Amgyptapan

Chapter 15: Suspicious Dreams

Black eyes bored into hers. In those eyes, an entire lifetime was mourned. She knew the man staring into her eyes loved her with his entire heart. Finally she had to look away. The last thing she saw was the sword coming down to-

Hessa lurched into a sitting position in her futon, her eyes popping open. Upon waking, she had screamed. Now, tears rolled down her eyes as she struggled to get her breathing under control. The door to her room slid open to reveal her nine year old brother, Akiva.

"Hey, I heard you scream. Was it that fucking shitty ass dream again?" Akiva calmly asked, smirking as his little sister giggled at his foul mouth.

"Uh-huh." Hessa nodded, holding her arms out for Akiva to embrace her.

This had become a nightly occurrence since the female half demon turned four. Every night, it was the same dream and Akiva would come to comfort her. The part that scared Hessa the most was the sword. The man that meet her eyes comforted her in a different way than Akiva did now.

Akiva was worried. He knew the sword coming down to end her life scared the five year old in his arms. He didn't know what to think about the man. Akiva did know that his sister dreamt her final moments of her past life, night after night.

Akiva hoped that Hessa would never figure out that she was dreaming her own death. There was no telling what would happen if she did. Maybe Akiva would tell her, if he ever needed to. For now, the best thing to do would be to get her back to sleep.

"'Kiv?" The five year old asked.

"Yeah, Hessa?" Akiva responded.

"Why do you think I keep having the same dream every night?" Hessa inquired.

Oh, Akiva was now in a bind. He had two obvious choices. One choice was that he could lie but suffer the consequences later. The second choice was to tell her the truth and end up mentally and emotionally hurting his baby sister.

The nine year old couldn't lie. Lies had a funny way of revealing themselves. The Canine tribe was renown for their tempers. Hessa would be no different.

If Akiva lied to Hessa, and she found out later down the road, there was no telling what she would do. However, telling the truth lacked its merits as well. There was no telling what would happen if she found out the truth now. Akiva felt in his heart that his sister deserved to know the truth, but not at age five or any time soon.

So, what could Akiva tell Hessa? Maybe he could combine truth and lie. He could omit certain truths. Technically, omitting wasn't lying, it just wasn't telling the whole truth.

"I'm not exactly sure." Akiva said.

"You're hiding something, I can tell." Hessa replied, cuddling with her brother.

"For your own good!" Akiva returned, defensive.

"I understand. Do you think I'll ever know the reason for the dream?" The five year old asked.

Akiva thought for a moment before answering, "Maybe someday in the far off future. For now, all I can suggest is get past your fear of swords so the end of your dream doesn't scare you anymore."

Hessa nodded, settling into her brother even more. Hessa never got like this with anyone but Akiva. Both kids' eyes drooped in exhaustion. Hessa never had nightmares when her favorite brother was by her side.

The rays of the sun woke the two half demon children. Hessa sat up and stretched, her arms curbing as she gripped the back of her head. She looked next to her to find Akiva trying to hide from the unyielding light. Hessa rolled her eyes.