by K.N. Lee
My eyes caught sight of my phone on the floor. I sighed as I recalled my fall. I must have knocked it off the table when I tumbled down from the bed and into Juan, I reckoned.
I looked towards the door once more, expecting Juan to come in, but the door remained locked. Already, my threat detectors, the hairs on the back of my neck were standing erect and I had a bad feeling. I brushed it aside, however, chucking up to just remaining apprehension from the nightmare.
I heard some sound coming from outside the door and noted it as the arrival of Juan.
I got up then and walked to the other side of the bed where my phone lay at the foot of the side table. Why did I feel so uneasy all of a sudden? The dream was over, I was safe and with Juan for that matter. Something told me that there would be answers waiting for me at the end of, or at least during my visit to Rosendale Manor.
There was nothing I wanted more than to finally understand all that had been happening for the past years. There was no explanation I found particularly comforting.
I bent down to pick up my phone and froze.
As my face levelled up with the underside of the bed, I caught sight of two yellow eyes with slits running down the middle, staring at me from beneath the bed. I tried to scream, but my voice box refused to cooperate. The eyes stared at me, without blinking and seemed to render me inept and incapable of a rational reaction. I closed my eyes.
Suddenly, as I struggled to regain my motor responses, a voice boomed throughout the room, emanating from every corner of the room simultaneously and at the same time, seemed to be coming from beneath the bed. It said, sinisterly,
"Finally, I have you".
My voice box caved in and I screamed.
Suddenly I was aware of the sensation of being shaken vigorously.
What? Where was the monster? Was it gone?
I opened my eyes a fraction and found myself looking into the concerned face of Juan. He looked worried as he shook me awake repeating a set of words I couldn't quite place.
As my senses cleared, it became clear what he was saying,
"You're dreaming Faye-Minita, you're dreaming. Wake up".
I looked around. The room looked just how I remembered it. I looked towards the window and it was locked. Nothing seemed disturbed. Even my phone was on the table where I'd kept it before sleeping.
What then had all that been about? I wondered, slightly annoyed. A nightmare within a nightmare within a nightmare? Three nightmares? Just me? What exactly had I done to deserve whatever it was that was happening to me?
"Hey, hey...how are you? Look at me. Are you okay?" he looked genuinely concerned and for a second, my heart went out to him and I felt bad for making him worry. After all, it's been a mere dream. No real world applications. One couldn't decide when they occurred.
"I'm fine Juan,” I said, attempting a smile and failing miserably.
"You don't look fine,” he said, looking into my eyes.
"I am,” I said, more than a little bothered by the smoky eyes than I wanted to admit.
I looked out of the window and noted that it was almost dawn. We had to start going if we wanted to get to the manor as soon as possible.
"It's almost dawn,” I said, avoiding his gaze.
Something about that gaze bothered me more than just a little. I recalled how when we were younger and dumber, he had always shown his penchant for guessing when something was not right with me. It had freaked me out a little back then, but then we'd started hanging out more and I realized what a valuable tool it was that he could interpret my moods so easily.
Right now, however, I did not want him poking around in my head. I was afraid whatever it was he found would freak him out too much. Somehow, I knew I definitely didn't want that.
He finally sighed in resignation and nodded.
"Yeah, you're right. It's almost dawn already. We still have a four-hour drive ahead of us, you should get ready”.
I nodded, relieved that he had apparently decided to drop it. As I was leaving, he caught me by the wrist,
"We'll talk about what that was later".
With that, he let go of me and I went to the bathroom to shower.
6
The trees zoomed past in quick succession, as I stared out through the window. I was too disturbed to note how beautiful the day was or how impressive the scenery had become. I could not be bothered to note the distinctive smell I had once associated with home. No. All I could think about was the odd night I just had.
I struggled for an explanation, but none was forthcoming. It had felt so real, yet all indications pointed to the fact that it was a dream. I mean, how could I come to terms with that? The ethereal duality of it all frightened and bothered me. I had felt myself rise from the bed, I knew felt it, without a doubt. So what exactly was that? Just a part of the dream? Where was the line between reality and dreamscape and where did they begin to overlap?
These questions plagued me and I did not see an answer coming anytime soon. What was worse was the fact there was no one I could talk to. Not even Juan. And he'd been the closest person to me once. Even though aforementioned closeness had been more detrimental than helpful, but still, we were very close.
Quite a lot has happened since then. I knew that if I told him what was going on in my head, he would think I was crazy. How could he not? I thought I sounded kind of crazy, and I was the one who'd seen those things. How did I begin to explain to him that a humanoid, monstrosity had captured me in the woods and now plagued my dreams and yesterday I had levitated off my bed? In the same room where he'd been in, just a few feet away.
His opinion of me would quickly dissolve and for the life of me, I did not want that to happen. I had worked hard to get to where I was; I had gone through a lot to shed my teenage excesses. I had lost, and then I had grown and I was proud of that growth. I wanted him to know who I was now. Talks of monsters and levitation were akin to the incoherent ramblings of people on an acid trip. And I would not be able to blame him for coming to such a conclusion; it was only reasonable wasn't it?
