Disaster Follows

17 - The Uneasy Truth

Hey guys, sorry I was MIA, had a ton of things to do for this college thing and .___. well here I am, new update ;)

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 “Valentina!”

She yelped as she opened her eyes. Her chest was going up and down erratically. She could barely form out the shadow before her until light erupted from the ceiling, nearly blinding her. She whimpered as she closed them and rose her knees to her chest. It was only then she realised there were tears falling down her face.

“That’s one hell of a nightmare,” was all Matthew noted, as he lightly stroke her hair.

She shrank back. Not even her father had ever done that. Not even after waking up from such nightmares. Not ever.

“I won’t hurt you,” she heard him whisper.

Slowly, Valentina rose her reddened eyes to his face. Concern was the only thing she could make out. Her brain reminded her maybe he could be forgiven now, considering her father hadn’t shown the least consideration in similar situations.

“My God, you scream like a banshee,” she heard Carlo’s voice from the door. She looked to him through her tears. “Fine, a a cute banshee,” he added, smiling faintly.

“I’ve just realised something,” she grumbled, slowly getting up from the bed, away from Matthew’s hand. “This nightmare, it’s the same one I’ve been having ever since I was eight, but I never understood what I was dreaming about… until now.”

Valentina walked to the table near the window and picked the book about Reapers that Carlo had lent her. She wiped her tears on the sleeve of her pyjamas and looked for the drawing that had terrified her enough to throw the book away, about three hours ago.

“This is my nightmare,” she turned the book to them, showing the illustration of a Reaper. “I always thought it was an invisible force, but then I looked at this and it’s like I remembered it clearly. Like a memory… and then there’s the feeling I got when they attacked about a month ago?” she looked at Carlo. “The cold, the feeling of oxygen been taken out of me… and the smell,” she shuddered. “The smell always wakes me up.”

“You can smell in your dreams?” asked a bewildered Matthew.

Carlo rolled his eyes as he walked to her, to take the book and look what the text near the picture said. “Don’t be ridiculous, Ashcroft. Dreams are not that polished. That only means she’s remembering something.”

“So I met a Reaper before?” Valentina asked, raising a brow.

“How else would you explain your nightmares about creatures you’ve supposedly never met?”

“I thought I was dreaming about demons, you know…” she muttered.

Carlo smirked. “Reapers are wingless demons,” he said with a shrug, “so technically it’s the same thing.”

“You know so much it freaks me out,” she sighed.

“So Valentina, humour me,” said Matthew. “What exactly is your dream about?”

“Nightmare, Ashcroft,” Carlo corrected him. “Dreams are pleasant, nightmares are not. You ought to know the difference by now.”

Valentina saw as a knowing look came between the two men, making her feel like they somehow shared a past and she was an outsider. For some time, she’d thought Matthew and Carlo hadn’t met each other, until Carlo called him ‘Ashcroft junior’. Then, she’d thought they hated each other, but somehow Carlo had no problem with Matthew crashing in his place, apparently indefinitely. How could someone like Matthew know someone like Carlo? It didn’t make any sense.