Red as the Dawn

Chapter 3

Chapter 3 

I woke from another nightmare, my sheets wet with sweat and my pillow wet with tears, this time I woke with only a gasp though. It wasn't dark in the room like I was used to waking up in, and the tiny lamp at the edge of my mattress was lit, drawing my attention like a magnet. Sitting on the edge of my mattress waiting for me to wake, was Shade, his arms crossed while he leaned against the dingy wall behind him. The lamp light threw heavy shadows across his features, but his eyes were unmistakeable in the darkness. We stared at each other while I caught my breath and then with a slow drawl he inquired, "what are you dreaming about?"

I shook my head, more in frustration than anything, and then laid back down and tried to roll over. He grabbed my shoulder though and growled in my ear, "don't fight me on this anymore, who do you see in your nightmares?"

Pushing him away with all the strength in my arms, I spit, "it's none of your business!"

He catches himself on the wall and watches me, fury evident in his tight jaw and tense shoulders. Kicking the blankets back, I rise and spit at him over my shoulder, "I can handle it myself."

I grab my jacket and yank it on over my shoulders which are slick with sweat and then streak by him, determined to escape the small room that we shared and find a place to cool down. The door screeches open and I take off own the hall at a sprint, my bare feet padding against the floor silently as I turn the corner quickly.

The hallways were getting colder by the week it seemed, and today it had been especially bad. The floor was ice cold, and my breath came out in puffs of steam as I sprinted through the halls. Shade was right behind me, his voice following me like a shadow that blotched out my thoughts. I stopped suddenly in the doorway that opened into the monstrous room with the mine shaft that led to Cal's cell. I clutched the doorframe with both hands and sagged down to the ground, my shoulders shaking uncontrollably with cold and fatigue. Shade's pounding steps stopped a few steps away from me, but he didn't come any closer.

I pressed myself against the doorframe, trying to make myself smaller, but I couldn't hide from the pecking of my thoughts, which danced around my head like dark shadows that slipped into the light only to bite me. I let out a muffled cry and then sank all the way to the floor in a huddle and let out a scream that must have echoed throughout the compound. From behind, Shade enveloped me in an embrace and pressed me into his chest where my screams were muffled. There was the pounding of more feet and Shade's gruff voice ordering, "no, I can handle this, just give us some space."

The guards that had abandoned their posts, took a few tentative steps back and eventually walked to their original positions on the other side of the tunnel to watch from a far. They were silent as they moved, but the soft clap of their rifles against their sides jarred me. I could see the Bowl of Bones in full clarity after that, but I wasn't standing in the sand with Cal, I was high above him, standing in the box with Maven hissing in my ear like the snake he was.

Down below I could see Cal glancing up at me, his face a mix of sadness and stoic calm, just like I remember. Next to Cal was Shade, looking up at me with a confused lopsided grin that he always wore to cheer me up when I was worried. Behind him was Gisa, her hands wrapped tightly around Kilorn's arm. And behind her was the rest of my family, all giving me bewildered looks.

With maddening clarity, I heard the fire of the rifles and with a scream of agony, I leaped forward, trying to throw myself over the balcony to them. Maven's hands yanked me back against him before I can tumbled over the edge. It's not Maven pulling me though, it Shade pulling me back against him. It's not Maven hissing in my ear, it's Shade, whispering that he's there, that he won't let anything hurt me.