The Shadow That Smiled At Me

Chapter four

I felt... I don't even know how to describe the feeling, I've never felt anything like this before. It was a mixture of something like sadness, despair and curiosity, and also something new, something I had not known before. How is it possible? It can't be real. It's just a dream. It's just a dream and I'm crazy. And yet I have proof on my wrist that he was telling the truth. I told myself that I must be a sleepwalker and I carved that moon into my hand in sweet unconsciousness. But it didn't make sense. It didn't explain anything. It didn't explain Samael. I feel even more like a fool than when I thought it was just a weird dream.

What's worse, thinking you've gone crazy because you're haunted by nightmares like no one else, or finding out the nightmares are real and you can't tell anyone because they'd lock you up and throw away the key?

I'm crazy. I have proof. And no one must find out. I have to continue the game I played years ago. It will be just another parallel universe of my being, about which the rest will have no idea. They must not. If they find out, it will end badly. Very bad.

I have to find out how this is possible. Only one person can answer my questions. Samael.

⸸

Night never seemed so far away. The sun, as if it didn't want to die. I heard it laughing at me. The sky was clear blue, with a few fluffy clouds floating on it. I waited impatiently for the darkness to overwhelm it.

Everyone has been trying to call me all day. I avoided the surrounding world. Whatever they wanted from me, it would have to wait until tomorrow when I see them at school. My cell phone was constantly ringing, beeping messages from both Jess and Vincent. I didn't pick up or answer, I didn't read the messages at all. I didn't really care what was so necessary that they had to bother me about it. After a while, the sound irritated me so much that I preferred to turn off my cell phone.

Now I need to solve the situation I'm in, then I can solve them.

The sun was already slowly bending over the horizon and the light was gradually diminishing. Shadows were creeping into my room. I sat with a sketchbook on my lap and scribbled. I could hardly see anything in the gloom. My hand moved as if by itself, I knew what I was drawing, didn't even have to look. I was so focused on moving the pencil that I didn't even notice that night had already fallen. My eyelids felt heavy and I gradually fell asleep.

It's funny that I tried to avoid this for two months and now I'm going back there voluntarily, even intentionally.

This time, however, my pilgrimage did not start in that corridor like many times before, I found myself right in front of the entrance to the library. I pushed the door and entered without the slightest hesitation. As it seems, Samael waited for the moment when I would appear here. He was sitting in an armchair in front of the hearth, the bright glow of the fire illuminating his handsome features, reading one of the many books he had here.

"Hello, dear Arya. Do you already have your proof, whether all this is just a dream or not?" he said without taking his eyes off the book. I thought I heard a hint of amusement in his voice.

I did not answer his question. I snatched the book from his hands and sat down in the chair across from him. "What are you reading?" I asked him matter-of-factly.

He looked up at me. He burned me with his golden gaze. Unruly strands of hair fell in his face. The corners of his mouth lifted into a fleeting smile. "Aren't you a little cheeky, dear Arya?"

"You know, dear Samael, I kind of have a little problem with insolence." I grinned. The spark in Samael's eyes flashed with mischief.

"By the way, what language is this?" I pointed to the strange script that the book I took from him was written in.