Stiff Kittens - The Devil Dreams

Like everyone else, Miranda has dreams.

Mostly her dreams are like the dreams everyone else has, too.  Miranda dreams of flying.  She loves those dreams because she always feels in complete control.  She also dreams of colors, places, food, and sometimes, teeth.

And sometimes—just like everyone else—Miranda dreams of sex.

These dreams haven’t always been about men.  Once, years ago, she dreamed of Jacqueline Follet; they were grappling with each other, and the struggle seemed to shift back and forth without any reason between true violence, and something more sensual, with nails and teeth and hair-pulling.  She also had an odd dream about Emily once.  The girl had darted in and out of her bedroom, each time in a different set of lingerie; she was always so eager to please… Well, Miranda would secretly admit that it was endearing, but not really that terribly attractive.

As a rule, though, when Miranda had ‘those kinds’ of dreams, they were about men.  When she had first met Stephan, she had had such sweet dreams; nonsensical and surreal, but they left her waking up tingly and smiling.

Miranda likes those kinds of dreams.  She wishes she could have a dream like that now—she would even settle for a dream about Stephan, even if it probably wouldn’t be so sweet anymore—because it’s really getting quite distressing, how ever since that day in Paris Andrea Sachs has been invading her subconscious.

Miranda doesn’t like the dreams she’s been having about the girl at all.  Well, if she’s going to be entirely honest, that may not be exactly true… but she doesn’t wake up from them smiling.  She wakes up feeling unsettled, uncomfortable and disturbed.  These dreams are dark and filled with deep-down urgency like nothing she’s dreamed before.  Because she has to tie Andrea down, of course, so she won’t run away again.  She isn’t satisfied until the girl is begging to be allowed to stay, begging her and promising her anything if Miranda will just… give her what she wants…

It is ridiculous that she hasn’t been able to cut Andrea out of her life by now.  And it doesn’t help, Miranda thinks as she peers out her window in the mornings after, that the girl insists on walking past her building every day.

Miranda wonders if Andrea has dreams, too.