THE DREAM CATCHER

21.

I wake up from the horror of illusion by someone's fingers pushed down my throat. I'm emptying the contents of my stomach onto the concrete. I'm finally awake. I finally don't have to experience the horrible hallucination the dream catcher gave me. It was supposed to project good dreams, good memories. What was shown to me wasn't at all good. It was like a sword pierced through my chest. And I know I will not erase this image from my head quickly. When I finally made it to sit down against the brick wall I can scan the surrounding. I'm sitting behind the two walls, pressed tightly together, in one of the paths behind the blocks, the one I used to get into the square. First, I can see a pair of blinding, blue eyes examining my face. Valentina. At least she's here.
,,How could you be so out of your mind to let her go alone?'' I can hear trembling, foreign accent from the side.
,,I wanted to give her some space, show her that I trust her!'' Valentina screams in Niccòlo's direction. I can't force myself to look at him. I'm too scared. ,,I gave her 5 minutes! 5 god damn minutes and I was going to go straight after her. But Diego said he would go. He said he wanted to say sorry and fix things. How could I possibly know he would do something like this? He was her boyfriend for two years! '' She screams so loudly I can feel my eardrums bleed. My head is spinning, everything is blurry.
,,Didn't you see he was drugged?'' He screams even louder in response making my best friend's mouth shut for a long second.
,,He was?..." She asks so stunned she's unable to speak loudly. She's almost whispering from terror and disbelief. ,,I didn't know..."
,,You didn't know!?" I can hear him spitting these words trying not to laugh her off. ,,Of course you didn't know! What kind of a friend are you?!"
Valentina remains silent. So silent it hurts me even more than her screaming. She looks me dead in the eyes trying to reach something. Trying to reach my sanity under the fog of unconsciousness. I have to let her know that I'm fine. Calm her down. It's not her fault.
,,I'm okey" I say but my voice is barely a whisper. I'm too exhausted, too dehydrated, too drugged. I can see her eyes widen with shock and relief. She hides her face in her palms, still kneeling in front of me.
,,Get her some water." Niccòlo says, no, commands. With a deadly serious voice. And suddenly, Valentina stands right up, still pinning her eyes on mine.
,,Val..." I say terrified. She is leaving me with this monster of a man. My voice is a silent plead.
,,Don't worry Ed. I trust him. And Noah trusted him too" She says gently trying to give me one of her sad smiles. And my heart freezes. To death. Noah...
,,Like you trust Diego?" I ask offensively. She can't leave me there all alone. With him. I have to attack her with guilt.
She frowns her brows in response. Sad, hurt grimace.
,,I did never trust Diego at all. And Niccòlo will protect you better than I can if it's needed. I'll come back in 5 minutes. I promise." She kneels down and kisses my shaky jaw. ,,I promise." And then she's gone. She's gone and I can't even look in his direction because I'll faint from fear if I will.
He must know that I'll not dare to look at him because suddenly he kneels in front of me forcing me to let my body be sucked in the black holes of his eyes. His face displays nothing. Nothing at all. He examines my face like he's in the museum and looks at a painting trying to absorb every piece.
,,Are you okey?" He asks as he gets closer. Too close. I feel my guts doing a dance inside me.
,,Didn't I tell you to go away like a week ago?" I answer with a question trying to sound confident. But I'm not. My voice is trembling, so are my limbs. I can't fight my fear.
Snort. He snorts at me with amusement, hiding his face between his knees and arms that he put on them.
,,I'm just trying to see if you're sane." He says looking back at me lifting his head slightly.
,,I am sane, thank you." I say bitterly trying to wash that beautiful smirk out of his face. I hope it won't get my head to be cut of.
,,I'm not sure, amore." He says gently, his deep, warm voice tingling my ears. ,,Because you're to straightforward talking to me to be sane."
Snake crawls up my spine. I'm shivering even more. He threatens me under his soft words. How can he act like that after what happened. He smiles displaying his absolutely perfect, white teeth.
,,I am." I hiss. ,,And I'm fine." I say as his face leans impossibly closer and I fight the urge to spit at him.
