CH. 4 Nightmares

CH.4 Nightmares

                The next few weeks passed in a flourish filled to the brim with secret training sessions with Adrian in the dead of night. As the days passed I began to understand how my powers worked and the extent of the dreams in which I began to receive regularly. The dreams came as a shock to me, the first one leaving me shaking and in tears, but as time pressed forward I began to learn how to decipher their meanings and applications in life, with Adrian’s help of course.

Soon into our late night escapades, I began to learn more about Adrian bit by bit, though hardly well. He was, as he had first impressed upon me, a charming individual, capable of twisting you to bend to his will. The charm, so he says, came with his mind bending. His words allow him to twist people’s thoughts in such a way as to persuade, almost hypnotize them. We began by training my mind to see through his charm-speech, something that only Seers and other mindbenders were capable of. As my powers grew, seeing through his charm began easier and easier to do. Though there were many pros to charm-speech, the largest disadvantage was that it was incredibly hard to control, as well as hard to break.

                Once I had mastered seeing through his charm, we moved on to mastering mind-seeing. While Adrian could hear and feel my thoughts and emotions, I could see his. I soon learned that emotions came to me in colors. I was told that this is different for all Seers, some seeing words or certain symbols identified with the certain feeling. Unlocking my new abilities gave me an entirely new outlook on life. I began to be able to see that hardly anyone was ever truly happy, not even my own brother, who now-a-days, spent his days locked in his room. Emotions were difficult, possibly the most difficult thing I had to master. The key was deciphering a person’s true emotion, from my emotion towards them. For instance, when I first gained this skill, the aura surrounding Dilan was always a deep crimson, showing the deep seeded anger I felt, but as I began to master it, his colors began to change based upon his own feelings rather than mine. He was generally a dark blue or midnight black, possibly due to being upset over losing both Clarissa and I. The black coloring was unique towards him, the color that neither Adrian nor I could seem to understand. Though, when the black aura was present it filled me with an ominous sense of dread.

                Reaching in and seeing a thought was much different than seeing emotions, being much easier to master. Adrian started with something simple, a memory.

“Close your eyes, Luce. You need to establish a physical connection of some sort to begin with. Soon, when your powers are much stronger a physical connection will not be necessary, but for now it will be.”

Adrian reached out his hand. I took it, cautiously, unaware of what was to follow, and closed my eyes. Suddenly I was overtaken by an incredible sense of nausea that reduced me to my knees. When I lifted my head I was no longer in the hidden corridor with Adrian. Instead I was on a beach.

Wait…I know this beach.

As the thought entered into my mind, I saw my 10 year old self running along the shore line with Dilan. Max far behind distracted by a sliver of sea glass.

I was not myself, but watching from afar as the events unfolded. This was the day at the beach, my first memory of Adrian that I had recovered. I looked for him and I saw him, just as I knew I would, sitting on a rock further from the beach, watching and observing, a bandage around the right side of his face. As I gazed on, I began to see emotional aura emanate from Adrian. It was crimson, a sign of anger and hurt.

Towards what?

Before I had a chance to answer my own question the image began to fade and the nausea returned, reducing me to my knees again. This time when I looked up I was looking back at Adrian’s face.

“Why were you angry? No. You weren’t angry, you were hurt.” My sudden realization stunned me, though why I was not sure. Hurt was to be expected when you’ve been wounded by your own father. Adrian’s eyes were as cold as steel, though his sudden flash of anger was not towards me.

“I think we’ve trained enough for tonight.” He released his grasp on my arm, which until now I had not been aware of, and stalked out.

I wished so desperately to follow, to take his pain, the pain he bore for so long, but I knew it was not my place. After he had left, I sat on the stone floor studying and tracing the grooves, as if they would somehow tell me the answers to all my questions. I realized that though we had spent many hours together, I still did not know hardly anything about him, other than the information I had known from the very beginning.

I pondered this on my stealthy return back to my bedroom.

What would it take to know more?

I found myself wanting to know more and more about him and not just because of his beautiful face. He genuinely interested me; possibly just because of the growing curiosity I had in his past.

I laid in bed that night mulling over our training session, unable to sleep. Though his words didn’t have the same blushing effect on me as they once had, they still made my mind wander and think of him. He looked at me differently than other men, not as another pretty face, but someone with a mind, someone who as able to think for herself. He respected me…unfortunately something that came as a surprise. The thought of him looking at me was enough to make me blush…though that couldn’t be achieved by his words, his gaze certainly did. I flipped over and buried my burning face deep into my pillow.

I hate boys…

I eventually fell asleep, the world fading to blackness.

Drip…drip…drip…

What was that…

I opened my eyes…I wasn’t in my room, I was somewhere dark (the only lighting was that of a single torch on the wall), damp, and foul smelling. The stench reduced me to retching on my knees. What the hell was that? It was as if human fecal matter had combined with rotting flesh. I tried to stand but my body was stuck to the floor as if my feet were fastened to it. As my eyes began to adjust I realized I was in a dungeon of sorts, which explained the dampness, as well as darkness. Across from me was a chair that seemed to be used in tortuous interrogations. As I tried to make out the rest of the room, I heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

“Oh this will be a fun one…” a menacing voice growled.

I became frantic searching for a way to unfasten myself from the floor, but I was still unable to free myself before two ugly men appeared from the dank stair way. They didn’t seem to notice or see me, so I decided just to watch. As the short, fat one, carrying a torch came closer to the chair, I noticed there was a figure, presumably human, slumped over, acquiring a near death appearance.

