Eversweet ♥

Chapter 11♥

The dreams I dream are getting worse and worse. This time I dream of fire and heat and flames. I’m wandering through a village and the sky is dark but the stars are suffocated by the stifling smoke. Men are running through the homes looting them of the belongings that aren’t on fire, and children are on the street crying and screaming. A baby, probably about one, is sitting on his butt with on a diaper on. Nobody is paying him any mind because everything is just complete and utter chaos. Slowly I bend down and scoop the crying infant in my arms and run away from the disaster. I can feel his tears soaking the hem of my shirt that is singed from flames. Above this hill a castle is on fire. I can see people hanging from the castle windows with purple bruises and bloated faces. The baby wails in my shirt while I run away. I just want to get out of the village, away from the fire. Just away.

***

The only thing I can acknowledge when I awake is the fact that my eyelids are so heavy I cannot open them.

My throat is parched and dry andbreathe escapes my nose in heavy pants. A thin layer of sweat covers my faces and my body trembles from my dream. When my eyes finally open I’m staring into the mouth of a glistening chandelier high above. The room I’m in is so dark it’s the only thing I can acknowledge. The shards look as if they could rain down any second, but they don’t. They just turn and twirl beautifully and it mesmerizes me. When I try to lift my head an excruciating pain lights my head a blaze and I completely black out for like ten seconds.

My second try is more successful and I slowly lift my head from the feather pillow I’m lying on. My brown curls are covered in an oily sheen which makes me wonder how long I've been asleep. Across the room a couch lays a navy blue couch with a dozing boy atop. His legs are too long and his torso too wide, but he crookedly squeezes himself onto it. With one look I know it’s Jesse, and mybreathe catches in my throat. Honestly, he’s beautiful yet so vulnerable. A state I’venever seen him in.

 There is a small balcony next to the bed I was lying on. The light breeze sweeps the room causing goosebumps to pebble my skin. When I stand up and the room stops spinning I slowly walk over. I can feel the marble flooring under my bare feet when I stand on top of the terrace. There are things similar to stars here but they are sea blue and in the shape of light bulbs. They seem so close as if I could stretch out my hand and brush them with my finger tips. There is no moon, like Earth, but a cylindrical silhouette of a pale pink figure. It casts a glow on the empty courtyard below and seems to make the whole place shimmer in radiance.

While looking gazing at the beautiful surroundings an ache presents itself at the back of my head. Not physically, but like I’m forgetting something, missing something; something vital. I don’t remember how I got to be asleep and the last time I recall the sun was high in the sky. But I can’t remember, it’s like someone entered my brain and stole my memories.

Just as I’m trying to summon the lost memories I hear Jesse roll off the coach and hit the floor. Spinning around, I see him groaning miserably on the carpet.

“Jesse—Jesse get up! Get up off the floor,” I whisper.

At the sound of my voice his head snaps up and his eyes widen in alarm. “Scarlett. Oh my God you’re awake! Jesus we thought you were dead! My Lord, you hit your head pretty hard. Healer Jude thought that if you had slept any longer you’d starve or dehydrate. God, thank God you’re awake, you gave us quite a scare.”

What? “Back up. What the hell are you talking about? How long have I slept? What happened? Where are we?” Questions upon questions overflow my head. Though, I can’t answer any of them due to the gaping whole in my memory.

Jesse climbs back on the couch and motions for me to sit next to him. “Scarlett; you were asleep for four days. You wouldn’t wake up. Night after night, Healer Jude gave you spices and milks that were supposed to be guaranteed to wake you but nothing worked. He said if you slept another day you'd be likely to starve from lack of food. We were meeting the King and—” He stops abruptly and his eyes leave my face.

The King. The King. Why can’t I remember the King? “What happened. Jesse tell me. What happened?”

“You mean you don’t remember? Scarlett, you don’t remember anything?” he asks incredulous. “What’s the last thing you remember doing?”

I think back. The portal. The forest. Julius Santiago. And after that nothing. Just blank empty space until I found myself here. A nagging memory tells me it had something to do with the King but I can’t t remember. “I remember the story about Julius Santiago and that’s it. What happened? Why was I asleep so long?”

Jesse gnaws on him thumb nail and avoids my eyes. When it’s unbearable and I can’t take the suspense any more he finally answers me.

“Healer Jude said the sunflower water would only cloud your memory not erase it, so I don't know why you can't remember. Anyways, we were going to alert the King of our arrival in Argatha and…” he pauses. “The King, King Alexander, um. Scarlett. He’s your father.”    

It all comes back to me quicker than the speed of light.

My stomach sinks to my knees and tears block my vision. No he’s dead. He died two years ago. Two agonizing, heart destroying years ago.

“No, No Scarlett don’t cry, love. He’s still here, he’s alive. There's nothing to be sad about, now.”

“No. Don’t say that. He’s dead. My dad is dead, he been dead. He can’t be alive, it’s impossible.” I try to manage the tears cascading down my cheeks but it’s useless. They tumble down like everything that’s been happening in my life.

Jesse looks at a device on his wrist. It resembles a watch but nothing is the same in this world; everything is so entirely different. “King Alexander said he wanted to see you as soon as you awoke but it’s 14 wrintin. Which basically means it would be two in the morning back on Earth. Go back to sleep and we’ll talk later. Right now I think that would be best for you.” Jesse attempts to give me the warmest smile he can manage before curling back up on the sofa.

I walk back over to the bed and climb my way under the silk sheets. Honestly, sleep was the absolute last thing I needed, considering I’d gotten four days of it.

            But as soon as my head hits the pillow, I’m out like a lamp.