Even His Dream Version Is A Jerk
Fire everywhere. Everything was burning.
“Hello!” I screamed while something fell somewhere behind me, making me jump. “Is anyone here?”
The acrid smoke was making it difficult to breathe. I tried to look for an exit, but couldn’t find one. I didn’t know where I was or which way I should go.
“Hello?!” I called out again.
Someone grabbed my arm. I nearly screamed before realizing that it was my brother.
“Ricky! We need to get out of here.” The fire was spreading and we were surrounded. We had to get out of there. Fast.
I pulled on his arm, but he didn’t move.
“Ricky?”
“Why can’t you remember?” He asked in frustration while grabbing both my shoulders. “Why won’t you accept who you really are?”
Before I could ask him what he was talking about, Ricky caught fire. He was burning right in front of my eyes.
I screamed. I tried to help him, but he kept moving away.
“Help!” I screamed while looking in all directions around me. “Help!”
My eyes caught my mother’s. “Help! It’s Ricky!”
But she just stared at me. “You have to remember, Maisha.”
And then she was on fire too.
I woke up screaming because of the nightmare.
And then I was screaming because I wasn’t alone.
Someone, I didn’t know who, grabbed my arms, making me scream louder.
“Shush! It’s just me.”
I opened my eyes to find Raees’s green ones staring at me.
“What are you doing here?” I asked him shakily. I could feel my cheeks wet with tears.
“I heard you screaming and your door wasn’t locked. I thought you were being burgled.” He shrugged.
I looked down; embarrassed and shaken at the same time. My screams were so loud that he heard, and it was only a nightmare.
“No… it was just…”
“A bad dream.” Raees nodded. I expected a mocking retort, but it never came.
“I’m OK. You can go now.” I said without looking at him.
He got up, but instead of going out, he walked to the other side of my bed and laid down on it, with his back against the head board and his hands behind his head in a relaxed position. He didn’t even take his boots off.
“What are you doing?” I asked him with a shocked expression.
“Getting comfortable.” He answered, his eyes still closed. “I’m not going to stand next to you all night while you sleep.”
“Get out!”
“No.”
“I said get out!”
“And I said no.”
“Why?”
“Because you don’t want me to.”
I opened my mouth to deny it but then shut it. It was true. After the nightmare I just had, watching my family burn without being able to do anything about it, I didn’t want to be alone.
“Take your shoes off; you’re getting my bed sheet dirty.”
He took them off before lying back down without saying anything.
“So you’re just going to stay here.” I stated, but it was more of a question.
He gave me a sarcastic look before closing his eyes again.
“Ok then.” I mumbled before lying back down and then suddenly getting up again.
“Oh no no no! I’m NOT sharing my bed with you!”
“Do you plan on giving your precious bed up for me?” He asked calmly.
“Hell no!”
“And I don’t plan on leaving it either. So, I guess you’ll just have to deal with it.”
I threw my pillow at his head.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” He shouted while getting in to a sitting position.
“This is me dealing with it.” I threw another pillow at his head.
“This is you acting like a spoilt brat!”
I stopped. “You do have a point. But I’m not sharing MY bed with you.”
“You’re like a broken record.” He said while lying back down and turning to face the other way.
“Are you’re like a gorilla who’s everywhere!”
“I thought I was a giraffe.” He said without turning around.
“You’re both.” I shrugged.
He turned to face me. “How can I possibly be both?”
“Why are we arguing about this?”
“Because you make no sense. How is anyone going to take you seriously if you make no sense?”
“By using violence.” His eyes widened. “I’m kidding, duh. You’re not supposed to take everything seriously.”
“You can’t make jokes about violence.” He said seriously. “Violence is serious.”
“OK.” I tried to say just as seriously as him but ended up laughing.
“Violence is not a laughing matter!”
“I know, I’m sorry!” I said while trying to control myself. “I’m not laughing at the idea of violence, I’m laughing at your seriousness over the whole matter.”
“Just go to sleep.” He mumbled.
My laughter died. “No, I’m not sleepy anymore.”
