Free Dream Killing by Magus Tor, Carrie Lynn Weniger

rounded the corner and walked over to
The Bean. Drew had never seen the coffee shop as crowded as it was when he
walked in. After waiting for what seemed like forever, but was probably closer
to ten minutes, Drew was next in line.
    “Hey, Adam. What’s going on?”
    “I’m the only one here. We were supposed
to close because of what happened, but people just kept coming in.”
    “What happened?”
    “Lisa, our evening girl passed away
today.” Adam said the words, but didn’t really sound too affected by them.
    “Oh, my gosh, really?”
    “Yeah. They think it was a brain
hemorrhage.” Again, Adam spoke about her death as if he were talking about the
newspaper not being delivered.
    “Wow. There are so many people dying
that way. Listen, I just need a couple croissants and a couple muffins. Here,
throw me a bag and I’ll get them myself. You are busy.” Drew tossed him a ten
dollar bill and told him to keep the change. Adam slid a bag across the counter
and mouthed the word “thanks”.
    After Drew grabbed what he came for, he
weaved his way through the customers and headed towards the door. As he went
through, he flipped the open sign over so that people on the street would see
it was closed and motioned to Adam that he had done so.
    Now Drew had his duffel bag, the laptop
backpack over his shoulder and the bag from The Bean. Any other time he would
probably just walk to Max’s house, but he was tired and flustered and wanted to
get there quickly, so he hailed a cab and headed over. This time of day in the
city is hectic, but the cab made it there quickly and after paying his fare,
Drew climbed out and up the steps of the cute little bungalow.
    “Hi!” Drew didn’t even get a chance to
ring the bell. Max was standing in the open door smiling and waving. She
grabbed the duffel bag from Drew and led him inside.
    Drew stood inside the door and breathed
in deeply through his nose. The house smelled absolutely delicious. Max let him
settle in while she put the finishing touches on the dinner she obviously
worked so hard to prepare. After hooking up his laptop and letting it load, he
made his way into the kitchen.
    “Wow! That smells fantastic!”
    “I hope you like lasagna. I was going to
make garlic bread, but I thought maybe the croissants would be nicer.” Max
looked so proud of her meal.
    “Lasagna is one of my favorites. I’m
glad I grabbed the red wine!”
    “Ooooh, great! I also have a salad made.
Wanna help me set the table?”
    “Sure.” Together they brought the dishes
to the table and got everything ready. Drew poured the wine and they sat down
to eat.
    While the two ate, Drew told Max about
what happened in the hallway at work and then what he found out at the coffee
shop about the evening barista. Not wanting to monopolize the entire
conversation with negativity drew asked Max about her day and she beamed as she
told him about her students.
    When they finished dinner, they stood
together at the sink and did the dishes while finishing the bottle of wine. 
Out of nowhere, Max said, “Do you watch Survivor?”
    “Do you?”
    “Yes. It’s starting in a few minutes.”
    “I never thought I’d admit it, but yes,
I do watch it. I like to DVR it so I can fast forward through the commercials,
though. I hate commercials.” Drew couldn’t believe he just admitted to being a
fan of Survivor.
    “Cool. The DVR is set. Let’s go for a
walk? We can watch the show when we get back.”
    “That would be nice.” Drew thought back
and realized that the last time he went for a walk with a female was back in
college.
    Spring nights in the city are still a
little cool, so they both threw on hoodies and locked up the house. Not being
completely familiar with Max’s neighborhood, Drew let her lead the way. They
headed around the corner and walked a few blocks north. When they got to the
next corner, they turned left and saw the flashing lights of an ambulance.
    “Oh, no!” Max let out a gasp