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CHAPTER 2- DREAMING OF YOU
Aerith's Room
New York City
Almost Eighteen Years Later
-Aerith-
-♔-
Danger filled the air and it made all the hair in my body stand on end. The smoke made me cough and I flung open the doors of the balcony to get fresh air into my starving lungs.
I looked to my left and right but there was no means of escape! Suddenly, the door to my room fell and there was a sudden burst of flames. The nearby curtain caught fire and it spread so fast. Soon the flames will consume this balcony too!
I leaned out of the window and screamed at the top of my lungs, "Help! Anyone, please! Help me!" But it was the middle of the night and there were no people loitering on the streets to hear me.
I immediately regretted screaming for I inhaled too much smoke. I coughed and heaved but I was already feeling weak and lightheaded with every second that passed. My knees buckled and I was falling towards the soot-covered floor.
I braced myself for the pain but it did not come.
Instead, I felt warm arms catch me and pull me close. I opened my eyes and looked up at the owner of those arms around me. Then, I started coughing.
"I'm here. You're safe," he whispered.
He lifted me into his arms and finally, I was able to see his face. I know that face. I've memorized every inch of it. To sum it all up: he was breathtaking. He had dark hair that was in a messy, just-got-out of bed way. He had grey eyes which were the color of the sky just before it rains. They were so beautiful that I wanted to stare at them forever.
"Hold on to me. Brace yourself," he whispered.
Then, without another word, he jumped from the balcony. I wanted to scream but only a squeak came out for there was this sudden feeling of my stomach rising up my throat.
This was how I was going to die.
There was no way we'd survive a jump this – at least not with several broken bones!
I closed my eyes and held on tight. There was a jolt as we landed. I opened my eyes and realized that he landed on his feet and looked nothing worse for wear.
"How?" I asked. My voice was hoarse from all the coughing earlier. He just shrugged and smiled. That smile melted everything inside me, reducing me to a puddle of goo in his arms.
"I believe thanks should be in order," he said, eyes gleaming with mischief. Then, his head started to descend. His eyes closed and his hold on me tightened.
This was it. Finally, he's going to kiss me! I closed my eyes and waited for his lips to touch mine. Then suddenly, I was being shaken very roughly. I opened my eyes and saw that my handsome rescuer who was about to kiss me was now shaking me very roughly.
"Wha—?" before I finished what I was saying, his lips moved.
"Wake up," he screeched.
Wait. Screeched? His mouth formed the words but somehow it wasn't his voice for the voice I heard was very high and shrill.
I felt a pinch in my arm and my eyes flew open.
-♔-
"You are going to be late!" my foster mother shouted.
Nooooo!
It was only a dream! I groaned as I rolled over the bed and kicked at the sheets. Damn it! We were just getting to the good part! It really was one very delicious dream. I groaned again as I covered my face with my hands. I'd give everything I have – which is not much by the way – just so I could sleep again and continue where the dream left off.
My foster mother had the most horrible timing in the entire world! My handsome dream guy was about kiss me! No one had ever kissed me in real life so that dream kiss was something good that I was not going to be able to get in reality.
It was always him in my dreams. He always took the role of the leading man in all of my dreams and fantasies. Whatever it was, be it horror or romance or comedy or me fantasizing about the new video game, manga or book I read, he was there.
Whenever I closed my eyes, it was this handsome, dark-haired, grey-eyed man I saw. I named him Ezio, like the one from the game Assassin's Creed which is one of the games I loved with my whole life.
"Get your ass off that bed and shower now!" my foster mother shouted again. This time, I rolled off my bed to avoid angering her again.
I really didn't want an argument so early in the morning. And besides, if she got mad, I won't be getting any breakfast along with my allowance for the day. After stretching, I went through my morning routine as fast as I could. I was downstairs and dressed in record time. I went to the dining table but there was nothing and my foster mother only glared at me.
Well, I guess that means no breakfast and allowance for me today.
I sighed and headed towards the door. It's a good thing I saved some from my money yesterday. I think it could still buy me a decent lunch today.
