b a b y s i t t i n g t h e p r e s i d e n t 's d a u g h t e r

Chapter 20: Recurring Deaths

In a haze, Remy grabbed my hands and insisted I get out while I still could. I sensed the fear in his eyes; well actually, I felt the fear in my heart growing every second as he squeezed hands. Something told me he had everything under control but the odds seem to be against him.

There were loud noises everywhere though I couldn't understand why. One moment Remy spoke to me, and the next, the things around me were colorful before everything before me turned black. By the end of the scene, I knew, I just knew, we were both dead.

"Aahhh!" I woke up to see Amanda with her mouth gaping wide open as she was screaming as loud as she could.

A few seconds later I realized the scream came from my mouth and I immediately clasped a palm over my mouth. Amanda looked frightened to death as she sat staring up at me. A minute later, my uncle came running in. Not happy, not happy at all.

"Please tell me you have some good excuse for this." Uncle Winston blatantly said as he raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry," I timidly said as I shook my head and quickly removed my hands from my mouth. Amanda herself had been greatly startled. She too, looked a little spooked.

Uncle Winston heaved an angry sigh before walking away, "You kids and your nightmares. Well, it's 7 o'clock and since you're up so early, you can start making breakfast."

I gaped at him, seriously?

"And please, enough with the screaming. I need another minute of sleep. My day is already packed sorting out the arrangements for Ms. Arabelle's funeral."

I didn't want to argue so I got out of bed, and began preparing for breakfast. Amanda decided to sleep for an extra 10 minutes before she would come out to help me. As I thawed the sausages from the refrigerator and broke the eggs to prepare some French toast, I was yawning when I sat at the table, trying to remember why I had been screaming in the first place.

And then it hit me. Hard. It was a horrifying dream, not so much in the element of death, but rather, the element of fear that I had. I could feel it so vividly in the dream, so real.

As usual, a startling dream would have me in knots for the rest of the week, and it was no surprise that while Amanda and I prepared breakfast and spent the day talking to each other, I was in deep thought recalling the dream. My heart pounded. It wasn't just a mere touch of fear; it was the whole enveloping feeling that made you feel like you were drowning. The fear was there, growing stronger even though I had Remy with me.

"Your friend is here, Riley," Amanda suddenly said as she quickly disappeared up the stairs with as little sound as possible.

I looked up, seeing Remy walk in very cautiously.

"Hi." He sheepishly said.

"Hi." I replied.

An awkward silence as he shuffled his feet in the place where he stood.

"Would you like to sit?" I didn't know what else to say.

He looked up, a small smile forming on his face, "Um, yes, yes, I do." He sat down at the same chair, facing me as he held his hands up to his mouth. With that, he began nervously by saying, "Listen, I just wanted to say I'm sorry, about what happened that day. I uh...I don't know what made me..."

He was ranting, and I got lost in his eyes for a while. I forgot for a while about the dream that I had. I forgot everything. I was still in shock at the news of Ms. Arabelle's passing. I didn't know what to think, what to say or what to do anymore, not when I suddenly had passing visions in my memories about Ms. Arabelle. The thought of her death horrified me and it must have shown on my face. But thinking he had said or done something wrong, he asked, "You look utterly shocked, Riley. I'm so, so, sorry."