The Lion of my dreams - part 3 (Final)
#3 of The Lion of My dreams
So there I was, lying naked with a lion in my bed and his brother standing in the doorway.
"Your brother?" I asked him, I was shocked and scared at the same time. The look on the face of Mareg was a face of shame, dishonor, shock and anger all at the same time. Just like his brother, Mareg was a big muscled lion. In fact, it looked like he could take down Dave with a single swing of his paw.
"Yes, Mareg is my brother. It was he who came to take me back the last time too." Dave clearly didn't know what to do, he was just as scared as I am.
Mareg stepped further into the room. "In all my visions of why you seem to leave constantly, I never dreamed that you'd have a relationship with a human, and a male human at that!" Mareg's voice raised uncontrolably, he was clearly very angry. "come on, it's time to go home cub. You can start by putting on this." Mareg took a little silver necklace from his side pocket and flung it across the room. It landed on Dave's chest, it was a silver necklace with a lion-head pendant in the middle.
That's when it hit me, the reason Dave wasn't allowed to talk to humans, the reason he wore that expensive suit, the reason he dissappeared so quickly. He was a family member of "The Pack". "The Pack" was a society of Lion Royals that lived in Northern Africa, they were stinking rich and had the world at their feet. However, they couldn't stand humans, not since one of them was murdered by a poacher for its fur, which was highly illegal. The poacher got away with the fur and no one knows who it was.
"Y... You're a member of "The Pack"?", I stammered. I never, in my wildest dreams, thought that Dave would be one of them.
Dave looked down to the necklace resting on his hard chest. "Yes, I am, I'm sorry I didn't tell you." He stood up and with shame he put his clothes back on as Mareg watched in disgust.
"That's more than enough attire to keep you covered until we get home." Mareg said as Dave had his pants and his shirt on, it was still unbuttoned. "Now come on, we have to go." he said and started heading out the room. Just as he reached the doorway, he turned around. "One more thing, we must make sure that there is no reason for you to return here again".
Mareg pulled a gun from his pocket and aimed it right at me! "Mareg no!" Dave shouted, "Leave him out of this!" I didn't know what to think, I was at the edge of life and death. My fate balanced on the decision of a family member of "The Pack", a group of lions that hated humans with every ounce of strength they had.
"No Dave, I'm sorry but the human must die! Otherwise you'll just keep coming back again and again, and we can't have that now can we!" He lifted the gun and aimed straight at my head. As I sat there in the bed, I could see his finger squeeze harder on the trigger, throwing the balance of my fate to the side of death. I closed my eyes and covered my eyes with my hand as Mareg shouted "Now! Die human!".
The sound of the gunshot was almost too much for my ears, but I could hear Dave shout something. As I opened my eyes, I looked at Mareg. There was some smoke coming from the gun, but where did the bullet go. I looked at his face, he was staring at the ground with a face that the word "surprised" can't even begin to describe. I looked around, Dave was no where to be seen. Then I realised where the bullet had gone.
I jumped out of bed and ran to where Dave was lying on the ground, there was a huge hole in his chest and blood was gushing out of the wound. "Call 911!" I shouted at Mareg, but he just stood there, shocked and surprised, at his brother dying on the floor. "I said call 911!" I shouted again. Tears came running through my eyes, blurring the vision of the lion, my lion, struggling to breathe, choking on blood running into his lungs.
"W... what have I done?" Mareg said, tears was running down the side of his face. I realised that, although he was a jerk, he loved his brother very much. "No..." he said as he dropped the gun to the floor and ran out of the room.
"Wait!" I shouted, but it was in vain. The car was starting outside and it sped away in a few seconds. "Dave, just stay with me okay?" I said to him, I got my phone and called 911 and reported the gunshot. "Paramedics are on the way Dave, just hold on. I'm not losing you! Not again!" I said as more tears started filling my eyes.
"Here, I want you to have this." he said as he ripped off the necklace with the little strength he had. He placed it into my hand and made me hold it.
"I'll hold onto it, but I'll return it when you've recovered at the hospital." I said, I had to reassure him, and in some way I had to reassure myself that everything was going to be okay, that everything would be the way it was before all this happened, when we were just friends.
I rode with him in the back of the ambulance and waited in the hospital. The doctor came out of the operating room. "Are you Josh?" he asked me. I knew that tears would fill my eyes if I spoke, so I nodded. "I'm sorry, the damage to your friend's lung was too extensive. We lost him." he said as he put his hand on my shoulder.
So there I was, lying naked with a lion in my bed and his brother standing in the doorway.
"Your brother?" I asked him, I was shocked and scared at the same time. The look on the face of Mareg was a face of shame, dishonor, shock and anger all at the same time. Just like his brother, Mareg was a big muscled lion. In fact, it looked like he could take down Dave with a single swing of his paw.
"Yes, Mareg is my brother. It was he who came to take me back the last time too." Dave clearly didn't know what to do; he was just as scared as I am.
