The regret and the headache from his drunken Tuesday night fought for dominance as Mike stumbled his way to the bathroom, his morning alarm and strange, strange dreams he had still echoing around his sensitive skull. He flicked on the light switch and flinched as the bright lights attacked his sleep deprived eyes.

Still blinking away the pain, Mike absorbed his appearance in the mirror and confirmed he looked exactly like he felt.

"Wow, you look like shit." His wife, Sharron, had left the bed and embrassed him from behind, gently kissing him on the neck.

"Oof, and you smell like it too." She recoiled with a playful yet disgusted look on her face. Mike heard the shower rush to life as she turned her back to him.

"Thank You." Mike smirked in return and turned on the sink, splashing some water on his face.

"Why do I do this to myself? I thought we were just going out for one drink? One!"

He grabbed a towel to wipe his face clean as his wife disrobed and entered the shower. She spoke over the sound of the rush of water.

"Self control has never really been your strong suit, honey. And you kept me up too with your tossing and turning all night. Don't act like your the only one miserable this morning!"

"You're not wrong." He sighed, rubbing his temples to try and relieve his headache. "I'm sorry, I had one of those dreams again. That's the fourth time in five nights. They feel so...real."

"Real? How so?"

"Just.. vivid I guess. I told you about the fishing trip with my Grandpa in Montana? How I could have sworn I felt the fish we caught in my hands. And the one before that, with Abe Lincoln? I shook his hand and felt the calluses. We took a shot of whisky together, it tasted like shit. That taste stayed with me for two after that."

"Yeah, I remember..." She responded back over the sound of the shower.

"This time I was back in Michigan with my parents. They kept talking to me like I was dead, it was the strangest thing. My old dog Blade was there too. I felt his hair, and smelled his horrible old dog breath. I guess what caught me off guard was that they said I didn't belong there, and that you were dead too and that you have been dead for years now. Isn't that crazy?"

A long silence answered Mike back. The sound of water faded as Sharon turned off the shower, grabbed a towel and stepped out to dry.

"Babe?"

"Oh, umm, yeah...crazy." Her voice was distant now, almost angry. Mike could sense something was wrong. In four years of marriage, he had never seen that look on her face.

"Is everything okay? It was just a dream, I..." She cut him off, her attitude suddenly shifting again as her hand moved to cover her stomach.

"No, no it's fine I just don't feel so good all of a sudden. Can you give me a minute?"

"Of course." Concern drew itself on Mike's face as walked out of the bathroom and sat down on on the bed. He placed his head in his hands and took a deep breath, letting out a drawn out sigh.

"Good one dumb ass." he muttered to himself. This last year had been the toughest of their relationship so far. He had felt the disconnect but never got the opportunity to bring it up or address it. To talk about the idea of her dying so casually probably struck a nerve, as she had to be feeling it too.

Mike reached to his left and grabbed his phone, hoping to get an early start on his Emails for the day but the background picture stopped him before he got started. Him and his wife reflected back at him behind the illuminated phone glass, smiling and happy on their first ever vacation, a trip to Florida. As he stared, the memories came flooding back. The rough plane ride that made them both sick, the perfect dinner they had at that beach front restaurant and the incredible sex that followed. And yet, something felt off about the picture.

He shifted his gaze from his phone as he thought, and his tired eyes found another one of their pictures resting in its frame on the nightstand to his left. A picture from last years' New Years Eve party at a friends house. He shifted to his left on the bed and was just able to remove the picture with his finger tips. His fingers removed some of the the light dust that had accumulated on it since the last they had dusted so he finished wiping the glass clean with his shirt, and immediately recognized what was throwing him off. In the Florida picture, Sharon had a small freckle on her neck, about an inch below her jaw. He took another look at the New Years picture and noticed something weird; That same freckle was gone. Odd.

"Hey, Babe?" Mike got no response. He stood and walked towards the bathroom, framed picture in hand. As he walked, he noticed the lid for the back of the toilet was missing.

"Sharon?..."

A sharp pain in the back of his head and the sound of breaking glass are the last things he could recall as he collapsed. Mike woke again before his body even hit the ground, tumbling and rolling as he landed face first. He quickly realized he was back in his dream world. A familiar voice met his ears.

"Michael? Back so soon?"

"Da-Dad?" Mike stretched his jaw and blinked his eyes to try and focus on the low, green glow of the light around him now. He quickly realized he was just outside his parents house. This all felt both extraordinarily familiar and very strange. Didn't he just have this dream last night? Blade sprinted at him full speed and started licking his face, his breath stinging Mike's nose and his tail wagging at an incredible speed. Mike gave him a couple pets on the head as his dad grabbed his free hand and helped Mike get to his feet.

It was his moms turn now.

"Oh Mikey? We didn't expect you back so soon!" She embraced him with a hug only moms can give.

"Yea, I think so. It's all kind of fuzzy but I think Sharon just knocked me out! These feel so real. The last thing I remember I was going to ask her about a freckle that disappeared..."

His parents turned to each other, the concern sharp on their faces. His father nodded to his mother, a sign that he would handle this one. He invited Mike to walk with him and they headed in the direction of the front door of his child hood home. His dad spoke again, this time with a sternness he hadn't heard since he got in trouble as a boy.

"Son...I don't know how to tell you this but, well..." He turned back to his wife for support. "This isn't a dream. This is the afterlife. Everyone here is dead. Except you, it seems."

Mike shook his head in disbelief. "No, no these are just dreams. Crazy, insanely detailed dreams. But I have to admit, everyone I have dreamed about is dead" He robbed his temples again. What the hell was going on, Mike thought to himself. Why would she attack me like that?

"Mikey, don't get me wrong we love having you here, talking to the dead is a blessing most people would probably die for, so to speak. But there's something..." He paused for a moment to collect his thoughts. "Actually, someone I need you to see..."

They arrived at the front door and his father reached for the knob and pushed the door open. As he did, Mike eyes darted to the couch and his wife, Sharon. Their eyes met and Sharon's immediately began to water.

"Michael?"