Regoria in My Dreams

Chapter 23

Never till that moment had I realized how fast darkness can set in. Before I could even blink it was dark enough that I could barely see my hand in front of my face. A set of shivers ran through my spine.

I have never experienced fear like this before; the fear that we could easily not make it through the night.  I could feel my dress – thanks to Ace, three inches shorter- whipping around my knees in the wind. I looked at Ace, hoping she would be the one creating the wind. She wasn’t.

“We are just going to have to wait out the night,” Ace said, trying to hide her stutter.

“But how?”

“We’ll take turns on watch. As soon as the sun comes up, we’ll journey back to Reed’s.”

“But what about Caldwell and Amor?”

“They’ll have probably left by now. I bet they don’t expect up to make it through the night.”

“I guess we have a plan then.”

“Yes, a wonderful plan.”

“Ace, stop it!”

“What? We are up in a tree, in the middle of the night, and you won’t let me make a joke?”

“Precisely.”

Ace groaned and leaned back against the tree. I wanted to chuckle at that, but fear wouldn’t let me. Since I didn’t laugh, the world stayed silent.

Silence is an odd thing. For all you know, everything could have lost their voice. The air around you is still, the trees are frozen, the birds mouths are glued shut… and then something comes alive and silence is beaten.

Then, silence was winning. It had taken the birds’ songs, the wind’s rustle, the trees’ grace, and the voices out of our mouths. It has even stolen the light, demonstrating it’s trickiness.

But no trickery then Ace is. Ace can defeat silence easily, a thing so fragile, it own name could kill it. “I hate silence!” Ace cried out.

“Well now you’ve broken it, so we are all good.”

“Ha ha Meia, have I ever told you you’re hilarious?”

“Many times Ace, many times,” I said, shaking my head and laughing.

“We are quite a pair, are we not?”

“Yes we are Aceline.”

“Don’t call me that!” Ace snapped.

“You know, you’ve never told me why you hate being called Aceline. I think it’s a perfectly fine and pretty name. What’s wrong with it?”

Ace sighed. “I’ve never told you?”

“No, you have never told me.”

“Has Robin ever told you?”

“If Robin had told me, why would I be asking you?”

“True. Well its good Robin never told you, he tends to twist the story.”

“Like you don’t…” I muttered.

Ace glared at me, but said nothing. “So you really want to know?”

“Yes! Would you just tell me already?”

She sighed, “Alright, I’ll tell you. If you really want to know.”

“Ace!” I cried, exasperated.

She laughed. “Just trying to annoy you.”

“It worked…” I mumbled.

“So it all started one day, probably when I was about… six per say. I was following Robin as he was playing with his friends. They were throwing knives at targets.”