Infinity

5: Art of Manipulation

Chapter 5

When I opened my eyes, something seemed quite off. I sat up and looked around. I was back in my bedroom at home. The windows were wide open, letting in the bright California sun and the smell of a saltwater beach. I ran my hands over my duvet and could feel the satin on my fingertips rather than the scratchy wool blankets of the academy. I jumped out of bed and ran downstairs, calling for my mother.

"We're on the patio, dear. There's no need to shout." My father called. My heart skipped a beat.

"Daddy?" I rushed through the doors and found my father and my mother sitting at the patio table. He was reading the newspaper and she was working on a crossword puzzle. They both dropped what they were doing and looked at me as I nearly toppled my father's chair over from jumping on him with such force.

"What are you doing?" He let out a throaty chuckle. "I came home a week ago. Where was the excitement then?"

"I had the most awful dream." I sat down at the table with them. "It was just so vivid I actually believed it was real." My mother was disinterested as always and continued on with her crossword. But my father put down his newspaper and folded his hands under his chin. He may have been gone a lot, but he was devoted when he was actually home, at least when he didn't have himself buried in his research. "There was an accident on your last trip. The boat disappeared and you were presumed dead, so mom sold the house and we went to go stay with Grandma Maisie and Aunt Amy. I apparently was a witch or something and mom made me go to this awful academy ran by awful people. I actually thought it was real."

"Well, I'm right here. Nothing happened to me and I'm just as alive as ever, my little witch. You certainly do have a vivid imagination." He picked up his cup of coffee. "But sadly I do have to go back to Bimini for migration season and I'll be gone for quite a while. What do you say about us spending the day together, just the two of us?"

It was great spending time with my father. He took me surfing and we decided to spend some time at SeaWorld. I felt truly happy for the first time in a long time. I couldn't remember the last time I was able to spend time alone with my father and talk to him about all of the things going on in my life and things going on in his research. "We're currently tracking a new species of shark." He shared this tiny bit of classified information with me. "It's in the order Lamniformes and family Lamnidae. We're calling it Isurus wake up."

"What?" I looked over at my father, not quite hearing what he said.

He turned to me and repeated himself. "Wake up, Infinity. I actually want to get the good breakfast." The world around us faded and I found myself looking into Zelda's face as she tried to wake me up.

"Wow, you were really out. I almost feel bad for waking you up." She murmured.

"No." I sat up quickly and looked around me. Everything was gone. "No!" I could feel tears streaming down my face before I could stop them. I tried to wipe them away in vain.

"Hey, what's wrong?" A surprising look of worry filled Zelda's face. I just shook my head and jumped into the shower hoping that she wouldn't follow me in the bathroom. She did. She took the shower next to mine. "Manfred had dreams too when everything first happened with his mother. He would wake up and expect her to be there. He never showed her any affection, but any time she tried to get away and have a chance at happiness, he was the one who was there to stop her."

"You and Asa are so quick to point out the awful things he does." I changed the subject from myself to Manfred. "Why do you stick around him?"

"I don't want to talk about this. I feel like I'm betraying him."

"Then don't make me talk about what happened to me." I quickly finished my shower, wrapped myself in a towel and made my way to the sink to brush my teeth. Zelda followed out not that far behind me.