Black Rose

8. Dreams

“Kara, honey, where are you? We’ve been so worried about you. Please honey, come back.” Rosaline begged when I called her.  

“I’m okay, Mom. Please tell dad and Keith that I’m fine. You have nothing to worry about.”

“ Why did you run away? Have we done something wrong?.”

“Of course not, Mom. Please don’t get me wrong. You and Arthur were so great. You’re so cool. Actually no words can describe how grateful I am to you. It’s just that…”

I can’t tell her the truth.

How I’d chosen to endanger my life just to protect them. For sure she’ll just blame herself and I can’t live with that.

"….I just want to know something about my past.”

“But can’t we offer any help?.”

I never speak for a moment. I was trying to find the right words to say.

“I’m sorry, Mom. But I guess I have to face this all alone.”

“Kara..”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” I tried to make my voice steady despite the fact that sooner or later, I’ll be crying my heart out.

“Honey, promise me you’ll come back.”

“I… promise.” I managed to choke out.

“We’ll be waiting.” I heard her say before I hung up.

I’ve put down the receiver before she could hear me cry.  I was sobbing hard inside the telephone booth.

I couldn’t bear the thought of leaving Arthur, Rosaline and Keith behind but what else can I do? I have no choice but to run away. It’s the best thing I could do to protect them. I promised Rosaline that I’d come back but I guess that promise will be broken sooner than expected.

I will definitely die. If not now, maybe tomorrow or the day after that.

+                               +                                +

I had a nightmare again but this time it was a different scene. I saw Rosaline, Arthur, Keith and me having dinner in our house. We were so happy.

Then suddenly everything went black. I can’t see anything but I could hear screams around me. I struggled to walk blindly in the dark.

 I stumbled and fell to the floor when I tripped on something hard. It was wet all over. Then light flooded the whole room. I saw  now what tripped me off.

It was Keith’s lifeless body lying on the floor. I screamed when I saw Rosaline and Arthur, also dead, with blood oozing from their wounded neck. And I’ve been bathing their blood.

 “NOOOOO!!!!.” I woke up screaming.

That’s one of the worst nightmares I ever had. I was trembling all over.

I’ve put my arms around my torso and tried to control my breathing.  Kellan was not in the car.

It was dark outside that’s why I can’t tell if he’s there or not. Where is he? Why did he left me all alone? What if the other vampires caught up with him and killed him?

I began to panic. If that’s the case, then I’m dead.

I tried to relax.

I have to relax so I could think of some ways to escape.

My eyes wandered inside the car. The key is still in the ignition. I shifted to the driver’s side after locking all the doors then tried to restart the car.  

“OH GOD!!!!!!.” Empty gas. Great!

How unlucky can anyone be? I slumped at the seat and closed my eyes.

If this is the end of the line, I guess I just have accept it. Sure thing, my family will be sad if I did not return but they’ll soon recover.