Enter the Shadows: Book One of the RTS Series (First Full Draft)

Chapter Twenty-One

Robin

The sound of several books falling off Robin's desk and slamming into the ground woke Robin suddenly, almost causing him to have a heart attack.

He gasped sharply, and felt the biting pain of the bruises he had received from the day's fight. His heart hammered inside his chest, but not from the sound of the books cluttering.

Vivid, terrifying images from the nightmare Robin had just woken up from still clung to his back. The sound of metal scraping against metal, screams, the smell of blood.

He put his head into his hands, trying to calm down. "It was just a bad dream..." He muttered. Though, he knew it really wasn't a dream. Robin looked over at the clock on his desk; it was four in the morning. Mike had probably just left a few minutes ago, leaving the house feeling empty.

And, similar to so many other nights, Robin was unable to go back to sleep. Constantly stuck thinking about the fight with Demarcus and the Nadir, and those same memories he didn't want to go back to.

-

That day, Robin had another appointment scheduled with the psychologist Doctor Blanche. He had arrived a little earlier than he normally would've, and sat in a chair next to the doctor's office.

But as he walked closer to the door, he could hear the doctor talking to someone. He didn't recognize the voice, which was distinctly female. And he could tell the two were in what sounded like a heated argument.

"I'm only trying to make sure something like this doesn't happen again! Why are you being so stubborn?" He knew that was the doctor's voice.

"It doesn't feel like anything's working, and things are only getting worse!" The new voice shouted, sounding frustrated and also wounded. "I... I just don't know..."

"I'm trying whatever I can to help you, but you have to trust me! You know you can trust me, right?"

There was a lull in the conversation. Then the new voice said, "I need to go."

Robin knew that was his cue to step out of the way of the door. Just as he predicted, before the doctor could respond, the door opened and someone Robin had never seen before walked quickly out into the hallway, almost slamming the door behind her. But she paused when she saw Robin sitting by the door, and hesitated, not saying anything.

Then he realized he had seen her before. Not in person, but in the photo that was on the doctor's desk. Obviously older, but still... the resemblance to Gregor was striking. They had the same dark hair and similar facial features, but she was definitely a paler. Sickly even.

"Are... are you Renée? I met your brother earlier this summer." He tried to strike up a conversation with her.

She hesitated, looking like she was going to speak. But then her expression went cold, and the only thing she said was "Excuse me, I need to get going," and kept walking away, as if Robin had never asked her a question in the first place.

Right as she disappeared around a corner, Dahlia walked out of the office "Renée, wait-!" Then she paused right as she saw Robin. "Oh, Robin. Sorry, I... please, come in."

"I know I'm a little early for our appointment, but I wanted to talk to you." He stepped into the office.

"No, you're fine. I was just... well, Renée and I were having a small dispute..."

"Is everything alright? It sounded like whatever you were talking about was really serious."

"Nothing serious, just the issue of her not carrying around an inhaler." She sighed. "She will sometimes get very serious asthma attacks. Not often, but when they hit they hit hard. I tell her to carry an inhaler, but she insists she's fine."