dan sees the bright red behind his eyelids before he opens them. the sunlight was shining right on his face. he rolls over on his right side away from it but it was like the sun was coming from all directions. there was only one place he remembers where a room did this and that was at his old house.

he open his eyes slowly and blinks. upon opening them, he sees a painted black bookshelf with one book on it. he remembers having a bookshelf just like that. dan turns back on his side cautiously and squints as he looks at the window. that was his window.

no no. this had to be a dream. he glances at the sheets. these were his sheets.

on a whim, dan glances at the bed post and sure enough, there was his name that he had craved into it when he was 15. how did he get here?

"you mumble things in your sleep."

dan jumps and screams as he turns to see a woman sitting at the end of his bed. she was smiling at him but her eyes shown wonder.

"how did you...how did i get here?" dan pulls the blankets closer to himself.

she tsks and shakes her head. her hair was long and brown. it grazes her hips as she moves closer to him. dan notices that she had a rip in her nightgown.

"i've been watching you sleep." she says truthfully. "and you would mumble some things."

dan blinks. he really needed to wake up if this was a dream.

"you would mumble 'mom' a lot but then you said it was all your fault. what did you do?"

dan scoots away as she sits next to him. "i...i-"

"is your mother dead? is that why it's your fault?" she advances more.

"what? no! listen-"

dan scoots all the way to the edge of the bed but the woman keeps coming closer until she's an inch away from his face. "i thought you were dead last night when i saved you. but then..." she touches his cheek. "i felt you. you were so warm and beautiful..."

"tilly!"

she snaps her head to the now open door. an old man was standing there with a frown on his face. "i told you to serve him, not creep him out."

"i was father." the woman, tilly, rolls her eyes before leaving the bed and walking to the nearby desk where orange juice and pancakes were sat on a small wooden table. she comes back to dan and gently hands it to him.

"it was nice talking to you." she giggles before walking by the man with a scornful look on his face.

dan looks at the food. it made his mouth water but after that encounter with that woman he was hesitant to eat.

"go ahead." it seems the elderly man had read his thoughts, "i made it myself and you need food in you."

he reluctantly picks up the orange juice but the minute it touches his lips it had been finished in a matter of seconds before he attacks the pancakes.

dan wipes his mouth after he finishes and looks up to see the man still standing there. now that he had been looking at him for a bit, his eyes go wide in shock. "i know you! you're-"

"william. the man you met on the airplane. that was my daughter tilly."

"i thought you said she was studying abroad?" dan says dumbly.

"i did." he confirms.

dan waits for him to elaborate but he doesn't.

"some things are best left kept personal and secret daniel."

dan just nods. confused. "um so...how did i get in my old house? how are you here?"

william quirks an eyebrow. "oh? the manager didn't tell me that this was your house."

"what?"

"this house was turned into a bed and breakfast a couple years ago. tilly and i are some of the employees."

dan's head was swirling with questions and the old man could tell. he smiles and motions him up. "come. i'd like you to meet the manager."

in a stupor, dan stands and follows him down the stairs. when they turn into the kitchen, a tall man in a pressed suit had his back to them but on hearing their arrival he turns. dan's feet give out and william was quick to catch him. the same curly brown hair. those same eyes that had aged lines beside them. the same dimpled smile.

"dad?"

ah shoot i did it again

~alivia