Our Inner Demons

Chapter 21

Sometimes even nightmares are more pleasant than reality.

That is the only sentence capable of describing how my morning started. Even though I was sweating in my bad dream the real nightmare did not occur until I woke up.

The unbearable pain through all of my body wouldn't let me breathe and I felt as if I was beginning to rotten on the inside.

"Mom!" I shouted while closing my eyes in pain. There was no answer. "Mom, where are you?!"

"Are you okay, Cel?" I heard Connor behind me and quickly opened my eyes only to find out I was sleeping on Connors's couch again.

"Oh, yes... I just... I had a bad dream."

"Can I be of any help in that case?" He sat down after I sat up and now lowered my head down onto his knees.

"You already are. Thank you for being so awesome." I hugged his arm.

"Sure. I'll do anything for you. You know that Cel, don't you."

"Really?" I looked up at him. "Anything?"

"Yes. Well, not everything. There are some things I can't do."

"Like what?"

"Like prevent you bleeding to death."

"What?" I was confused.

"Cel, you're bleeding again."

"What, where?" I sat up.

"Stop bleeding on my couch!"

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. You're gonna die anyway."

"What? Connor, how can you..." I gasped for air while waking up and I touched my face to make sure I wasn't really bleeding.

"Are you okay?"

"What?" I looked at my mother sitting next to me on a sofa. It seems that I fell asleep while watching a movie with her.

"Are you okay?"

"Oh, yes, I'm okay." I took a deep breath.

"Good. That little boyfriend of yours called while you were sleeping." She said while casually eating popcorn.

"Connor called?!" I grabbed my phone from the coffee table.

"Yes." She nodded.

"But I don't have any missed calls..."

"That is because I answered it."

"You what? Tell me you weren't rude to him..."

"Relax, why would I do that? I was in fact very nice to him. Since you two are in a relationship I would like to get to know him a little better. So I invited him to come over for a dinner."

"Without telling me anything about it?"

"How could've I told you when you were sleeping. Don't be ridiculous."

"I thought you had a rule that we don't invite anyone to eat here and only eat in restaurants with other people."

"Yes, but there is something about this young man that I especially like. I can't really tell what it is..."

"When did you tell him to come over?"

"He should be here any minute." We heard a doorbell. "Oh, there he is."

"You're kidding, right?" She got up and went to the front door.

"Let's see if I am..." She opened the front door while I waited on the couch still hoping she was bluffing.

"Hello Mrs. Abner!" Connor smiled while holding two bouquets and more other gifts for us. She took them with a smile and handed them to the maid.

"Hello, Connor. Please, call me Julie."

"You really came." I went to the door."I thought she was joking when she told me you would come."

"Well, to be honest that was my first thought too. It all seemed like some kind of a joke. But I'm glad to be here."

"Come in. Feel like home." My mom led us to the dining room. "Of course, I would have to get rid of a lot of things for you to feel like at home, but still..."

The table was already set and the maids were waiting for us to sit down to start serving the dinner.

"Let's sit down." Connor first wanted to take a seat next to me but then changed his mind for some reason and sat at the opposite side of the table.

"Your house is lovely." He must've known somehow that my mother loves it when someone compliments her house because she designed everything herself.

"Thank you. At least you have taste. So you're saying it came to you as a shock when I invited you to come over... Why is that exactly? Do you feel unworthy of being in our company, eating with us?"

"Oh, no I... I actually didn't think you like me. To be honest..."

"What? Did you hear that, Celestia?" She played to be surprised. "Oh, Connor. How could you ever think that? Of course I like you. But in the end, it really doesn't come down to if I like you or not. Celestia has the final word." She winked at me.

After we had dinner Connor and I went to talk in my room. It was odd having him there because not only that my room was off-limits for most of the world but my entire house.

"Your room is huge!" He said when we came in, that was the first thing he noticed.

"I know. I have much more space than I need."

"Are you serious? You can never have too much space in your bedroom. I practically live in my bedroom. Well, until I met you."

"I don't think that what applies to you also applies to the rest of the world, Connor." I said as I turned down the temperature on the thermostat.

"Trust me, it does."

"Sit down." I showed him at the two chairs in the corner of the room. He was somehow even surprised by that.

"You even have a small living room in here. That's the door to your bathroom I suppose... The only thing missing is a kitchen." He laughed.

"Don't be ridiculous, why would I have a kitchen in my bedroom? I only have a small fridge in case of an emergency so I don't have to go downstairs every time I need something."

"Fridge in a bedroom? That's like a dream come true." He sat down at the chair.

"You're so easily impressed, Connor."

"I'm a simple man."

I heard footsteps and I knew it was my mother trying to eavesdrop on us.

"So... Tell me, what do you think about my mother?"

"Oh, I don't know..."

"Please, be honest."

"Forgive me for saying this, but she doesn't seem like the best mother there is."

"She never tried to be the best, she is real. I figured that one night when I was eight years old and I called her to come into my room and chase the monsters under my bed. She told me that the real monsters are not under my bed, but everywhere around me."

"Sounds like an odd story to tell an eight-year-old."

"It was. Maybe I wasn't able to fall asleep that night but she thought me a lesson that helped me avoid being awake tortured by a different kind of monsters in the future."