(Book 5) Hayden Mackay and The Pride of Haima-Endira

10.1 The Hidden Dynasty

Darkness. Everywhere. My skin felt damp, sticky and smelly.

I was breathing heavily, crying my wits out, had been using my own lap as a shoulder of someone else's to seek comfort. The darkness had enveloped me. There could be something lurking within this tiny closet. A monster perhaps, similar to the one outside. The more I tried to shriek, the more my throat pinched, my ears squeezed, the ache in my head was unbearable to endure. I sat there glued to the place I was forced to hide, muscles cramped, the feel of my wet lashes against my skin. I was surrounded by the dark walls that seemed to be closing in on me. This darkness was a quicksand. It was suffocating me, eating me bit by bit. Heart pounded, adrenaline pumped, sweat trickled down my forehead. I didn't wish for this terrible fate. Did every ten-year-old had to face this trauma or was it just me?

I wanted the door to be opened, but then I didn't want it to. I was aware of what was happening outside and what I was going to see once the door opened. The suffocation would still be there. The pain of the mind would be intolerable. Seeing her in that state had always been nothing but suicide.

But then the closet, I'd been using to hide every day, seemed to jerk a little. Oh my, she was opening it. I wasn't given time to brace myself, when with a slight twitch the door wide opened.

I screamed my lungs out, the scream that even I couldn't hear. Her face was dripped in blood and she was terribly wounded, with the imprints of bite marks everywhere. Just like she had them the day before, and the day before that as well. Oh, the poor lady! I thought you've accepted to bear this pain only to keep me safe?

And I burst out crying.

She leaned forward, letting me read her lips that were hidden beneath the dark slimy blood. "It's over. Come out, dear!"

Roaaaaar!

Inhaling heavily, I woke up to the peering eyes of a lion. I cringed, sliding a little back and blinking several times to help my vision get adjusted with the surroundings. I rummaged underneath my bed for a bottle. And drank the water until I regained my consciousness.

Singh was in my bedroom gazing at me through his squinting golden eyes, his tail flicking idly. "You are late!" he yelled.

"Wha..." I choked, his grating voice sending a fit of shiver.

My room was fully illuminated. I checked outside the window from where the brilliant rays of sunlight filtered through giving me an idea of what time of day it must be.

"What the hell!" I shrieked, throwing my sheet aside, "Did I oversleep?"

"Your friends have been trying to wake you up," he said, "and when never showed up, they freaked out as if you were dead. They had me check on you."

"Did they leave already?" I asked, wearing my shoes. It was the nightmare I supposed that held me from waking up, details of which I didn't remember a bit.

"Yes, a while ago," he replied. "Now you really need to go. Your buzzer is ringing."

"Oh man! I'm so screwed," I chided, putting on my buzzer on my wrist that was pulsating red and bright. I hastened towards the door, but before I completely went out, I turned back to acknowledge something which I should have a day earlier. "Listen Singh, thanks for accepting to keep guard over Nazira. Please be alert and vigilant, alright?"

"Sure," he replied, with a sarcastic tone, "and thanks for putting me on duty round the clock."

I gave a quick smile and barged outside to begin my day.

Pruthvi and Leena had instantly agreed with my proposal to have Singh guard her instead of the knights. It wasn't Bhupathi, but Shourya had become a bigger threat to her. In order to confirm the assumptive fact, I had been placing refreshments and soda at the threshold of the door and at the backyard. By the evening, they had been disappearing. Despite the satisfaction of being able to provide a minuscule help, these incidents inflicted the notion of fear amongst us. He could be wandering around the apartment right now, having his eyes on her and waiting for one chance.