In My Heart the Will

Faustus

Chapter 7:Faustus:Fortuna est quis venio ut paratus opportunus vicis

Twenty-seven weeks later

“:Don’t fall asleep at night, Jezebel. It isn’t safe.:” Artois Shanton gently warned the young five year old girl in his lap.

“: Why nawt?:” She asked him with her large brown doe eyes on him as she patiently waited for an answer.

“: Just don’t, sweetie.:”

A year and a half later

“: Daddy, you’re always telling me not to sleep at night but you never tell me why.:” The nearly seven year old girl wondered.

“ :The man next door is evil and looking for you. He can’t find you if you sleep in the morning. He is out to get us all, but won’t go looking for you until the rest of us are dead. This man is like your mother but he is not an angel like her... he is a demon. A devil.:”Too bad awhile later his mind had been lost enough to the point where he could be negatively influenced by that devil.

“Fleur... please, snap out of it.” As if I had woken up the same age I had dreamt of being. I hugged War’s mid- section tightly. For all these past months, we had been sleeping like this. I wasn’t shocked to find that I had fallen asleep again.

“You were talking in your sleep.”

“You’re so warm.” I cuddled up to his side. He let it be quiet for almost a minute. Almost.

“What did he tell you?” Had I really been talking in my sleep?

“You mean Artois?” Leaving my eyes closed, I focused on the low rumble of his voice.

“Yes. You asked him why you were only supposed to sleep in the morning.” This was proof he had heard me. Stretching my legs, I rolled away from him, and strained the rest of my joints until I felt all movable again. Then, grudgingly, I opened my eyes and rubbed the sleep out of them. It took me awhile to realize what I had really just dreamt of.

“He was warning me of Wilhelm who he called ‘the man next door’. My father did have his sane and caring moments every now and then. He also had his own way of telling me things.” Slow realization was still realization.

“Does that mean that he knew of Maverick as well?” I whispered. How much did Maverick know exactly? He’d been inside the house and seen my dad’s collection of knives... but that doesn’t mean that he can plan out a way for things to fall into place for him the way they did, does it?

“Your Dad loved you, Fleur.” Susie smiled, and I sat up hurriedly, startled by her sudden appearance. She was sitting at the foot of the bed in her bunny pajamas. Her trademark stuffed bunny was practically glued to her arms.

It was odd, though. Almost as soon as I knew of her presence...my mind wandered away. Had it all been planned? Every little thing? Did Maverick plan not only for Artois to kill Chloe... but for me to kill Artois as well? If so, what else had he planned? I already knew about all the school registration for counseling there and that he had done it in order to gain victims before this time came around, but his son should have a harder time. We had one week until all seven of these victims were officially dead. What was next? What else was this monster planning? What else had he planned? When I ended up in the orphanage, going where I did after I got out, and/or my meeting Avent?

“: He watches and knows your every move.:” Jezze’s attempt to escalate my paranoia actually succeeded for a moment because of how much I feared and hated the idea of someone or something knowing my every movement- predicting it like some sort of juvenile game.