Dream Come True

26

I didn't though.

I was assaulted with past images and unseen ones alike. Every scene was too blurry yet too sharp all at the same time. Bright images of the endless list of battles flashed blindingly across my mind. A harsh scene seared above the others; My mother's arm lay comfortingly around Xander's mum, Isabella sobbing into her shirt. The gaze my parents shared over Isabella's shoulder was thick with grief and despair. Grime coated Brad's face, making it hard to tell what was dirt and what were bruises of varying colours. The picture zoomed out and I saw just how many people were trapped with them. I didn't know whether to be relieved or horrified that my family was huddled together, with an innumerable amount of suffering people. Emotionless soldiers guarded the perimeter, following through with the orders they were given. With a sharp sting, the image changed, and I saw a small family, two parents, each with a little child clutching at their knees. The girl gripped her mother's legs tightly and held her little brothers hand, the one that was not holding a dirty, matted teddy bear. Their four sets of teary blue-green eyes stared back at me, grieving and craving the child they had lost. Crackling into a new scene I watched as the five of us scrambled through the rubble towards Dougal's cackling form. The vision changed again, and I saw two hands in a delicate but determined hold, one male and one female. The picture was too close to see to whom they belonged, but I frantically continued to search for some sort of identification. All too soon I was shown what was beginning to become unnervingly familiar; Xander's face searching mine desperately, assuring me that I was fine, I was fine. My breath became to shallow and my eyes were beginning to droop with exhaustion, Xander's voice calling my name, getting quieter with every second.

***

"Well, what am I going to do?" Alesia leaned against the wall with her hands on her hips, her face scrunched stubbornly. "You honestly don't expect me to sit here just because of a stupid ankle. Why isn't he staying? He can't even lift his arm!" Her finger pointed accusingly at Drey, whose shoulder was wrapped in a fresh bandage.
"He is staying." Peter said simply, and he pulled the strings tight on the backpack. Drey's head snapped from Alesia to his father.
"What? No, I can't stay, I can help. You need me with you."
"No, you're both staying. Why do we do this every time? I am a Military General. I know what to do in these situations." Alesia's eyes narrowed.
"We do this every time because you keep trying to live in early last century. I'm going."
"We're all going." Every face turned sharply towards me, my abrupt statement stunning them all.
"What?"
"I said we're all going. I saw all of us there, so all of us will be there." My voice was sounded drained and weak. I scrubbed my hand across my face wearily.
Alesia grabbed her bag and somehow managed to glide past Peter on her injured ankle, with a smug grin.
"Let's get going, Xander's already got the car packed and waiting." Drey said, pulling himself up the ladder with his good arm.
"I hope you're right. I've got a bad feeling about today." Peter said to me, before turning to follow them out of the shelter.
My gut sank and my heart deflated. I rubbed my eyes and sunk into a crouch. Too miserable to cry, and too frustrated to scream, I stayed like that for a while. Gentle fingers pried mine away from my face. Xander was mirroring my position, crouching in front of me. His face was so tender as he melted my numbness and relieved a portion of my tension. Cupping my face me helped me up and pressed me to his chest. I curled in closer and bit my trembling lip. I felt his fingers curl around the back of my neck and he pressed his lips softly on my forehead.
"My Thia." He whispered. I felt a couple of tears trickle down my cheek and into his shirt. My heart unclenched a little more and I exhaled.
"I'm so sorry, I don't know why I keep crying like this. I feel so stupid." He chuckled and tipped his haead to rest his cheek against mine, trailing his hand through my hair.
"My Thia." He repeated.
His eyelashes delicately drifted across my skin. Giving me one chaste kiss, he wiped the evidence of my tears, linked his fingers through mine and we walked towards the jeep together.

***

THE five of us crouched in the darkness, debris from obliterated buildings and the stench of gunpower filling my nose. I don't think any of us were breathing, afraid the sound of our exhales might reveal our position to the soldiers obediently lined up along the walls.

Xander's face had lost some of its tension after the news of his mother. A tentative hope had filled the creases of his expression, and he moved with more purpose. Alesia's face however had seemed to lose even more of its colour, sorrow starting to permanently taint her features.

My eyes scanned the landscape, searching for something familiar – anything that could lead me to my family. I squinted at one soldier at the end of the hall, something about his face sparking a memory. My eyes narrowed in concentration as a rummaged through my piles of disorganised visions. I stifled a gasp recognising him as one of the guards behind the huddled circle of prisoners.
"Him. We follow him, we find the prisoners." I breathed, so quietly I couldn't hear my own voice.
We find the prisoners, we find my family.

The soldier continued down the crumbling corridor, the other uniformed men nodding to him as he passed. He stopped and hushed words were exchanged. Two more soldiers broke off from the line and followed him towards us. I pushed myself further into the darkness, the men so close now I could reach out and grab them. The breeze caused by their movement slithered up my spine with icy fingers causing me to shiver.

The silence suffocated me as the footsteps began to fade. Xander's hand tugged me forward gently as he began to creep through the darkness after them. My aching head was intensified with my loss of senses; the darkness stealing my sight and rendering my ears and nose nearly useless. I clutched Xander's fingers tighter and focused on the feeling of Alesia's in my other hand to keep me sane. After what felt like hours a sliver of light stretched desperately through the crack of a door frame.
Drey adamantly shook his head.

Too simple.

Alesia grabbed my shoulder sharply and pointed to the right of the door. I strained my eyes and could just make out a small grate about 3 metres further down the corridor. Just big enough to wiggle through. Before we could move, Drey had already slunk across and pulled out a pocket knife from his back pack. Xander and Peter followed suit, painstakingly curling the screws out of the cool metal. One by one, the screws released their hold. The five of us cautiously lifted the grate and it let out a scrape that echoed hauntingly through the damp den. I stopped breathing and strained my limited senses for danger. Seconds ticked by and when there was no sound of movement, Alesia shimmied into the gap and slipped into the next room, without real caution.
Drey quickly dove in behind her without a sound. As we all pushed ourselves through the opening, we found ourselves lying underneath a variety of military vehicles. We flattened ourselves closer the floor and peeked at the scene before us.

And that's when we saw it.