Doubts and Questions [28]

After Cee dropped me home, I took a shower, put on my pjs and rushed downstairs to prepare dinner. I was famished after our miserable trip today. Everything was going well but that sudden confrontation with the dead body frightened everyone, except for Lucas. Suddenly, I recalled how he had spoken in my head, or maybe how I have imagined it. I didn't knew what to think anymore. There had always been something about Lucas that had intimidated me, either his witty comebacks or the way he sometimes surprises me. His voice still echoed in my head and my blood ran faster. Had he really talked directly to my thoughts? Amidst the pool questions I had in my head, one more question swayed back and forth, demanding to be answered.

It was seven when I decided to make burritos for dinner. I grilled the steak and prepared rice and beans for the stuffing. Piling up the steak, rice and beans horizontally on the tortilla, I folded the ends of tortilla, squeezing the fillings in. Once my dinner was ready, I placed the contents on a dish and settled in the sofa, switching on television and jumped from on channel to another to find something suitable to watch.

After dinner, I washed my dish and checked my phone for new messages or calls. There was a four notifications from Grace, one missed call and three messages.

"My work is finished here and I will arrive at eight tomorrow morning." The first message read.

"How was your day? Had fun at hiking?" This one was about an hour ago.

"Why are you not picking up your phone Kat? Are you alright?" The last one read which was sent almost ten minutes ago.

Before she would panic any further, I started typing.

"I'm alright Grace. I was out, hiking with Cee and some classmates so I could not check my phone. Today was exhausting, I'm dog-tired right now. I'll pick you up from the airport tomorrow morning. Good night Grace." I texted.

Her reply was instant, as if she was just waiting for my text. "Oh, don't worry. I'll take a cab. Good night." Her text read.

Once confirming all the doors and windows were closed properly, I switched off the lights of the living room and made my way upstairs to my room. I jumped into my bed and fell asleep sooner than I thought. The sooner I fell asleep, the sooner I was in another dream. This one was similar to the one I have had recently. 

In my dream I was again in that same mystical forest, walking on a trail under the giant trees. I was following some voices. They sounded like whispers of people murmuring and I followed them until I was once again in the denser part of the forest where the ferns were tall like green feathery waves and the sunlight hardly reached the floor cause of the thick canopy. The voices continued to whisper and I felt like my name was being called or as if they were talking about me. I followed them further until the same creepy tree came into my view and I hesitated to continue further given that it was the same tree under which Daphne and Paul died in my previous nightmare. But the whispers intensified near the tree trunk as if someone was behind the tree, hiding.

Taking a deep breath, I pushed myself forward. The ferns rustled as I walked past them towards the end of the tree trunk and a scream escaped my mouth at the sight before my eyes. Daphne, Paul and the other woman were lying dead on the forest floor. Their throats were slashed brutally and blood gushed out from their necks and aggregated around the ground where their bodies were. The murmurs intensified even more than earlier, turning into an unbearable loud noise that I had to cover my ears with my hands and run away from the place. And I kept running until I fell on the ground and woke up.

The sun was already up when the nightmare knocked me out of my little chaotic sleep. It was seven and like Grace has informed me she would be home by eight or something. I lied on my stomach and stuffed a pillow over my head to fall asleep again. But after trying for fifteen more minutes I gave up. My sleep was long gone with the frightening nightmare and it wasn't coming back. Unwillingly I got out of my bed and strolled lazily to the bathroom.

Grace arrived home around eight thirty in the morning. She was quite happy that her work was finished and she get to take a break for a few days until the next project arrives. She went to her room to take a shower while I was planted on a barstool in the kitchen, finishing my homework. It only took me twenty minutes to complete my work and just then Grace walked out of her room and settled on the living room sofa.

"How have you been?" She placed one arm on the back of the sofa and tilted her head slightly towards my direction.

"I've been good." The truth was something else. A lot had a happened and a lot of questions have bothered me since a long time. But I couldn't bring myself to tell her everything. She will think I'm crazy and imagining things, but considering those events, everyone would think the same way. Everyone would think that I have gone delusional. "How are you? And how was your work?" I forced a smile on my face, shutting out my tangled thoughts.

"Work was as ususal, tiring and excessive. But I'm literally so happy that I'm back home. Atleast I'll get a few days off." She dropped her head back and sighed.

"That's great, I guess." I got up from the stool and walked into the kitchen."Would you like something to eat? I made scrambled eggs for breakfast."

"You are saying you haven't had breakfast yet." She sat up straight.

"It's no big deal. . . I thought we would eat together." I replied and opened the refrigerator to take out eggs.

"You should pay more attention to your diet Kat. Anyways I'm a little hungry so I won't lecture you anymore regarding health and other things." She smiled. "But take your meals at proper time." She advised.

"Got it."

Grace did the dishes after breakfast and went to take a nap as she was tired from all the traveling. I retired myself to my room where I found my "Wuthering Heights" book from my bookshelf. I spent half of my day reading. When it was noon, I closed the book and finally stretched my arms and went downstairs to prepare lunch. But Grace was already setting the table when I reached downstairs.

"So how was your hiking trip?" She asked, breaking the silence that lingered.

"It was fun. We took the Macleay trail, explored the balch creek and the witch's castle." I responded hiding the fact that how it was ruined by that sudden unexpected encounter.

"Good." She said while chewing.

"Hey Grace?"

"Yes!" She shot her hazel brown eyes at me.

"Why is Portland called the town of witches?" I asked. Grace must a know a lot about Portland and what outsiders has to say about it. Maybe she knew something about the face that Lucas and Zach have mentioned the other day. But as soon as I asked her, she choked on her food and started coughing.

"Oh my God! Are you okay?" I poured her a glass of water and put a hand on her shoulder.

She gulped the water down and took a deep breath before speaking. "Where did you heard that from?"

"I heard this from some classmates." I replied.

"Well this is just nonsense. I never heard something like that." She denied.

Maybe she was right. Maybe it was just some silly rumor. We didn't talk about anything else after that and finished our meal in complete silence. From some deep corner of my mind, I had a feeling that Grace was hiding something. What if Zach and Lucas were right about people keeping it a secret?