Chapter 2: The Dream

Current Year Middle of the night, in the city nicknamed "The financial capital of the world", in a certain apartment in a wealthy neighbourhood of the city... In that cozy one-bedroom apartment, lying in a lavish queen-size bed, a woman, frail as a leaf in autumn, whimpered in her sleep. Her eyebrows were knitted, her hands were tightly clasping the sheets, and on her forehead there were beads of perspiration despite being in the room that was set to optimum temperature. She was dreaming... More like reliving her distant memory. The memory of when she was a five-year-old girl. *Bang * *Bang* *Bang* The sounds of bullets neared them as two kids ran as fast as their short legs could take them. The hand that was only slightly bigger than hers was holding her tight, making her warm in that bitterly cold evening. "Shoot her!" "Kill her! " "End that Brunton devil!" "Stop her!" The noises of the henchmen filled that little organised man-made forest with cedar trees. "Blue, come on... Just a little further..." The boy running in the front held the girl by her wrist and pulled her along with him, seeing her too tired to run. "Why did you even come here?" he asked, displeased, resting in the cover of a short cedar tree to let the girl catch her breath as she squatted holding her chest. She had never run this much before. And her mother... The sky has darkened already, and they could hear the creek flowing closely. If they reach the creek, she’d be safe. The girl couldn’t answer as she was breathing heavily. But she clutched the candle she was holding in her hand tightly. ’ Mother is hurting... My brother will come out soon... I wanted to light a candle for my mother to hurt less and my brother to be born healthy...’ Someone told her that if she lit a candle in the church on the other side of the creek, her mother would be fine soon, and her brother would be safe too. And so she came here walking through the really thin ice, since all of her bodyguards were busy protecting her mother, er, who was being transferred to a hospital for delivery. She had to sneak out, even leaving Cyrus, because she knew no one would take her here. Only if she lights the candle will her mother survive, and she won’t have to attend her mummy’s funeral too. "Mummy..."She felt her throat close, and she was scared. By then, they could hear footsteps nearing them, and her heartbeat raced with anxiety. She tried to get up clumsily and run away. She needed to light the candle. ’How could I get caught even before I lit the candle... My mummy... What will happen to her? I need to light the candle! " She felt her chest hurt as she breathed heavily. "Don’t worry, I’ll get you out of here safe," the boy whispered as he placed both his hands on her shoulders, squatting in front of her, stopping her from running. Surely the adults can run faster, and they will get her. He probably didn’t know her thoughts and thought she was just frightened. Still panting heavily due to running for a long time and anxiety, she looked at the boy, trying to peek behind her to see who was approaching. His hands were still on her shoulder, and he leaned closer to her to look behind him, which transferred his warmth to her as if he were hugging her. The boy whose name was ’Art,hur’, whom she met just a month ago, made her feel an indescribable amount of security. In this dangerous place where she is not supposed to be and is currently being chased by people who are actively trying to kill her, somehow, he felt like a warm cave to hide in. This might be a bear cave and might be equally dangerous as the wolves chasing her, but still... this bear seemed to be protecting her, and for some reason, she felt relieved. "Where did she go?" A voice filled with malice was heard, and Tali, who was dreaming, still felt the chillness in that voice and gasped. "Rea, Ray? A five-year-old little girl who accidentally crossed here should be killed?" Another voice that was calm as the gentle breeze was heard, and Artie placed his finger to his lips, signaling Talia not to make a noise. She held her breath, and she could feel her heart beating in her throat. "Well, rules are rules..." Ray said, and the thrusting of the leaves by the breeze made what he said afterwards flow away. " Our brother Artie wasn’t hunted when he crossed, was he?" The calm voice was filled with exasperation. "Whose fault was that?" Ray sneered, and Talia could see Artie smiling wryly. ’Why is he talking about his brother like this?’ Talia couldn’t digest the fact. She would never say that about her brother. "That was,y" the calm voice said, and Talia gripped Artie’s sleeves as she got extremely scared. Even Artie was shocked, and he glanced at her, but there was a determination in his eyes. "You can come out..." "I will not let you hurt her, Roderick!" Artie stood up holding a stick he found on the ground, round, and Roderick chuckled like he was amused. "How cute!" Roderick ruffled Artie's hair, and Talia, who was scared, moved to her back, almost fixed to the tree trunk. Her little fingers that were placed in the ground got frozen by the cold and out of fear as Roderick looked, staring at her, and Artie stood between his brother and her, with his back to her. Maybe because of the cold or of the fear, she felt her entire body hurt. Not minding his little brother, Roderick bent down towards her, pushing his skinny little brother aside. The approaching big hands that still had a gun made her whimper, but still she didn’t shout. "Don’t scream." Roderick didn’t mind her reaction and scooped her up in his arms and gesturing to his brother to stay quiet. Carrying her like a child, he walked with long strides towards the creek. "Geez! Stop shivering! I’m trying to get you out of here safe, can’t you see?" Roderick said as she struggled to get down and walk by herself. She was scared. Too scared. Her face had become deathly pale, and she was whimpering like a drenched kitten. "He is right. None of them will shoot Rod. You’ll be safe in his hands," Artie said, holding her hand, hanging onto Rodrick’s grip, and she stopped struggling. Well... If he says so... Her heart’s palpitation hasn’t reduced, and she still feels like she