Chapter Seven

Nicholas Pov

The night wind suddenly became colder, making Nicholas shiver in his sleep. He was covered with his blanket. Despite the cold, beads of sweat formed all over his body as he was having a nightmare. He gripped his bedcover, and his head was turning from side to side. In his sleep, he saw a man and a woman, the same ones he had dreamt about every night since he was five.

...

"What have you done?" A man screamed. He was standing in front of a house burning. He started panting heavily, seeing that his house was on fire. He could hear the cries of the children inside. They were caught up in the fire, and he stood helpless watching, listening to their voices, crying, and calling out for him.

He couldn't move even if he wanted to. He felt trapped, his breath coming out heavy as everywhere was starting to move in a slower motion. When he finally snapped out of his frozen state, he ran for a bucket of water, but it was of no use.

He looked at his left side, and there stood a woman he seemed to be well acquainted with.

"What have you done?" He cried out, walking towards her.

"What have you done?" He screamed louder than before and fell on his knees.

"You have to get out of here; you shouldn't have come back here. What were you thinking" He screamed at her again? But the woman just kept quiet, staring at him with tears falling from her eyes like a cascade.

Suddenly he saw someone behind the woman, and the man was frozen. He looked around and found a dagger; then, he picked it up. His hands were shivering as he walked closer to the woman. The woman was holding a sword in her hand.

"What have you done?" He cried out again as he walked closer to the woman. As he got closer to her, the dagger in his hand pierced through her belly; as she was about to fall on her knees, she stabbed him with the sword in her hand.

"Nicholas!!!" He heard someone say his name, and suddenly he woke up from his nightmare.

He sat upon his bed, looking around and panting heavily; no one was in his room. He could swear he heard someone yell his name, but there was no one there, making him more scared.

He walked towards the kitchen, using his long wooden stick to support himself. He was blind and had been blind since he could open his mouth to speak. He wasn't born blind, but he told everyone he was cause even his parents had no idea how he suddenly became blind. The doctors couldn't explain it either, it was as if magic was involved, but no one believed in magic.

When he could support himself to the kitchen, he served himself a glass of cold water which he gulped down in a hurry to calm his nerves.

For twenty years, he had reoccurring nightmares. Nightmares that felt real, he felt the same pains as the man felt, and the spot the man got stabbed in his dream was hurting him as if he was the one stabbed.

The woman in his nightmare was a blonde; she had gaped teeth and pale skin. Her hair was long, and she looked like someone who had a deep hatred for the man she continuously stabbed in his nightmare.

Nicholas wished he could understand better, but for twenty years, it was just the same nightmare; nothing changed. Just that same incident with the fire.

...

The sun was shining brighter than usual, but he couldn't see it. Like how every afternoon went for twenty-year-old Nicholas, he would sit in the garden in their compound to feel the ray of the sun on his skin; although he was unable to see it, he tried to imagine how beautiful it was.

"Nicholas, Estelle is here." His mother screamed from inside the room.

Estelle was the daughter of his godmother. Every evening she would visit him, and together, they went to her mother's book store, where she reads him books.

Unlike every other teen, Nicholas preferred to read books that were said to be a myth. He would always tell Estelle that in every tale lies, truth is chosen to be called a lie.

"Hey buddy, it's 5 pm already, and it's sunset. Why are you still sitting here?" She asked him, smiling at him.

"There is nothing to do inside. There is nothing to do at all." Nicholas sighed, then he locked his hands against each other.

"You should have at least eaten and taken a nap out here, I mean under the tree." Estelle giggles.

"I wish humans don't get to sleep. Well, I'll speak for myself." Nicholas savaged his lower lips with his teeth.

"Is it the nightmares again?" Estelle asked him.

"I don't know who she is. But she keeps reappearing in my dreams, and somehow, I feel indebted to her. It's become frequent these days. I, I don't know what's wrong with me. Are these just nightmares or visions or memories I don't know?" Nicholas cried out in frustration and stood on his feet.

"Relax, have you told your parents?" Estelle tried to figure it out, but the look Nicholas gave her, she could tell that even his parents must have gotten fed up with the nightmares.

"Let's go to the book store and read some books. You will be fine, Nicholas; I'm sure they will stop soon." She tries to console him.

...

They went to the bookstore. As he stepped inside the bookstore, Nicholas felt sudden heat, like the place was on fire.

He couldn't understand why, but he kept it to himself. Beads of sweat formed over his body. He joined Estelle as he listened to her calling the names of the books and the author for him so he could make his choice.

Suddenly when he walked to another shelf, he felt like he was getting closer to fire.

"Estelle, can you feel the heat as well? It's as if something is burning."

"No, it's cold as ice. Are you okay?" Estelle asked him, but he smiled-

"I'm just kidding." He lied, but he could feel it.

He walked away from where Estelle was and followed the heat, using his stick as support. When he got to a particular shelf, he felt the heat was highly intense, like he was standing opposite a burning building. It felt just as hot as the burning house in his dreams.

Nicholas turned and faced the direction where the heat was; suddenly, he heard a noise as if someone had just removed a book from its position. He started breathing heavily with lips slightly opened, and immediately the book was released, he saw a flash of the woman in his dreams. His knees were quivering; he was terrified. He took a few steps backward, and when his back hit against the wall, he quickly turned left to walk away.

But suddenly, his body collided with the woman's body; it felt as if it had happened before, and just like the sudden flash of memory that the incident triggered in his brain, he followed the moves he recalled and caught her in his arms. He quickly stood on his feet, and Estelle walked up to where he was. She apologized to the lady.

Nicholas was dumbfounded as the woman turned to walk away, his hand touched hers, and he saw the same woman in his dream, standing in front of a house, crying bitterly. It was the first time he had another fragment of his nightmare; it was as if he was dreaming while awake. Nicholas couldn't understand a thing, but one thing he knew, was that he couldn't help the pain that hounded his heart. It was more painful than the pain he felt when the dagger pierced the man's belly in his dreams.

As Estelle leads him to sit, he felt the bookstore suddenly become colder.

"Is the lady still here?" He asked Estelle.

"No, she left."

Estelle was reading a book to him, but Nicholas's mind was far off. He was disturbed about the woman he met earlier, and somehow, he wanted to know more about her; he felt she was somehow related to his recurring nightmares.