I wrapped my hands around myself as my mind drifted to Bastian, miles and miles away at home with Allison. I missed him so much. Usually, when I had nightmares, he would climb onto the bed and give me those wet doggy kisses and then we'd cuddle all night. My night was usually more comfortable after.
I hoped he was doing fine. What was I thinking? Of course, he was. He had Allison. They were together.
Who did I have?
I tried to focus on the road, but I found my thoughts constantly straying to the other occupant of the car beside me. Faye-Minita had been a big part of my past, and now that I'd met her again, so many years after, I could not help but feel that I wanted her to be a strong part of my present and future as well, in whatever capacity.
The old feelings had resurfaced the second I realized who she was. The mere fact that she had grown so much in the time we'd been apart, only served to make it grow just that much more. Back in the day, being aloof had been the 'cool' thing and I had done my best to hide the fact that I fancied her as way more than just a make out buddy. I think to an extent, I may have fooled everyone. I had never succeeded in fooling myself, however. The feelings had been strong and hence I wanted to do everything with her. Of course, back then, everything involved a load of drugs and a lot of booze, but we were having fun.
Or, we thought we were.
I stole a glance at her as she sat there, arms wrapped around her body, looking out the window. God, she was beautiful. But she looked so sad. I knew something was bothering her. I noted it immediately when I asked her about the night of the rave. The shadows that had passed over her face, shadows she tried to hide, had revealed just how disturbed she was by it all. She did a good job of covering up, but I knew her.
The night of the rave had done something to her. She'd seen something or at least experienced something. I'd even known it back then, but pursuing that line of inquiry went against the bad boy persona I'd wor
ked so hard to perfect and I'd just chucked it up to her being over dramatic, despite my better judgement.
Now, however, I was a different man. I was no longer held back by the chains of societal perception and there was no way I would let it control or define me anymore.
I laughed, my current mindset was awfully similar to my mindset as a disturbed teen rebel, but I also noted the differences. I understood now, that rules were there not to control, but to guide us on a path, a path that aided the smooth run of society. I had not known this then, and the path I'd led had been very self-destructive.
Faye-Minita needed me now though, the new me. The older, mature, more responsible me, and I owed it to her to help her through what she was going through. There were no two ways about it.
I looked at her one last time and then focused on the road ahead, in a few minutes, we'd arrive. Then I'd be able to put my promise in action.
Juan eased into the driveway and I could not help but note the sheer awesomeness of the manor. Although I had seen it before, it did not fail to strike awe on my very being every time I saw it.
The property was enormous and we seemed to be taking an unending drive towards the main building along a winding path. As we gradually approached the grand Victorian Era Manor, my breath caught in my throat at its sheer grandeur. The gardens were enormous and well taken care of, as was to be expected. I made up my mind to visit the gardens when I got settled, I'd always felt at home among the greenery.
My chest felt rather heavy as a peculiar heat rose up inside. It was unexplainable and I wondered if I was coming down with something. But then it passed and I heaved a sigh of relief. Only illness could ruin my appreciation of such wonderful scenery.
Juan parked and we got down, before getting our luggage out of the car. As we approached the dwarfing, heavy wooden doors equipped with a metal knocker. Suddenly, the feeling was back once more, and I gently clutched my chest. There was no pain, no. It was more like, I was being told something. My senses were being alerted to something, but I couldn't tell what it was. I looked at Juan and noted, with shock, that he had the same look. Or was it just his normal facial expression? I wondered. I couldn't tell for sure.
Our eyes met for an instant and it seemed like we both knew what the other was thinking.
The doors opened then, as if their own accord and Danielle Montgomery herself stood at the entrance, looking every bit as smug and regal as she always did.
Her eyes widened with brief surprise and she looked from me to Juan with a small smile playing across her lips.
"Looks like I brought the old gang back together, huh? Glad to see you two getting along again".
She said this with a smile, but one could not help but see through it and note the sarcasm dripping from it. Well, she'd always been like that I assumed, and I smiled.
It seemed Juan was much less inclined to be civil and instead, directed a steely gaze at her, which she received with a smile that did not quite reach her eyes.
What was going on here? I wondered.
She indicated we follow her and then showed us to our rooms. We were given separate rooms and as I began unpacking, I paused to admire the ornate quality of the enormous room. I decided to hold off unpacking an instead admire the room. The room was large without any exaggeration. It had a mini living room and study and the bed was almost twice the size of my queen-sized bed. I whistled as I took it all in, then I returned to where my bags were and almost shrieked in shock.
Danielle stood in the doorway, watching me.
"Impressed?" She asked, that same smug, cloyingly sweet smile playing across her lips.
"Yes, very," I said, regaining my composure "It's very beautiful. Thank you for having us".
"It's my pleasure, I assure you", she said, a glint in her eyes. I noted it with idle wonder.
"Are you hungry?" She asked then, and I shook my head. I had not eaten anything all day, but for some odd reason, I was not hungry.
"Well, food will be served at eight, when the rest of the guests arrive", she said.
