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and Susie locked him out of the hotel room, and he was naked, like you said.  She didn’t mean for it to last long—only a few minutes—but there was a cop outside and he saw El running around making all kinds of noise.”
    They both laughed at the thought of it.
    “Anyway, you should have seen his face light up in fear when I said I’d tell everyone if he said anything. You could tell his lips were sealed.”
    “Well, good,” she said.  “But if he does tell anyone, he’ll get more than an embarrassing story from me, I promise you.”
    They laughed again, and Johnny kissed his wife, and she smiled that smile of hers—that beautiful and heavenly smile—and the day, they silently agreed, like so many others, was worth remembering.
     
    A White Room
    Johnny Abram opened his eyes and the light hit him like a hammered nail. He tried to scream because of the pain, to call for help, but when he went to open his mouth, nothing came.
    Where was this place, and where was Gale? Wasn’t he just with her at their farm? This had to be some sort of dream. Yes, that was it. Maybe he’d fallen asleep.
    “Doctor,” called a woman. “The patient’s awake!”
    “Impossible,” said the man. “He should be out cold.”
    “No, sir. Look!”
    “You’re right,” he said, standing over Johnny. “Give him another shot, but keep him monitored.  We need him asleep, not in a coma.”
    And moments later, he was. The bright light faded, along with the strange dream of the white room, and soon even the memory of it had gone.
     
    Abram Farm
    El stood beside him as he stared beyond the fading light. The sun was sinking back into the mountains, the blue sky turning orange and red and purple, chaotic and tranquil all at once. Johnny breathed deeply and sighed. He loved this place, this land. It was so old and he knew so little of it all, but it was his home and had been since the day he’d found it. “I’m sorry, El,” he finally said. “I can’t go with you.”
    El sighed, but didn’t look at him. “Figured you’d say that,” he said. “Clearwater’s pretty far away from here. I hope you’ll visit us there.”
    “This is my home. I can’t leave.”
    “Is this why you brought me all the way out here?” El asked. “To tell me you’re not coming with us?”
    “Yeah,” he answered. “This is where I asked her to marry me.”
    “Really?” he asked, surprised. “Nice spot.”
    “It was right over there next to that tree,” Johnny pointed. “We had a picnic. She packed up the food and cloth afterwards and looked up to say something…and there I was, on one knee and nervous as hell.”  He wiped his nose and coughed. “I can’t leave those memories.”
    “Guess there’s no way I can change your mind, then,” El sighed. “The wife’s gonna miss you something fierce. You know she’s gonna just cry and cry.”
    Johnny smiled.  “And you?”
    “Now, you know I ain’t never been one for saying that sort of thing, but…” He laughed.  “Guess we both know how I feel about it.”
    “Yeah,” said Johnny, throwing his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Same to you, buddy.”
     
    The Room
    “Doctor, the patient isn’t responding to the medication!”
    Johnny Abram opened his eyes.
    “Then switch to—”
    The man’s voice suddenly became a hard shrill, indecipherable, like a high-pitched siren. Johnny tried to ask them to stop, tried to move or speak, to do anything and everything he could to tell them of the noise, but it was no use—he couldn’t move, he couldn’t scream. He couldn’t stop it.
    Johnny.
    Johnny, wake up.
                 
    The Void
    Johnny Abram stood alone atop a desert road. The noise was gone, along with the room and the strange people in masks.
    Was he dreaming again?  If so, then his dream had just become a nightmare, gone from mildly unpleasant to something else entirely. 
    Before him lay a vast and endless desert. The grains of sand sparkled like a hundred