Andrew’s logic was flawed; nothing he could do would change Becky’s and Krystyn’s opinion of him in the slightest. In reality, his private thoughts were nothing more than a rationalization for his acceptance of the women’s wishes. Andrew’s fear of rejection and deep seated feelings of inferiority made it impossible for him to argue with a strong-willed woman even in a dream. As he sipped on the formula-laden coffee, Kyrstyn coughed delicately and put her hand in front of her mouth. Andrew couldn’t be sure, but he caught a faint murmuring sound from her as if she was muttering or chanting something under her breath. Andrew remembered that in the dream, he discovered that the taste of the coffee was not at all bad; the rich formula had definitely added to the taste of the coffee and he had unconsciously smacked his lips in appreciation at the sugary concoction. Both women had beamed at his reaction and had smiled knowingly at each other.
Andrew took a deep draught of the delicious milky-sweet coffee and smiled back at them, beginning to feel at ease for the first time in the strange household. He finished the coffee while the women made small talk about how Joey was doing in Daycare. Moments after emptying his cup, he felt a dizzy spell and half-dropped it down on the saucer with a clatter, knocking the spoon onto the table. He laid back against the couch as a pulsing wave of heat coursed from his head to his toes.
Soon the pulsing became a fiery throb which he felt in every part of his body. He broke out in a sweat as the women watched with apparent unconcern. Andrew panicked, but he was unable to speak because his throat had dried up as his internal temperature rose. The hot throbbing of his body soon changed into an intense burning sensation that began at the ends of his toes and ended at the most distal part of the hairs on his head. He felt like he was on fire. He gestured at the cup, then grunted out, “Caaaan’t taaalk. Neeeed trink!”, to tell them he was horribly thirsty.
Becky obligingly filled his coffee cup with the milky contents of the baby bottle and held it out to his shaking hands. Andrew seized the cup with both hands and downed the contents with one gulp, grateful for the sweet soothing liquid. Within minutes, the burning sensation cooled and changed into an intense itching sensation wherever his clothes touched his skin. After a few moments of motionless suffering, Andrew’s eyes glazed over and became filled with torture induced sightless madness. Without thinking, he hurriedly began to unbutton his shirt and disrobe in front of the two women as if they weren’t there.
The itching sensation spread until every square inch of his body was sending alarm signals back to his brain. It was all he could do to keep his hands from scratching himself until his body was a bloody ruin. In truth, Andrew immediately lost the ability to see the women in the dream, because of the blood-red cloud that obscured his vision. His ears were filled with a loud buzzing sound that blotted out whatever reality that remained in his mind. All he could think about was getting out of the clothes which were threatening to drive him into screaming, writhing psychosis. Moments later, he was blindly standing stark naked in front of the two smirking women. Then he collapsed to the floor in a loose-jointed heap as if he was a marionette whose strings had been cut. He moaned piteously on the floor as the baby watched through the mesh of the portable playpen with wide eyes; Joey was well aware of what was happening, he had seen the same scene repeated with other men a dozens of times before.