,,Did that hurt? Answering me?" He asks softly, strangely softly with his smashed lips covered in dried out blood. Only now I see that his almond hair is splattered with blood, making a horrible contrast with its whiteness. His face is dirty, covered in blood and dust. He didn't put on his shirt after a fight so I'm struggling to force myself not to look at his bare, splattered with blood drops chest. And this tattoo.
,,Very. Yes." I ask before I can bite my tongue. Stupid, that's what I am.
But he doesn't get angry, no. He smiles. Truthfully, honestly. He barely even blinks as he scans my face curiously.
,,Do I have something on my face that you look at it so carefully?" I ask. I'm confused.
,,What?" He says blinking rapidly and taking his eyes of me as soon as I say that. I made him embarrassed. ,,No, no you're fine."
,,Thank you." I say truly. But that might have sounded like a joke so I add. ,,For saving me. I don't know what he would do if you didn't... beat him down." Now I am embarrassed. I can feel a blush splashing on my cheeks.
,,Are you two together again?" He asks looking back at my face, piercing my face through with his eyes once again. He talks about my recent break up that he was a witness to.
,,No." I say rapidly, not hesitating. He is not my boyfriend anymore. And he will never be. I don't know if I can say he was my boyfriend before either. I didn't feel it anyway.
,,Mhm." He murmurs quietly, still looking at my face closely, like he's trying to find something in it. I feel uneasy when he looks at me like that.
,,Why did you do this?" I ask so silently I can barely hear my voice. I want answers. If I can't escape him I at least want truth. I think that, after all, I deserve it. And I really want to believe that he's not a monster that he poses to be. ,,With this woman on the street when you chopped her arm of..." It's hard for me to even let that words go out of my mouth.
,,What?" He says frowning his brows in confusion. ,,You saw that?" He almost whispers. I can hear terror in his voice. But he knew I did.
,,I did." I say barely managing to get my voice. I feel a lump growing in my throat, strangling me.
,,She sold the drug that you took... you were forced to take" he corrects himself quickly. ,,To some kids."
,,How do you know?" The terror flashes through me. I can't believe someone would let some kids, children go through the same nightmare as I did just minutes ago. I heard their conversation. Now I remember. I must have forgotten because of all the revelations I've been going through recently.
,,Because I confronted her before. She sweared she won't do this again. But she did." He says deadly serious and even though I don't want to believe his words, I do. ,,She sentenced those kids to certain death. Even for a grown up this drug can cause a lot of damage. And for a young body..." he stops as he sees my face. I didn't even realise I started crying. But as I feel tears rolling down my cheeks he leans closer and wipes the tear of my face.
The boy who seemed so familiar to me, who I liked ever since I saw him for the fist time. The boy who turned out to be a heartless killer. The boy who had beaten up my ex-boyfriend almost, or not almost, to death with those hands now uses them to wipe my tears.
,,The cops are here!" Someone's scream brings my senses back. I can feel my whole body turning frozen from fear. Niccòlo's eyes go wide as a whole universe. He takes his hands of me in a matter of seconds.
,,Come on, we have to go." He says as he stands to his feet.
,,But Valentina didn't come back, we have to wait for her!" I say loudly trying to shout out the crowd's wild growl that broke around. I jump straight onto my legs like I've been struck.
,,Do you want to get arrested?" He asks angrily, already ready to fight or throw me over his shoulders to get me out of here if I won't cooperate.
,,For what?" I ask confused. I'm scared, my heart and veins pounding painfully under my skin. But I already know the answer to that question.
,,For attending an illegal meetings, for participating in fight, for drug usage." He lists and I feel even colder. He's right. But I can't leave Val here.
,,But Valentina can get arrested too." I'm stubborn, too stubborn wasting my time for escape.
,,Did she care about you when she left you to get drugged?" He growls and he is right. He is right and I don't have any more time to waste. So suddenly, I'm squeezing through the tight tunnel of walls, being held by the hand of a strange, terrifying, certainly insane boy. And I have no idea where it will take me. Probably to hell.