needs to light the candle, but she knows she can’t return. "For my mum," she passed the candle in her hand to Arthur, and he looked at her and mumbled something. She knew he didn’t say anything good, but she made him promise he’d light the candle for her mother, on her behalf. "You came here for this?" Roderick mumbled, but he didn’t say more as he hugged her close. She didn’t fear him like before as he seemed to be comforting her. They reached the creek, and shouts were coming from behind. The little ice over the creek had melted, and the creek was flowing with these sheets of ice running along the flow of the water. "Damn those cameras... And the ice melted... " Roderick mumbled and shot at the other side of the creek, signalling the search party on the other side. "Rod, you fool! What are you doing?"That evil, menacing voice was heard from behind, and Roderick pushed her in front of him. "Move or I’ll shoot you first!" the voice repeated. Talia looked over her back to give a face to the scariest voice she had ever heard. There was another boy who was a little younger than Cyrus, and he looked like Artie but a bit bigger. "Ray! You cannot!" Artie screamed and at the same time, "Princess Talia!!!" A loud voice came from the other side of the creek. She, not worrying about anything, got out of Roderick’s grip as she heard Cyrus’ voice from the other side. Now that is the only one she’d trust with her eyes closed. For her who was like a small boat drifting in the tides of a stormy ocean, his voice was the warm beacon beckoning her to safety. " Stop! The water’s freezingly cold!" Artie stopped her as she walked towards the water. She just wanted to go to her home. "Come with me..." She looked at Artie. Rodrick was still covering her from Ray, and she didn’t want to leave Artie her, where it was dangerous. At the same time, splashes were heheardand almost ten men had already jumped into the cold water and were crossing to this side. They all needed to get this child to her grandfather or else they’d lose their everything. "Fire!" Ray shouted at their men already there, and they all started shooting at her, making her shiver. A lot of noise followed, with people firing on both sides. The next thing she felt was her being lifted from the floor, and what followed was pain... Bone-crunching pain, and she felt her lungs burn as if they were set on fire, and her heart almost stopped. And there was coldness... And darkness... Amidst all that, as she was losing her consciousness, she could hear one loud shout. "Blue! I’ll come for you...!" *Gasp * Talia sat up in her bed, drenched in cold sweat. Her entire body was shivering, and her Egyptian cotton sheet, which had like a million thread counts, was drenched in sweat. "It’s fine... It’s fine... It’s fine now... It happened a long time ago..It'sts a dream... It’s just a dream..." She took slow, deep breaths, calming herself down. ’Why? Why now? ’ Tears rolled down her cheeks, now gradually gaining colour as she remembered that day. Her blue eyes closed as she took each breath. Rubbing her hands together, she tried to warm up her palms, now frozen cold. Why am I remembering it now? She tried to think of something else to get out of the anxiety that dream had caused her. That was the day her mother died. Her mother and her brother both died the same day. Roderick, trying to save her, threw her in the cold water. The moment she fell inside the water, she gasped out of reflex, and water had entered her lungs. Thankfully, her family’s guards, who were already in the water, got her, or else her little heart would have stopped by the cold water. When she came to, she was in the embrace of Cyrus, with only his coat wrapping her, and was running towards her home. Her entire body felt like it was being pricked by a thousand needles, and she was wheezing and her teeth were clattering due to the cold. "Mummy..." She asked amidst her reflexive gasps, and she had no reply. The next couple of days, she was in bed with severe fever and cold, and on the third day.... She attended her mother’s funeral. And in her mother’s wake.... Something happened that almost destroyed her.... During the funeral, she thought her mother had died because she didn’t light the candle herself. And later, she thought it was because she broke the rules and disobeyed her mother. And later... She grew up, and still it is hard for her to accept. It’s life... Shit happens! But Cyrus always said that you can avoid certain troubles by being careful, and so she tries her best to be careful, always. And Cyrus too... Why did he... In the end... What’s the purpose of anything? Why should she be careful, holding on to her dear life? Won’t it end just like that, too? Even if she is careful? Talia sank into her despair. These few days are always hard for her to pass through each year. But she has to live. For what purpose, she had no idea. But like all living creatures in this blue planet, she had the will to live. To be more precise, she taught herself to like living. And only that thought saved her from going insane, kept her sober, and saved her from taking her own life after everything she’d been through. ’Blue... I will come for you...’ That voice of the boy echoed in her ears, and she frowned deeply and rubbing her face. "I don’t want to see you ever again." She mumbled as she tried to sit up, and by now, she was pretty over the panic she felt because of her dream. She rubbed her palms together and stared at them, thinking about memories of the past. One by one, they came back from deep inside her heart where she thought she had buried them. But sadly, she still remembered it all! She didn’t even realise the sky was brightening up behind the thick curtains that covered the window in her bedroom. After a while, she heard her phone on the end table ringing. Her ringtone was the ragtime song that belonged to the early twentieth century, "The Entertainer" by Scott Joplin. She loved that jolly tune, and others would mock her for loving an old song that was more than a century old. She loved it and that’s all that mattered. She took a peek at the phone and, seeing the name appearing, she frowned. Ugh! shit! I forgot what happened last night!