Mareg stepped further into the room. "In all my visions of why you seem to leave constantly, I never dreamed that you'd have a relationship with a human, and a male human at that!" Mareg's voice rose uncontrollably, he was clearly very angry. "Come on, it's time to go home cub. You can start by putting on this." Mareg took a little silver necklace from his side pocket and flung it across the room. It landed on Dave's chest; it was a silver necklace with a lion-head pendant in the middle.
That's when it hit me, the reason Dave wasn't allowed to talk to humans, the reason he wore that expensive suit, the reason he disappeared so quickly. He was a family member of "The Pack". "The Pack" was a society of Lion Royals that lived in Northern Africa; they were stinking rich and had the world at their feet. However, they couldn't stand humans, not since one of them was murdered by a poacher for its fur, which was highly illegal. The poacher got away with the fur and no one knows who it was.
"Y... You're a member of "The Pack"?", I stammered. I never, in my wildest dreams, thought that Dave would be one of them.
Dave looked down to the necklace resting on his hard chest. "Yes, I am, I'm sorry I didn't tell you." He stood up and with shame he put his clothes back on as Mareg watched in disgust.
"That's more than enough attire to keep you covered until we get home." Mareg said as Dave had his pants and his shirt on, it was still unbuttoned. "Now come on, we have to go." he said and started heading out the room. Just as he reached the doorway, he turned around. "One more thing, we must make sure that there is no reason for you to return here again".
Mareg pulled a gun from his pocket and aimed it right at me! "Mareg, no!" Dave shouted, "Leave him out of this!" I didn't know what to think, I was at the edge of life and death. My fate balanced on the decision of a family member of "The Pack", a group of lions that hated humans with every ounce of strength they had.
"No Dave, I'm sorry but the human must die! Otherwise you'll just keep coming back again and again, and we can't have that now, can we!" He lifted the gun and aimed straight at my head. As I sat there in the bed, I could see his finger squeeze harder on the trigger, throwing the balance of my fate to the side of death. I closed my eyes and covered my eyes with my hand as Mareg shouted "Now! Die human!"
The sound of the gunshot was almost too much for my ears, but I could hear Dave shout something. As I opened my eyes, I looked at Mareg. There was some smoke coming from the gun, but where did the bullet go. I looked at his face; he was staring at the ground with a face that the word "surprised" can't even begin to describe. I looked around; Dave was nowhere to be seen. Then I realized where the bullet had gone.
I jumped out of bed and ran to where Dave was lying on the ground, there was a huge hole in his chest and blood was gushing out of the wound. "Call 911!" I shouted at Mareg, but he just stood there, shocked and surprised, at his brother dying on the floor. "I said call 911!" I shouted again. Tears came running through my eyes, blurring the vision of the lion, my lion, struggling to breathe, choking on blood running into his lungs.
"W... what have I done?" Mareg said, as tears were running down the side of his face. I realized that, although he was a jerk, he loved his brother very much. "No..." he said as he dropped the gun to the floor and ran out of the room.
"Wait!" I shouted, but it was in vain. The car was starting outside and it sped away in a few seconds. "Dave, just stay with me okay?" I said to him, I got my phone and called 911 and reported the gunshot. "Paramedics are on the way Dave, just hold on. I'm not losing you! Not again!" I said as more tears started filling my eyes.
"Here, I want you to have this." he said as he ripped off the necklace with the little strength he had. He placed it into my hand and made me hold it.
"I'll hold onto it, but I'll return it when you've recovered at the hospital." I said, I had to reassure him, and in some way I had to reassure myself that everything was going to be okay, that everything would be the way it was before all this happened, when we were just friends.
I rode with him in the back of the ambulance and waited in the hospital. The doctor came out of the operating room. "Are you Josh?" he asked me. I knew that tears would fill my eyes if I spoke, so I nodded. "I'm sorry; the damage to your friend's lung was too extensive. We lost him." he said as he put his hand on my shoulder.
It felt like an immense shock went through my body; it felt like there was an atom bomb exploding in my heart. The lion that I loved more than anything in this world, the lion who loved me so much that he would leave his family just to be with me, gave his life in order to save mine. He was gone, forever.
He had a huge funeral; the whole family from "The Pack" was there. I stood and watched from behind a tree, far enough so they wouldn't see it, but close enough to reassure myself that I had attended it. Life as I knew it stopped, before I knew there was a chance he could return; now I knew that there was no chance that I would ever see him again.
A few weeks later I was sitting in a bar, I was about to take the last sip of my drink when a deep voice sounded behind me, "Hi, mind if I sit down?". I looked around and saw Mareg stand behind me; I jumped off my chair afraid of what he might do. "What do you want?" I said.
"You can relax, I just came to apologize" he said with sorrow in those big yellow eyes of his. They reminded me of Dave's eyes the day he returned to me.
"You shouldn't apologize to me, you should apologize to Dave. You left him to die in my house." I said. I was so angry I could punch him, but he could rip my head off with just a lift of his finger.
"You have no idea how many times I go to his grave trying to find redemption for what I did that night. Even if my brother probably can't forgive me, I was hoping you could. So... I'm sorry for what I did that night, I went overboard."
I looked at him; there was regret in his eyes. "I forgive you, Mareg", I leaned over and kissed him, and he kissed back.
The end.