"Alright. I can wait until then. Thank you" I said, smiling. She nodded and turning, walked away.
When I was alone again, I wandered towards the lone window in the room and discovered that I could see the forest in which the attack happened. My mind threatened to return to that awful day, so I turned away and instead went in search of Juan. I was curious to see what his room looked like. Also, it would be good to know where it was, just in case.
I caught myself as the thought threatened to take root. I noted with a naughty smile that it did not sound half bad to me. In fact, if it came down to it, I realized I wouldn't say no.
How could I still like him this much? I wondered. After all these years, one would think he would have been washed out of my system. But it seemed my system had a stronger retention capability than I had initially thought.
So what, I liked him? I always had. I think I'd done a good job of hiding it back then, but there was no hiding it now. And I believed he could tell. I looked around the corridor.
Where have they taken him? What direction? Well, what the hell, I figured I'd just check all the rooms. Danielle flashed into my mind. She'd always been kind of odd. Way back then, she always wanted to fit in with the popular crowd. A good ol’ fashioned wannabe. She'd tried to get into everything she saw us get into, including raving. She'd been smug because of her wealth but had needed us to feel relevant so she'd let us do what we wanted with her property.
As I walked along the hall, I recalled that she'd been the one who told me that Moira was making moves on Juan. It struck me as odd that she'd thought to tell me that. I had never really thought about it until now. Juan and I had gone to lengths to make our relationship look as casual, as we tried to fool ourselves into thinking it was.
How could she have known up was not? Did she? Or had she just been trying to incite trouble? Spice up the rave a bit.
I knew I wouldn't be getting an answer anytime soon and I shrugged it off. I guess it didn't really matter. We were all grown now and those times had passed. We were completely different people.
I didn't know how, but I just knew that before the end of this get-together, we would all know just how much change had happened.
As I rounded the corner, I found myself running face first into a firm structure. I staggered back as strong arms grabbed my shoulders, steadying my movement. I shook my head and looked up.
I almost screamed with joy and surprise.
Drayton smiled down at me as he held me, and then pulled me into an embrace. Beside him, Ophelia stood, smiling. She had a cheeky look in her eye like she knew their surprise show up had achieved its desired result and she was happy with it.
"You guys. I thought you said you wouldn't be able to make it,” I said, playfully smacking Drayton as I moved to hug Ophelia.
"What happened? You tricked me".
Drayton laughed as he adjusted his trousers. "No, we didn't really. Or we didn't intend to at least. We really didn't think we would be able to make it. We had some preparation to do but then Ophelia’s mom stepped in and helped with all the preparation that needed doing in our absence. So, we were suddenly free and we decided to surprise you. It was all her idea”, he said pointing at Ophelia, who rolled her eyes.
"Don't listen to him. We knew how hard it was for you to decide to honour the invitation, so we just had to come here. We all have some reservations about this place, but together, we should be able to handle it", she finished and smiled.
I was so happy to see them around. It was good having Juan here, but with Drayton and Ophelia around, it made everything relatively easier. I felt better about everything and the facts of that night that threatened to overtake my thoughts were resigned to the background now.
"Wow. Well, I am surprised. I even told Juan that you guys wouldn't be able to make it any more".
Drayton whipped his head around as if expecting to see Juan just walking up to us.
"Juan'
s here? Sweet. Wait. Did you told him? When? Danielle told us you just got here”, he said excitedly.
Odd. Hadn't she told them we came together? I thought that would be her leading statement.
"We came together, Juan and I. My bus broke down on the way here and he just happened to be passing at the exact same time. It was all a wonderful coincidence, really", I said, shrugging.
"In fact, I was just on my way to find him" I added.
"We'll follow you. It's been years since I saw that rascal." Drayton said, draping his arm around Ophelia’s shoulder.
Together, we made our way out of the room and towards the other side of the house. I was starting to wonder why our rooms were so far apart when Juan stepped out of a room at the far end of the corridor.
He turned to look at us, instantly recognizing me, then his smile widened into a grin as he caught sight of Drayton and Ophelia.
"Talk of the devil himself", Drayton exclaimed.
"Drayton? You cheeky bastard, how are ya?" he said, as the two old friends hugged each other.
Ophelia and I smiled at each other as the two men exchanged pleasantries. It was starting to feel like a reunion after all.
"So how've you been man?" Drayton asked and for a second I couldn't help but marvel at how much he'd changed. The Drayton I'd known back in the day was a loud druggie with next to zero social skills. We'd been friends because he always had access to booze and drugs and he was at least a bit cool with the ladies.
His social graces were been so poor that he spent more time in detention than out of it and once you were found in trouble with him as an accomplice, you were already considered guilty before your side of the story could even be heard. But that wasn't the same man I was looking at now.
He even had a fiancée.
"I've been good man, been doing good. Wow, you and Ophelia look so... different". I looked towards her. We hadn't really been close back then. In fact, I'd only really known her in passing. She'd represented everything I disliked back then. She was prim and proper, and very smart. All reasons for which I disliked her a little back then. Man, I used to be messed up.