本帖最后由 bright_helm 于 2010-8-25 09:28 编辑
二楼，例行为sammy的英语原文输入。
The Lost Dreamers —— Part Two: In Memory of Day
BH继续
Falling asleep was easier said than done.
Gregory Gry sat up, awake in bed, next to the slumbering form of Twila-Katherine Price. She had said she would wait for him on the other side, but he didn't grasp what she meant. Earlier that night he had agreed, mostly to humor Twila, to make the attempt to cross over into her Dreamlands. She had explained that all he had to do was fall asleep next to her with the desire to go to the Dreamlands in mind, but of course, now sleep would not come.
His mind raced. Was Twila mad at him about something? He didn't really believe that anything was going to happen once he fell asleep; there had to be something else going on. Did she really want to leave him? Was she seeing someone else, when he was down in the card room?
He looked at Twila, and gently stroked her long dark hair. The edge of her mouth was curled into the beginnings of a smile. He wanted to wake her, talk things over, find out what was wrong. No. That would make things worse. He needed to fall asleep, to go along with her story for the night, and in the sanity of dawn suggest a visit to the doctor...
He looked at the easel in the corner of the room, tempted to throw back the curtain and see what in the hell she was painting. He stifled the urge, and leaned back on his pillow.
How long had he been awake? His eyes closed. His mind wandered. The owners of the Clover Club had been trying to talk him into helping them set up a scam with one of the dealers, to cheat the Club's unsuspecting patrons. Maybe Twill had caught wind of it, and that was why she'd been so withdrawn. But that was crazy. Gregory believed in the integrity of the game, and wouldn't even give the scam a second thought. If anything, though, Twila might be even more upset if she discovered he had turned down a shot at some easy cash...
Gregory stood up, and paced the room. Something didn't seem right. He had the sense that someone was just outside the door, waiting, listening... With a lunge he whipped open the door, and leapt into the hall.
No one was there.
Embarrassed, Gregory turned back into the bedroom. Something wasn't right. Why couldn't he sleep? Someone was whispering. Twila? It seemed to be coming from... He glanced about the room, and felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. The painting was gone.
In its place, he saw an ornate marble staircase, leading down through an opening in the wall. Was he really awake? This had to be a dream... The whispers seemed to come from somewhere down the staircase, carried to his ears on a cool, gentle breeze. He crossed the room, craning his neck to see where the stairs lead.
Turned away from him, several steps down the staircase, he saw a dark-haired woman in a black dress. "Twila?" She turned, smiling. Yes. He glanced at the now empty bed. Was this the dream she was talking about. His heart was pounding, and he could not remember ever feeling more awake. He began his descent.
A lush, rich carpet caressed the bottom of his bare feet. An earthy, cavernous smell drifted up the stairway, and he heard a faint laughing from far below. The stairs wound gently to the left as he descended, and when he reached Twila, she jumped into his arms, and kissed him with a passion he had forgotten.
"Are we awake?" he asked. "Is this real?"
"Does it matter? Come on..." she took his hand, leading him down the stairs.
"Where are we? Is this the Dreamlands?" he asked as they descended.
"It's not really the Dreamlands yet, just the periphery. We're going to pass through the Cavern of Flame, at the bottom of these stairs, and then descend seven hundred more steps. Then, we'll be in the Dreamlands..."
"The Cavern of what?"
"Behold," she said, leading him around a final bend in the staircase and into a vast stone cavern with a pillar of flame in its center, extending from the floor to the ceiling. "The Carven of Flame."
Across the cavern, Gregory could see the top of another mist-shrouded staircase, twisting down and out of sight. Two cloaked, hooded figures stood vigilant at the top of this stairs case. Twila let go of Gregory's hand and danced across the chamber, narrowly avoiding the roaring pillar of fire in its center. As she moved, Twila turned, and beckoned for Gregory to follow. He stepped out onto the dry stone floor, which was warm beneath his bare feet, and walked slowly across the chamber, close to the cave wall, giving the flaming pillar a wide berth. As he approached, one of the cloaked figures at the top of the stairwell spoke.
"State your name, and your desire within the Dreamlands."
"Uh, Gregory Gry, and... I've never been there before. I'd like to see it."
"Inadequate. What is your dream?" The hooded figure held up one of its arms, blocking Gregory's path. The column of fire flickered behind him.
"Uh..." Gregory looked at Twila. She was waiting at the top of the stairs. "I think we should go back. Twila-" he reached out, over the arm of the guardian, but she skipped beyond his reach. He tried to follow, but the other hooded figure grabbed hold of him, and Twila turned her back. He stared after her, helpless, and then she was gone.
