Mastim's Curse

Chapter 14

Friday morning, I wake up after having a nightmare about dad beating a man with his bloody fists over and over again. It was awful. These bad dreams have been going on for a while. The drams all start as a dark storm with clouds made of millions of lost souls, crying for release from their suffering. After the storm hits, the dreams turn violent and bloody, normally with powerful images of me killing people. Once I wake, I'm bothered by the homicidal lusts of my dreams. I should get help, only I don't want to be locked up. There's no doubt in my mind that once they found out about me, that's exactly what they'd do. The idea of being medicated and put in a padded room is worse than death. I'll never let them do that to me.

The sun peeks over the horizon bathing my wall in deep purples and reds. Normally, I'd lie in bed a while to admire the colors, but my body is charged with dark energy and bathed in sweat, so I head for the shower. The sweat washes away, but not the darkness. Once I'm washed and dried, I go down stairs and follow the smell of fresh brewed coffee to find Jaidee in the kitchen putting frozen waffles in the toaster.

"Morning, want some waffles," Jaidee says. "They're good for carbing up for our workout later. Not that you need much practice. I know you're going to nail it." She looks back at me. "You are, without a doubt, the best student I've ever had. You're balance and control is amazing. You're even better than your dad, but don't tell him I said that."

If my skin weren't so dark, you'd see me blush right now. "Thanks." That's right... We're practicing for my 2nd degree black belt test today. I completely forgot, with everything else that's going on. "And yes. I'd love some waffles."

I make a cup of coffee and then pour maple syrup all over at the waffles Jaidee hands me. I eat the sweet mixture while my emotions swing from dark excitement left over from my nightmare to vanilla excitement about my date tonight and meeting Aleale tomorrow. Vanilla is how I think of the normal world where people worry about paying bills and school rather than darkness and death. Sometimes I envy those that live only in the vanilla world, even though, part of me realizes they're only living a superficial life. They know so little of the undercurrents that cut deep through their reality right below the surface. And those undercurrents can sometimes reach up to grab them, like what happened to Jenny Peterson. Well, at least she doesn't have to worry about that creep anymore, because I killed him. But Jenny... She'll never be the same girl she was before. I can feel the misery and desolation in her and it runs too deep to ever heal completely. If only my gift was healing instead of death.

Dad walks in and I'm stuck by the aura of danger hanging over him.

"Why the sour face?" He sits down next to me. "Aren't you excited about going to the concert tomorrow night?"

I am looking forward to that, a lot. Only... It's this damn feeing of impending doom that permeates everything in my life these days. So far, I've keep all that to myself so Dad and Jaidee don't worry about me.

"I didn't sleep well," I say. Which is true enough. "How do you feel?" I give him a long hard look, as if his face will reveal what's making me feel so uneasy.

"I feel great! This is the best I've been in a long time, woke up bursting with energy."

The dark power radiates from him like a power plant about to explode. "You're not planning on any late night activities this weekend are you? It's a stupid question, I know. He never plans for bad things to happen, they just do.

His smile disappears and Jaidee stops in her tracks. "Besides seeing Aleale? No... Why?"

I look down at my plate. "No reason. Just a feeling I've got." I wish I hadn't said anything because now they're both looking at me like I've grown a horn out of my forehead. They've both seen my dreams become reality often enough to take them serious.

Dad and Jaidee give each other a solemn look, and then Jaidee sits down next to me. "Honey, what kind of feelings?"

I glance from her to Dad. "Well, I have been dreaming about you a lot lately, and they haven't been the good kind."

"Tell me about them." Dad's eyes bore deeply into mine.

"They're violent and bloody," I say barely above a whisper.

Jaidee's eyes go wide. "Bloody?" She grabs pack of cigarettes that's on the kitchen counter. "Maybe we should stay home."

Dad rubs his hand on her back reassuringly while she lights up. "Now, let's not over react. Aleale's expecting us."

Jaidee frowns and takes another puff on her cigarette. "I know you need to deliver the car, but can't we skip the concert?"

I push my plate away. I'm not hungry anymore. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything." I should keep my dark thoughts to myself. Now I've ruined this whole thing for Dad after he's been looking forward to it so much.

He takes Jaidee's hand. "Look, I've explained this too you before. If we're going to live any kind of normal life, we can't lock ourselves up in a padded room every time Nicole has a bad dream. What we can do is be careful and keep our eyes open for anything unusual."

Jaidee shakes her head. "Why can't I fall in love with a normal person?" She takes her coffee and strides out the back door into the garden closely followed by Dad.

Now I'm depressed. As I watch them talk outside, I realize that if it's this hard for my dad to have a healthy relationship, it's going to be next to impossible for me.