“Why don’t you try?” He said softly.
“No. I’ve been having weird dreams. I’m not sleeping until some doctor can give me medication for it.”
“You’re going to go to sleep and you’re not going to have any nightmares. I promise.”
“You can’t promise something like that!”
He didn’t answer me. Instead, he pulled me down so I was now lying on my back, and put an arm over me.
I seriously considered pushing him off the bed but I just laid still. Not because I liked the feel of his arm around me, or the warmth of him beside me. No. Because I was sleepy.
**
She was blushing like crazy, even though he hadn’t glanced at her once.
He was beautiful, like a piece of art. His eyes greener than the greenest leaves. They reminded her of her mother’s garden during a rainy day. And his hair, so rebellious. Slightly longer than what would be considered acceptable by other royals, and all over the place. Yet, he looked nothing less than perfect.
But he was always frowning, like he was mad at the world. She hated that she had never seen his smile. She knew his smile would be breath-taking, just as extraordinary as he was.
“Are you listening, Maisha?” The king asked her.
“Of course, father.” She lied. How could she pay attention to anything when he was in the room?
“So, you agree? You realize that this is for the best of our people?” Her father asked her.
“Of course, father.” She said as absentmindedly as before.
“Then it’s settled. Maisha and Raees will be wed before spring is over.”
That caught her attention.
She stared wide-eyed at her father, slowly realizing what had just happened.
What?
Had she just agreed to marry HIM?
She nearly choked on thin air, but managed to control herself before she could make a spectacle out of herself in front of the court.
She then turned towards him, and this time he was looking at her.
No, he was glaring at her. His look of disdain was focused on HER.
That is when the painful feeling of dread overcame her.
He didn’t want to marry her, of course not! But he couldn’t say no either, not to his king. She could’ve opposed the idea, saved him from this. Instead she had just unknowingly agreed to it, sealing his fate.
She had wanted to see him smile, and now he would frown and scowl and be mad at the whole world because of her.
**
In a land far away, a king sat on his throne, thinking about his son.
His only child had been happy once, so full of life that joy radiated off him. He had been so innocent and naïve, even more so than the princess, but that was a long time ago.Too long ago.
And those were the happy days, when his life was full of laughter. When his wife was alive.
Raees had never recovered from the loss of his mother.
They say pain fades with time. They even say that time has the power to heal all wounds. His son had never lacked time, yet his wounds were still as fresh as the day his mother had taken her last breath.
It had changed him. He laughed no more, and only smiled in his father’s memories. If the king’s wife’s death had not already destroyed him, the look in his son’s eyes would have.
But the king had never given up. He had still hoped for a miracle. The marriage was a political move on the surface, but deep inside, he had hoped that the princess’s innocence, which was not too different from the one Raees too had possessed once, would melt the coldness in his heart.
Instead, it had made him even bitterer. The king had failed to see how much the princess’s naivety bothered his son. He had been blind to his son’s resentment towards the princess’s giggles, even though she only giggled to hide her own pain. He had failed to recognize the girl's already broken heart too, which his son had crushed even further.
Shouldn’t they have been perfect for each other? Who can understand pain more than he who has felt it? They had both lost the person who had brought them into this world, had loved them unconditionally. They both had the burden of their people’s fate on their shoulders.
They were perfect for each other. It just wasn’t their time then.
But now it was. The princess had changed. She wasn’t a helpless child drowning in her pain anymore; she was a fighter, braver than many warriors he had known. She wouldn’t stand by anymore while life passed her by, nor would she lose herself to her sadness ever again. She was her own joy, her own happiness, as well as his son’s and the kingdom’s. She would never let her husband ignore her. She would demand what she rightfully deserved. She wouldn’t stand down.
She would challenge him.
And his son could never refuse a challenge.
“Yes.” The king said to himself, “There is still hope, now more than ever.”
Hey, guys!
Not as light as the others, but neccessary. (:
Anyways, thank you for reading! :D Your votes mean alot. (:
Stay happy,
Xinx. (: