CHAPTER 2

Mariana ran from her room to her mom's room, and just like in the dream, the door was opened, she covered her mouth with her palm and with trembling legs, she walked into the room slowly, her mom was there, lying dead on the floor, in a pool of blood. She screamed at the top of her lungs and wept, hot tears streamed down her face. She couldn't understand the situation, she needed an explanation.

In a confused state of mind, she called her aunt and informed her about the incident.

Around 7am in the morning, her aunt arrived with some officers."why did you bring the police with you?" she asked

"come on, leave that aside, where is your mom?" she asked and she took them to her mom's room

"Jesus Christ! Mariana, what happened to her?" she asked and tears rolled down her face, it was obvious she had been crying, her eyes were red

"I don't know aunt, I don't understand the situation, everything looks odd to me"

did someone break in?" one of the officers asked

" the crying, the squeaking God! it was horrible" she muttered

"Mariana, what are you saying? the police asked you a question" her aunt said

"no, no one broke in, but someone came into my dream and killed my mom ,It came in form of a shadow, have never seen anything like that before"

"are you insane?" her aunt asked

"no aunt am not, I had this horrible dream, and everything that happened in that dream manifested in reality, including my mom's death, this is the exact same way she died in that dream aunt "

" there is no point talking to you, please officers carry out every investigation you need to carry out, you can do an autospy to, when you are done we will come for the body, It might have been an accident, but we should still do the needful"

"am twenty years old aunt, am not a kid I know what am saying"

"right now Mariana, you are behaving like a kid"

"okay then I hope you find the killer, it is a shadow" she said and walked out of the room.

"pack your cloth, you are leaving with me, naughty girl" her aunt shouted after her.

She got to her room and stared at her bed, it was still soaked but a bit better.She sighed and brought out a suitcase and packed some of her clothes. Her aunt came into the room and shouted " holy shit! Mariana, why is your bed soaked?"

"I told you I had a dream, in....

"never mind, finish up and let leave" she said and left

"why won't she believe me?".

Shortly, they left the house.

Sleep was far away from Mariana, she still couldn't believe her mom was dead and that horrible dream? She sat on her bed, scared to sleep , she can't fall asleep and have another horrible dream, who knows who will die this time. She picked a book and began to read ,but that didn't help the situation, few minutes later, darkness took over her.

The singing of a bird woke her up. She opened her eyes a bit, trying to figure out where she was, then opened them a bit wider and jumped up surprised,"why am I here again" she asked herself rhetorically, it was that same spot, the spot hid herself before waking up from the horrible dream yesterday night and now she is back in the dream again.

She heard faint cries and squeaks and began walking deeper into the forest. She walked slowly and silently, not wanting to make a sound ,She can't afford to die in this dream. Everywhere was silent and quiet, she walked slowly, hoping against hope not to come across a wide animal. Mariana wondered in the wilderness for hours.She smiled brightly when she sighted a small cottage in the middle of the forest, The frontage of the cottage was clear and neat, free of bushes. She walked towards the cottage and tried pushing the door open, but it was locked." Someone can't be living here" she thought and tried pushing the door again, the door still didn't open and she knocked.

Suddenly, in a split of a second, the door cracked open. she moved back and looked up at the man pointing a sword at her.God! , he was handsome, he looked like a sculpture, his blue eyes shined in the dark, never in her life as she met someone as handsome as this. " who are you" he asked in a deep voice, Mariana shivered and moved backwards, " please help me, help me please" Mariana begged. Damon stared at her and cursed under his breath, he dropped his sword and sighed.

" She is not from this world" he muttered

" please help me, a shadow is after me, it wants to kill me please"Mariana pleaded with him, he looked at her with his blue eyes and took pity on her, but helping her would put him in danger, she would lead them to him, he has being hiding in the wilderness for 20 years. He stared at her again and shut the door to her face.

Never in his life had he felt this bad, guilt was eating him up, he hated the way he was feeling. He knew within himself that she wouldn't be able to survive on her own. Reluctantly, he opened the door. She was there, sitting on the ground and resting her back on the wall, he looked down at her and sighed," come in" he said. She jumped on her feet and followed him inside,"thank you she said.

The interior of the cottage was beautiful and wonderful.The living room had two couches , with a small center table, the other two doors were locked, one leads to the bedroom and the other to the kitchen. Mariana sat on the couch tiredly, she couldn't believe that someone built such a beautiful house in a forest.

"you are not from this world are you?" Damon said and handed her a cup of water. His deep voice echoed in the room, he was handsome and tall, his blue eyes was his best feature, no wonder the princess fell in love with him, even with his cloth on one could tell he his well built.

"I don't understand you at all, I don't understand myself either, I don't understand why I keep having this horrible dream, it scary and you, who are you?"

"am Damon, you are not having a dream, you are in my world"

"I don't understand"

"I don't understand why you are here either, but you are not having a nightmare some one brought you here and made it look like a dream"

"I don't understand" but when I wake up from the dream now I will be at my house right"

"yes, how many times have you been here?" he asked

"twice"

"like I said , it is not a dream, the third time you come here, you won't be able to return until you kill those that brought you here"

"what kind of a world is this?" she asked

"I don't want to scare you"

"then tell me, how can I avoid it, returning here"

"as long as you don't sleep"

"that is not possible"

"of course"

"what do I do"

I don't know but I wish to help you, when you are away,I will try to find out who brought you here and the reason why they did, if they are not very powerful,I can help you return to your world"

"If I come back the third time and I don't return, what will happen to me in my world?"

"you will be missing"

"so am really not dreaming, then my mum was brought here through me and killed"

"your mum was killed?"

"yes"

" that is strange, I will find out what happened"

"am confused"

"of course you are"

"but I have to go back to school"

"what is that?"

"I have to learn to read and write"

"okay"

"how do I return now"

"by sleeping, you came to this world through your sleep, so you will return that way"

"I don't understand"

"you will vanish"

"like a ghost"

"maybe"

"so am not in my room now?"

"of course"

"why can't I return if I come back the third time?"

"to be sincere,I don't know, but the next time you come here, you won't be able to return until you have killed the person that brought you here, your freedom lies in that person's death, that is how it is in our world.

"why do you want to help me am not sure if I should trust you completely, what if you are working for them?"

"you can just walk out then"

"I was just joking, can I return now?"

"yes"

"will I return here when I come back?"

"yes I will await your return"

"thank you"

"what is your name?" he asked

"Mariana"

"pretty"

"thank you"

"you can sleep now"

"I will when I feel sleepy"

"okay then" he said and left for the kitchen.

**** *************************************************

"How could you lost the girl" she shouted in rage," If I don't kill that girl, I can't sit on the throne, and you lost her!" She said moving from one edge of the room to another, say something mother" she shouted

"we are sorry your highness, we had her, but Lord Antonio came out of nowhere and shielded her, we had no other option but to depart from her.a voice said

"Antonioooooo" she shouted

"the witch" she asked

"we killed her"

"good, starting from tommorow begin your search for the girl, I will deal with Antonio.That girl must not discover who she is, if she does, there will be war.

Back at the cottage, Damon watched as Mariana slowly vanished into thin air."see you again" he Said.

He whisled and a parrot flew in and landed on his shoulder. " you know what to do right"

"yes" the parrot replied.