What the…Who…

Then the figure lifted his head. His lip was spilt and swollen, both eyes nearly sealed shut, his hair matted to his forehead with blood. I nearly vomited. Adrian was nearly unrecognizable.

“Help…me…” he groaned painfully.

 I wanted to rush to him, to help him, to just do something. But as of the moment I was still attached to the floor. Why did they do this to him… The two men were grinning at each other, menacing, and horrid, dreadful grins. Before they could touch him I screamed, as loud as I could.

The gruesome images faded and I jolted up in bed. I was drenched in a cold sweat and breathing hard. It was only a dream.

“You had one didn’t you.” I yelped, my voice hoarse from the scream I had apparently let out in my sleep.

“My God…Adrian…” I croaked, near tears. He was sitting in my favorite chair, his eyes glinting at me through the darkness, studying me.

He moved to sit next to me on the bed, and I practically threw myself into his arms. The relief of seeing him here and alright was overwhelming. Though taken aback he held me, tight.

“It’s ok…” he whispered into my hair.

“…It was so awful…” I felt ridiculously self-conscious now, sitting there in my thin night dress, sniffling like a little child.

He released me from the tight embrace, leaving me wishing for just a few more seconds to breathe in his sweet scent of night blossoms.

“I heard your scream; I was already sensing tension and a disturbance in your mental activity. I wanted to make sure you were ok. What did you see?”

Before I got a chance to answer, Max burst into my room.

“What in God’s name was that…Luce…are you ok?” he asked seeing my tear streaked face.

“It was just a nightmare. I’m alright, Max.”

Relieved by my answer, he returned back to his room.

“As I was saying…I was in the garden because I couldn’t sleep, and I sensed the disturbance. I thought maybe you were having another dream.” Adrian continued.

  “Well…it was some dream…” Adrian’s ruined face came into mind and I retched.

“Luce…take hold of my hand.” I did as I was told and a calmness over took me. I relaxed a little, flopping back into my pillow.

“Thank you.” He continued to hold my hand, tracing the lines on my palm with his index finger.

“A premonition.” His face was sullen, and his body emitted a blue gray aura signaling his exhaustion.

I fought the urge to touch his cheek, to show him the tenderness he had so often lacked. Staring into his eyes, the urge won. I placed, gently on his face, my hand cupping his cheek. He relaxed and laid down next to me, all the while holding my hand close to his face. I couldn't help it. There was just something about him, something so familiar about the way he had traced circles around my palm. 

“There are so many things I don’t know about you…” I whispered, staring at his long white fingers. He was interesting then, sleeping peacefully the moonlight highlighting all his features. I traced his scar lightly with my finger. Even it was beautiful in its own way. I smiled. What am I going to do with you… I thought, all the while wondering if he could hear my thoughts while he was asleep. My thoughts were met with a smile and one eye cracking open.

“I suppose you can hear me then.” I teased, laying back down.

Adrian propped himself up on his elbow, looking at me with his eyebrows gracefully arched.

“I suppose I can…I don’t tell people my past because I don’t want that to define who I am. I know you were wondering. I try not to listen but sometimes things stand out. I’ve been through a lot, there’s no use in hiding that from you.” He touched a lock of my hair, absentmindedly. I turned to face him.

“Why do you like my hair so much?” In retrospect, the question now seems totally unimportant in comparison to our previous conversations, but it interested me at the time.

Adrian laughed.

“It’s just lovely. I’ve always liked it. I used to watch you often when we were younger” His words…my vision tunneled and I gripped his arm.

We were in Dilan’s estate, years ago. I was sitting in the gardens, holding my precious Baby Dear (my treasured doll I still refused to part with, which now sits on my vanity). Dilan and I must have been playing family like we did so often growing up. Where was he? I wasn’t sure. Twelve year old me walked around the large fountain to see Dilan and Adrian, the perfect examples of light and dark, fighting.

“Go away, Adrian, you can’t play with Luce…She’s my friend not yours…” He shoved Adrian to the ground.

Adrian said nothing. He simply got up and sat on the fountain’s ledge, peering in to look at all the different fish.

“I told you to leave us alone.” He shoved Adrian once more, this time into the fountain, dousing him in water.

“STOP IT…” 12 year old me screeched. I rushed to help Adrian out of the pool.

“Are you alright?” I asked, his eyes peering out at me cautiously from underneath a head of blue black hair. Adrian nodded.

“Luce, why are you defending him…he’s just some outcast…Not to mention he just stares at you all the time. It’s creepy and weird.” Dilan whined.

“I don’t think so. Maybe we should give him a chance. Besides it would be fun to have another member in our family.” I suggested, hoping he would submit to my idea.

“Fine…” he grumbled.

Finally, I was transported back to my present self.

“What did you remember?” A grown Adrian this time, though the eyes were still the same ones that had peered at me all those years ago.

“Once, when we were 12 and Dilan pushed you into a fountain.” It felt nice to remember.

“Oh that’s a good one.” Adrian laughed. His face turned serious for a moment.

“What is it?” I asked, hoping that he would share more of himself with me.

“I never finished my late night trek through the gardens. Would you like to join me?” A smile was tugging on his lips, something I found extremely infectious.

Seeing as sleep was seemingly out of the question now, I decided that maybe a midnight stroll was exactly what I needed to calm my nerves.

“I’d love to.”