"Bye, Cathy!" I called out to my foster mother and then went out the door and grabbed my rusty old bike. I made my way to school with the dream still lingering in my mind.
-♔-
As I was locking my bike in place with a thick chain, a tall girl with blue eyes and blonde hair bumped into me. I winced as I felt her elbow dig into my ribs.
"Ow, watch it freak!" the girl said as she pushed me away. The action made me stumble and I almost fell on the pavement. "Sorry Sarah," I muttered. Even if she was clearly the one who bumped me, if I did not apologize, she would just make my life a lot worse that it already is.
I kept my head bowed as she glared at me. After a few seconds, she walked away while muttering something about flat-footed freaks.
"Aerith! Aerith!" my friend, Claudine, shouted as she ran across the school parking lot towards me.
"Hey!" I greeted my friend with a grin.
"I've finished playing Resident Evil 6 on my Xbox last night! Man, I loved it. I absolutely adore killing those freakin' zombies even though they really did scare the crap outta me too!"
"Glad you've finished it, so which campaign did you like best?" I asked.
"Definitely Leon's. He's just like so hot. His hair is commercial material, you know? He shoots and kills and it's as pristine and shiny and soft as ever. Just sayin." Claudine shrugged and I just couldn't help but laugh.
"Chris is definitely more buff though. Love those muscles. Oh and speaking of hot guys, guess who popped into my dream last night?"
My friends' eyes narrowed. "Who else other than your beloved Ezio?" She replied and then pinched me on the arm.
"Ow! What was that for?!?" I shrieked.
"Oh. Just to make sure you still know the difference from a dream and reality."
"I know. It's just that when I'm with him in a dream, I don't wanna ever wake up," I said dreamily.
"Someday you'll get to meet him and you can live out all those dreams and fantasies," she told me.
For some reason, something about her words seemed prophetic. It was as if she knew something I didn't. But then again, I'm just weird like that and may be overthinking things. "Can't wait," I sighed.
One of the jocks walked straight into us and almost knocked us off our feet. My bag fell from my shoulders and my things spilled on the floor. I quickly bent and picked everything up before anyone could purposefully trample on it.
"Nerds," the jock said as he shook his head and then strolled off.
Claudine rolled her eyes and I did the same. "Don't mind them, C." I advised as we picked up my things.
Claudine sighed but said nothing else. Then, we both made our way to class and sat down on the desks which were located on the farthest corner of the room. When we stepped inside, there was silence which was followed by whispers and laughter.
"What's with the wardrobe, freak?" one of the girls shouted as she pointed at me. The entire class snickered. My clothes were hand me downs from my foster parents or my foster sisters. Sometimes what I wore belonged to another decade. But I'm not complaining. It's enough for me that I have clothes that protected me from the harsh elements.
Besides, these are vintage and someday, they'd be in style again.
"Your attitude's so ugly that when you died and went to hell, Lucifer made you his queen." Claudine retorted. The entire class laughed harder and the girl who insulted me immediately turned red and walked out of the room.
"Thanks, C. You know I love you." I winked at Claudine.
"I know. But no offense, what's with the cap today? And why are you wearing bell-bottom pants?"
I winced as she looked at me from head to toe. "The pants are the only clean ones I have. As for the cap... Yeah. No other excuse. I swear my hair is getting paler as the days pass. It looks almost white today. I don't want people giving me more attention because of my hair," I replied.
"They're just jealous coz your hair is so gods-damned gorgeous," Claudine said.
"You wish," one of the snob girls retorted.
"Nah, bee-yatch. You wish," Claudine shouted. I laughed out loud at that one and if glares could kill, I'd be dead by now.
-♔-
"Settle down class," Mr. Grier, our English Literature teacher, said as he entered the class. He squinted his eyes and scanned the room. Claudine rolled her eyes. Mr. Grier did this thing every single time. He looked at us as though we're all guilty of murdering someone and that all his glaring could make everyone confess and all our souls be purified.
