Dead Roots (The Analyst) Read Online Free PDF Page B

stumble to the lavatory. He snapped the door shut behind him and clutched his head, sitting down heavily on the closed toilet seat. One hand flew to his chest and the other smacked the surface of the sink repeatedly. He was still one foot in his nightmare, unable to focus on anything around him.
    “Nightmare,” he said to himself slowly. “Just a dream. I'm just-- agh. ”
    He turned on the sink, putting his hand under the water and burying his head against his shoulder. He babbled to himself while he slowly returned to lucidity. Very gradually, his breathing returned to normal. It was another few minutes before his heart rate was anything resembling calm again.
    He stood up hesitantly, turning around and unzipping his pants to relieve his bladder. The image of his mother's face returned to him. He shook his head heavily.
    Unlatching the bathroom door, Tom half expected to step into his old bedroom, but thankfully-- or not, as the case may have been-- he was still up in the air. He walked gingerly back to his seat and settled down in it, taking deep breaths.
    Tom pulled out the personal television built into his seat. He hunted for something decent. Some Seinfeld reruns would do for the time being. While fishing around for his shitty little thin plastic headphones, he noticed Keda was sitting up straight. He was stiff as a board with his hands cupped in his lap. Was he asleep?
    “Hey,” Tom said. Nothing. He reached over and pushed him on the shoulder. “Hey, Keda... Shinichiro.”
    Keda's eyes fluttered open. He turned his head and his mouth curled up into his abiding smile.
    “Yes, Tom?”
    “Were you asleep?”
    “Regretfully, no. I cannot sleep until after Aki has left me. We have not been together long enough for that measure of control.”
    “What happens if you do?”
    “I lose control, obviously.”
    “Obviously.”
    Tom shifted uncomfortably. He was putting his headphones on as Keda continued.
    “Is something troubling you?”
    “Bad dream. Nothing major.”
    “Oh, dear... I apologize.”
    “Not your fault.”
    “No, it may well have been. Aki is... unusually insistent.”
    “What are you saying?” Tom asked, frowning.
    “He may have reached out to you, while your guard was down. Do you have nightmares often?”
    Tom screwed up his mouth. Great, he wasn't getting much sleep either, it looked like.
    “I thought you had it under control.”
    “He is not affecting the other passengers, as far as I'm aware. You, on the other hand, he must have... seen an opening. Do you have these dreams regularly?”
    Tom sighed, rubbing his forehead. “Yeah, sometimes. Usually it's not a big deal but some nights it just... sneaks up on me, I guess.”
    “Again, I apologize. Go back to sleep, Tom.”
    “Yeah, sure.”
    “I mean it. I will make sure he doesn't get to you again.”
    “You're doing a great fucking job.”
    Keda sighed, his eyes closing again. Tom was left in solitude, pulling the headphones on. He checked his watch: six hours to go...
     
    'The Land of the Rising Sun' felt an appropriate nickname as the plane began to descend. The dawn was breaking over the Tokyo sprawl. Tom, stuck as he was in his center row seat, could only catch fleeting looks at anything other than the sky as the plane dipped and tilted, and what he could catch in this light was little more than dark grey concrete jungle, broken up by dashes and hairlines of color from cars, streetlights and logos.
    “You shouldn't be so glum,” Keda said suddenly. Tom turned, frowning.
    “Who’s glum?”
    “You've been opposed to this assignment from the start, Mr. Bell,” Keda said matter-of-factly. He peered down the aisles of the plane. “Breakfast soon,” he said.
    “Hrm. Airline food.”
    “It's better than starving.”
    “I think I have a right to be pissed off,” Tom said, reverting to the previous subject. “Escorts aren't my line of work, and I'm supposed to be on recuperation leave now.”
    “I think you underestimate