Dreams and Dreamlings

Chapter 2- A Slot Machine Gives Me A Sword

                It took us about thirty minutes to reach Olivia’s neighborhood. She lived in a village close to the business district of Makati City. It was a good thing she lived close to the village gates because I was getting really tired. I was trying my best not to look it though.

                When we were got into the village, Olivia pointed to a nearby house that curled around the corner of Gemini Avenue and Mercedes St. The design looked Mediterranean. It had high wrought iron gates and fences that surrounded the house. It had three floors with a lot of windows. It was painted bright yellow that made you think of smiles and bunny rabbits every time you looked at it. It was a really nice house.

                “Just here’s good Remy.” Olivia said while giving me a smile that looked forced.

                “Sure? You sure you don’t want me to walk you to the front gate?” I asked.

                “Oh, no need.” She said. “Raffy’s there to open the gate for me.”

                “Raffy?” I asked.

                “Yeah, the security guard.” She said as if it was obvious.

                Security guard. Right, I forgot how rich Olivia’s family was. “Oh, yeah.” I said. “Well, you’d better get inside before your parents start worrying more.”

                Olivia was fidgeting and brushing her hair behind her ears. God, I loved it when she did that.

                “Remy, why don’t you stay the night?” She said finally. “I don’t think it’s safe for you to be going home this late… And with that thing still out there, it’s dangerous.”

                I said something smooth like “Uh, oh, bluh?” Which should’ve meant: Oh, you sure? Your parents might freak out about it.

                Olivia let out a suppressed chuckle. “Don’t worry, my parents won’t get mad. They're pretty cool. They don't look it, but they are. I'll just tell them we ran into trouble earlier.”

                “Oh, okay then.” I said. “But how will you tell your parents that a shadow-monster-thing tried to mug you? It doesn’t sound really, uh, believable.”

                “Yeah, I don’t think they’ll believe me if I told them.” She said dejectedly. “I don’t know, I think I’ll just make something up.”

                “You can do it,” I said. “Just tell them I forgot my house keys or something.”

                With that, we went inside the big happy, yellow house of the girl that I really, really liked. No pressure right? Just your regular chain of events: Monster attacks girl; boy runs away from monster while holding girl’s hand; and finally, boy gets to sleep in girl’s house. Awesome.

                She brought me to the living room and sat me down on the nearest chair. A few minutes later, she came back with both her parents flanking her on both sides. They were still wearing their pajamas or nighties, or whatever the rich people called them. Mr. Young was a tall man probably in his fifties with closed-cropped salt and pepper hair. He was well-built for a man his age. He had pale skin and a pointy nose. He was maybe American. Or British? I never bothered to ask Olivia. Mrs. Young was wearing a maroon robe that had birds embroidered on it. Cranes I think. It kind of looked like a Japanese kimono. One look at her and I knew that beauty ran in the family. She had fair skin and short wavy chocolate-colored hair. She had these kind yet stern eyes that made me flinch when I saw them. She had that "Mother knows best" look.