He started doing his roll call. "Aerith Saunders?"
I raised my hand and replied, "Here." The professor looked at me and said, "You know hats aren't allowed inside. Take that off."
I groaned and panic instantly flooded me at the thought of removing my hat. If I removed it, I'd just be subjecting myself to more taunts from the class. But I had no choice. I removed my hat and my pale, platinum-blonde curls came tumbling out.
"That's more like it. You're beautiful, Aerith. Don't let them tell you otherwise," Claudine whispered to me with a wink.
"You wish!" Sarah hissed. She high-fived one of her blonde crones while the others threw back their heads and laughed like she just said the funniest joke in the entire world. Their laughter was all fake just like their tan, their eyelashes and their lip fillers.
-♔-
We sat through the entire class as usual and when break time came, I took out my sketchbook.
I flipped it open to my latest sketch of my dream guy – Ezio as I called him and grinned as I recalled my dream earlier. He's been in my dreams for as long as I could recall. It was like we practically grew up together!
Other kids had imaginary friends, I had a literal dream guy.
"Ahh... So you were with him again this morning, right?" C asked.
Her eyes sparkled with mischief but beneath that, I also saw warmth and happiness. She also looked as though she knew more but wasn't telling anything. I always felt that way about Claudine but chucked it down to my paranoia.
"Yes. Every time I close my eyes, he's there," I replied. My pencil flew over the page, sketching his chiseled features. I took more time to perfectly capture his compelling grey eyes. I could draw his eyes for hours and still not get it quite right.
"That's perfect, Aerith. It looks exactly like him," Claudine sighed.
"What? Have you seen him or something? I'm possessive with my dream guy, you know?" I quipped. Claudine threw back her head and laughed. "He's all yours. It's just that you've described him to me so many times and I've envisioned him in my head as well! That's exactly what I was thinking."
"I wish he was real." I sighed and tapped my pencil against the corner of the page.
I wished I could be like Pygmalion and Galatea from the famous myths.
Pygmalion was a sculptor and he created his perfect woman out of ivory. She was so beautiful that he fell in love with it. Pygmalion wished that he'd have a wife like her. Aphrodite took pity on him and instead of giving her a wife like the statue; she just brought it to life. The woman was called Galatea and she married Pygmalion and they lived happily ever after.
I took a deep breath and sighed. Happily ever after existed only in fairytales.
If only the story of Pygmalion and Galatea were true, I'd get a big, life-sized sketchbook and will spend hours upon hours just making sure all his features were perfect. Then, I'd wait overnight for the magic to happen. When I wake up, he'd finally be real.
But those are myths and myths were sort of like fairytales—they weren't real and there's no happily ever after.
"Maybe he is real and you haven't met him yet?" Claudine suggested.
I beamed. "Now wouldn't that be awesome?"
Claudine put a hand on my arm. "Aerith..." she began. "Hmm?"
"What if he is real but he's not what you were expecting?"
"What do you mean?" I asked, frowning.
"What if he's evil? What if he's hot-tempered?"
I shrugged. "There's good in everyone, C. For others, we might just have to dig deeper to find that good. No one is born evil. There's probably something that made him that way. I'm going to find out and I'm going to help him."
My friend smiled as she squeezed my hand. "Now enough of that. If I met him for real, I don't even know what I'm going to do! Maybe I'll just stutter and make a total fool of myself."
I envisioned this particular scenario in my head a lot of times already. Maybe I'd see him across a crowded dance floor. Maybe he'll be at the airport or a coffee shop. Maybe he'd order pizza and fall in love with me at first glance. I snorted at my ridiculous thoughts and focused on my drawing instead.
Well, a girl can dream.
"Nah. I don't think so. I know you'll meet him someday, Aerith. It is fated." Claudine's voice held so much promise that I giggled.
"I hope so." I replied.
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Date posted: March 29, 2018 (GMT + 8)
Next update here on Wattpad: April 5, 2018
Chapters already available on Inkitt as of today: 18
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