(Book 1)I Have Chemistry With My Tutor

Chapter 3. The Tome of Rings

Chapter 3. The Tome of Rings

His voice is still vibrating my eardrums... No matter if I tried hard and constant, I will never forget the raspy words.

Help me.

The Tome of Rings.

Lilies.

Sun bird.

Aqua.

His sad image won't leave me... and many times I see my own red-eyed teary reflection.

In the midst of night, I am stirred awake when a warm palm rests on my shoulder. I search the room for a misty hand that matches the sensation, but there is none. I fall back asleep, or at least try to, instead laying awake for hours. I am too tired for school but I attend anyways.

Another night. Wednesday I think. Tossing and turning, I wake up in cold sweats, my sheets soaked and my breath heavy.

A raspberry is placed in my hand. I place it on my tongue and bite down, the sweet juice bursting in my mouth. I smirk in confusion. The flavour is not raspberry. It's apricot.

I don't feel like me anymore. My skin is not my own, it loses substance while I walk. In my dreams, I don't recognize the name 'Andrea' when Richard calls out to me. Every time I am with Richard the image of that misty man emerges from the shadow of a tree, and a bird sings at the peak of dawn. The man appears above a circular fountain with crystal clear water and something metal at the bottom glitters deep pink.

Every dream reminds me of the unique items this man asked me to possess to help him.

I no longer believe that he 'asked me'.

It was an order.

He didn't 'ask me' "Will you help me?"

He simply demanded, in a low, degraded tone. "Help me."

"Help me."

Help...

... me.

Another night.

Another dream.

I shoot up in my bed with an inaudible gasp, my drenched sheets wrapped around my legs and waist, the hair on my bare arms prickly. I wipe the sweat from my brow while staring into the dark, rapidly blinking my eyes to hasten the adjustment. Checking the time, 4:57, I feel a buzzing between my shoulder blades. I roll them in attempt to relax the tension formed from waking up in a panting shock, but it's no use. My whole body is out of energy, of salt, and sleep. I feel like I had a ten minute nap, when in reality I've been asleep since 10:00 sharp.

Is it Thursday today? Or Friday? I don't remember. Or I'm too tired to care.

I haven't felt this wiped out since New Year's Day. I had drunk and danced all night, fallen asleep at Richard's dorm, and gotten up at noon that day to go ice skating. My excitement and happiness had kept me going over 36 hours, but then came the big crash. That big crash ended up in me getting sore legs, shoulders, and minour headaches. Luckily it had all cleared up in time for school return.

I felt almost that wiped out this morning.

I slid off my bed and dragged my feet across to the bathroom, not even trying to be careful to keep my sister from waking. She's an even deeper sleeper than I am. I tried the cold water dump trick on her once and she still mumbled and rolled for twenty seconds after. It wasn't until she was shivering that I had slapped her awake and forced her into a hot bath.