The Princess of Darkness

Chapter 14: The Decision

I slept really soundly the night after the third Emlimination Ceremony. My dreams were about my mother's blue eyes and my father's warm smile. I imagined my sister laughing as we ran outside, and how my dad would yell for us to come inside before we cought a cold.

I dreamed about Alex too. I didn't love him, but his kiss had sure messed me up. Whenever I thought about him, my cheeks warmed and a goofy smile would appear on my face. The dream was even worse because Alex was standing next to me in it.

We were sitting on a wooden bench somewhere, and he was smiling while running his fingers through my hair. It was weird actually, because instead of actually being myself in this dream, I was looking at him and myself as if on a television. 

In the dream I looked a little older, maybe twenty-five or so. On my ring finger there was a shiny turqoise jewel decorated with diamonds, and on his was a thick silver band. 

This could be my future. No, it could be, but I just coudn't let it. I wouldn't let it happen.

But even as I thought about pushing Alex away, the dream persisted. 

There were a few other differences between my dream self and me. In the dream I seemed totally absorbed in Alex, we weren't even talking. Just gazing into each other's eyes.

It kind of made me want to puke. 

After watching Alex and myself laugh and talk about stupid stuff like the weather, and how great the other one looked for about ten minutes, Alex stood up and kissed my hand. I smiled and kissed his forhead from where I was sitting, and the stood up very slowly and awkwardly to join him. 

I realized that I had suddenly aged a year or two in that five seconds in which I had stood up. My stomach was swolen and Alex placed his hand on it.

This dream was taking a weird turn.

Then suddenly a swarm of images came flooding into my vision. 

They were pictures of what Alex's and my life would be like if I chose to marry him. And then a new scene of Alex and I appeared. 

I was crying my eyes out and Alex was walking away from me. Mascara was running down my face as Alex ran to Morgan Amora (the girl who had pushed me into that ditch) and then started kissing her. Suddenly anger and jealously swelled within my stomach and I felt the sudden urge to strangle Morgan.

Then I woke up.

I had to make a decision: Lie to Alex and tell him that I really don't love him. Or tell Alex that I love him, even though I'm not even sure that I do.

I thought for a moment, and then suddenly...

I made my decision.

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I got up out of bed and put on a black striped skirt and tucked a pink T-shirt into it. It was still early in the morning so I put on a jacket that was about ten sizes too large, but I didn't even care. My hair was messy and I'm pretty sure that I my shirt was inside out, but I strode out of my room as if nothing was wrong.

I silently but quickly walked down the hallway to where Michael's post usually was. Michael had told me that he was on duty from 10 p.m. until 4 a.m, on weekend nights. This was the perfect time to ask him an important question. 

As I turned the corner, I saw Michael. He was humming something. A sad song that had lots of minor chords and long drawling notes. I tried to stay out of his vision so that I could listen to his beautiful song, but his sharp eyes caught me quickly.

"Who's there?" He said severely. 

I actually felt scared of him and I didn't respond very quickly.