A few days later,she was watching the same nightmare.But this time it was different.More vivid,more horrific.Two men are holding her with all their strenght and dragging her into the woods.Is morning and the sun is blinding her.Her dress is torn.They tied her tightly to a bole.She can feel the ropes making her bleed.Gathered people are watching.Some are indifferent,some look sad but they're helpless,they can't do anything.Two little girls stand out in the crowd.One looks familiar.She's trying to figure out why,but her brain doesn't let her.That little girl's face is so familiar!The same two men place logs around her.As the time goes by her desperation grows bigger.It's the same nightmare,she knows what comes next.Her breathing becomes faster and faster,heavier.Not again!No!The fire ignites.The flames come closer.The heat becomes unbearable.After a while,she feels her flesh burning.She's screaming,but nothing is heard.As if someone stole her voice.Only pain.She's closing her eyes so she won't see.She's shutting them fiercely.And in that moment,exhausted,she wakes up.Her fingers hurt from how firmly she had grasped her blanket.Alex needed a few seconds to realise where she was.She takes a few deep breaths and looks around her.Her wrists were hurting terribly,like she was truly tied up.She examined them carefully.Nothing.No scar.Alex thought it was just her imagination.She was very affected by that horrible dream.After she calmed down a bit,she went downstairs to the kitchen and saw Lana preparing breakfast happily.
-Happy birthday sweetheart!,she said and gave Alex a kiss on the forehead.
But of course!It was her birthday!
-Thanks grandma,she said and sat on the chair.
She was very nervous.This time,her birthday wasn't gonna be like the rest,at all.She was feeling a strange agitation.Her hands were hyped up.Her ceremony would take place at night,and she wanted everything to be perfect.It was very important for her the fact that she would take her mother's pendant.It was like she was taking a small part of her.She took a toast idly,spread some marmelade on it and ate a bite.She couldn't forget the little girl she saw in her nightmare. Suddenly the phone rang,getting her out of her thoughts,and Lana answered.Joseph had called to wish her happy birthday.He was awkward,serious and reserved,as always.
-Thank you uncle,she answered.She was never comfortable when she was talking to him.
-Today is the ceremony.I hope everything goes well,Joseph added.
<<I wish I could be there by your side>>,he thought,but didn't dare to say it.
-I'm sure it will,she said sharply,and after they said goodbye,they hanged up.
Joseph sighed and put slowly the phone down.He was feeling so tired.He sat on the chair behind his desk.He was surrounded by books,which,piled up at the library,were reaching the ceiling.He hid his face inside his hands.After a while,he heard the sliding door open hesitantly.It was Lindia.She now was a sweet young girl with bright red hair.As she was growing up,she was looking more and more like Jasmine.But that,instead of comforting Joseph,it was hurting him even more.It reminded him of her absence.
-Did you call her?,she asked while walking inside the room.
-Yes,he answered and opened a book that was infront of him.
He wasn't in the mood for talking,but that didn't stop his daughter to say what she was telling him almost every year such day.
-Why don't we go see her this afternoon?,she suggested.
Lindia wanted more than ever to see her cousin after all these years.She needed a friend.As the time was passing by,her loneliness was becoming a bargain she couldn't bear anymore.Even though she hadn't seen Alex many times,she was feeling very close to her.Her best memories were with her.
YOU ARE READING
Starlit:A whole new world
Adventure-Are you afraid of me? -No...you? -Not at all. -Good.
