avery in the middle.
He woke up with a scream. His body was drenched in sweat and the sheets were tangled and stuck to his skin. Avery couldn’t breathe. He began to claw at his chest, at the t-shirt, fighting hard to regulate his heart and his lungs. He stared at his skin. He couldn’t see through it. Nothing seemed to be fading away. Beside him, Jake and Jack’s bodies were warm and solid and real. He could move the sheets. But he couldn’t breathe.
Terrified even now that he knew it was a dream, knew he was there, Avery began to cry.