Demon

3. Bad Dream

To say I was distracted today might have been a tad of an understatement. I couldn't tell you one sentence spoken in my lecture. I took my usual seat, got a pen and notebook out ready to take down notes but when the time came to pack up my paper was still blank and so was my mind. I couldn't focus on anything, wondering from one mad thought to the next. It didn't help I had an uneasy anxious voice in the back of my mind telling me I was being watched. I haven't felt so paranoid since my mother had died.

I felt almost asleep throughout the day drifting from one place to the next, but not really there, not fully aware of what was happening around me. I had acquired a headache from all the mixed emotions I kept forgetting to block out and at lunch the very thought of eating and being around so many people made me feel nauseous. I choose to spend the hour in the library sat in one of the plush chairs, closing my eyes to try and relive the ache in my head.  Soon enough I found myself drifting to that near and almost sleep; hearing what was going on near me but not fully there.

Fingertips, lightly and ever so softly moved a piece of my hair, hanging over my face and tucked it behind my ear, I thought it a dream. Opening my eyes and looking around I found no one close enough to me to have possibly have done it, so a dream it must have been.

Getting home and slipping into the bath helped me greatly. The scolding hot water seemed to unwind my tense mussels; the steam cleared my head for what felt like the first time all day. The silence of the house might have helped too, being alone for the first time today with no unwanted emotions to cloud my mind and make me feel anything but myself. I have found with really strong emotions I can not only see them but they seep inside and overpower my own emotions, and with exams coming up, every student is feeling anxious and overwhelmed. The only sounds that could be heard was from the storm outside, but storms seemed to relax me, whereas they terrified Mars as a kid.

Mars hadn't texted or called to let me know he would be home late which he usually does. He knows I worry. So when it got to nine o'clock, I rang his phone to which I got no answer. In my heart something didn't feel right, knowing he's having issues at school and not calling or texting, my heart rate began to pick up. Dressed in just my pyjamas I ran out into the heavy rainfall and ran to my car. I didn't really have an idea where to start. The high school, maybe? Starting the car, before I could move my phone rang. My heart raced hoping it was Mars, but dad's name flashed across the screen instead. "Dad now is not the time-"

"I'm so sorry Saturn!" Dad sobbed down the phone. I haven't seen my father cry since our mom died, something horrible must have happened and I daren't think what was already scratching at the back of my mind.

"Where are you, dad?" I whispered, already fighting tears.

"I didn't mean for this to happen!" More sobs rang out down the line, which was gradually getting worse by the storm. "He begged --------couldn't say no!" The line was starting to break up.

I hung up the phone and used the GPS app I downloaded on dads phone to see he was at the docks. I always knew there might be a day he wouldn't come home and I would need to find his body. I never thought to download it to Mars'; I was supposed to keep him safe. I made my way to the docks shaking from the cold and also fear, the fear of not knowing what I'm about to walk into. After breaking nearly every speed limit possible I made it to the docks in record time. I could barely see ten steps in front of me, with how heavy the rainfall was and the only sounds that could be heard were the thunder booming above.

An overpowering sadness took over me as I felt my heart brake and a sob wretch from my mouth. The emotion wasn't my own, not yet at least. I let the feeling lead me as I ran through the rain towards where I know my father would be. The pain only grew as I got closer to him. I saw the aura surrounding him before I could make him out. He was on the floor, sat over something; something that didn't have an aura. "Dad!" He didn't look up at me. He was no longer crying either, just sat there staring down at what was on the floor.

I didn't want to look, I knew what I would find and I wasn't ready for it. I'd never be ready to face this. He was my brother; he was younger and had such a future ahead of him! Everything I did; everything I was going to do was for him. I fell to my knees the other side of him to my father. I finally forced my eyes down to him; his eyes wide and empty, devoid of all the excitement and happiness that can usually be found there.  With one look my father's pain was gone and it was my own overwhelming heart-breaking pain that was suffocating me. With a shaking hand reached out and felt his neck for a pulse. His skin was ice cold to touch. There was no pulse. Another stab to my heart followed as I realised I was kneeling in his blood. It was hard to see his wounds with the rain and his dark clothing but my white pyjama bottoms were turning a dark red and pink where I knelt.
He was shot! Through and through!
"Who did this dad?" I shouted, but he gave no response. "Dad! Why didn't you call an ambulance! " I tried again.

"I couldn't get through to them, only you." He finally spoke, I could hardly hear him, but what he said made no sense.

Lightning filled the sky and that's when the world stopped.