Courting Death | Book 3

T W E N T Y - F O U R

T W E N T Y - F O U R
Have Faith

I JOLTED AWAKE with a start, my body bolting upwards as I gasped hungrily for air. My vision was poor, dots swirling around whatever was in my line of sight as I grasped the air around me frantically. Thankfully, much like the other times in which I was caught in the painful hands of a trip down my past lives, Dimitri was right there by my side when I finally returned to reality.

"It's okay, Addison. It is alright. Just take in deep breaths." Dimitri cooed, a hand placed on my back to support me into an upright position. I could feel his fingers dancing across my skin, a light tingle as my mind placed the imaginary feeling of his cold skin against my back. His words soothed me greatly, ensuring that I wouldn't frantically kick around in fright.

Once I finally properly regained my axis on the world, the world slowly blending into view and the darkness no more, I grabbed Dimitri's left hand. Ignoring his questions targeted about my wellbeing, my eyes searched for that ratty wire ring that I knew would be on his finger.

"Are you alright? What's wrong?"

Though he was filled with questions, Dimitri did not stop me from pulling his hand over. I could feel his eyes trailing my every move, scorching a trail down my skin as my own eyes rested on the smooth curves of the worn-down ring. I sighed in relief when the familiar sight of the ring greeted me, adjusting myself so that I now held Dimitri's hand tightly close to my heart.

"I was right," I murmured under my breath to no one in particular. "Lola, that little-"

"You saw Lola again?" I was cut off mid-sentence. In an instant, Minnie was right by my other side, her body resting on the grass as her eyes widened in surprise. "That little girl that is your past life?"

"Unfortunately," I confirmed, nodding. "She was trying to trick me into staying in my own mind again. She used another illusion and I was so worried that it was the truth."

"What did she make you see this time?" Dimitri tried to pry.

My face crumpled at his words, the image of Dimitri and Minnie pressed closely together burning my mind and reducing it to ashes. I could feel the hair on my arms coming to a stand, my skin tingling in petrifying fear all whilst my heart dropped to my feet and maybe even below ground. I hated the thought with every fiber of my being.

I tried to convince myself that the illusion in which Lola had provided was just about as harmless as a dream and that a dream - no, a nightmare - was all that Lola was. She would not be able to harm me as long as I was awake and well. Reality was not hers to manipulate; it wasn't anyone's to do so.

Dimitri must have noticed my reluctance in answering for he pursed his lips tightly. "I'm sorry. You don't have to share it if you are not comfortable with doing so."

"No," I forced myself to reply, swallowing the bile in my throat as my gaze fixated onto the view in front of me. I refused to meet both Dimitri and Minnie's eyes. "No, I am not comfortable with it at all."

I could only imagine what the possibilities in which they could have come up with in their minds. There could be many different alternate illusions that would have done enough to stir me up. It was only the matter of which would do so the most. At that point, I wondered if the illusion that Lola had provided me with was the worst one possible or was there something else that would've brought me down to my knees. Whatever it was, however, I prayed to never find out.

The sun had long risen, the night passed in the time that I was asleep. It dazzled brightly in the sky with the might of a million stars, shimmering in golden splendor like I have never seen before. Rightfully, of course, since the sun was the greatest star of them all. It hung along with the fluffy white clouds in the sky, filling the world with so much brightness that it seemed almost difficult for me to frown.