Chapter 23 - The English Tea

"No!" Serefina cried. She shook Bryan's shoulder again and again but he didn't budge. His fearful expression remained the same. "Why?"

"He didn't drink the tea," Linda said.

"The tea?"

"Yes, the English tea you drank earlier today. That contains a special ingredient called the Inzia. That gives you protection from the waves inside the mirror."

"What kind of waves?"

"Waves of past and...forgotten memories," Linda sighed.

Then Serefina remembered that Bryan hadn't taken even a single sip of the tea. And as for the dream thing she saw after jumping inside the mirror, it was a blur now. "Why didn't he drink the tea?"

"He wanted to protect you more than himself even though he knew what will be its cause."

"What does that mean?" Serefina asked.

"It means that he gave his protection to you. All of it."

Serefina glanced at Bryan's face. "Why would he do that?"

"He doesn't want you to know a particular forgotten memory."

Bryan had always told her not to ask anything about her he knew so she didn't ask about it. Instead, she asked, "How do we wake him up?"

"Can't tell."

"Huh?"

"I can't tell."

"What do you mean you can't tell? A life's at stake here!"

"I know Bryan more than you do, Serefina. I can't tell you the secret. Take Bryan back, the rest you'll see yourself."

Linda turned her back towards Serefina.

"Let's go," Kyle said who'd been sitting silently whole this time.

"Why don't you say something?" Serefina asked Kyle. "He's your brother."

"I tried," Kyle said, her voice barley a whisper, "she won't tell."

Kyle stood up from where she'd been sitting on the floor beside Serefina. "We should go," she said.

Why was this happening? All the bad things which should've happened to Serefina where happening to Bryan instead. Why was he suffering just because of her?

He had always helped her and in return she was giving him more pain. She could never forgive herself for this. And she also wasn't going leave until he wakes up.

•••

Serefina was sitting on a chair beside Bryan as he lied on his bed and seemed to still having the same nightmare.

As she was watching him tears stumbled down her cheeks. She tried as hard as she could to hold back her emotions but she couldn't.

Kyle had gone to look for Rhys. She had said that Rhys hadn't entered the mirror. Well, it was a good thing he didn't or now he would have probably been lying on the bed like Bryan.

There had to be a way to wake Bryan up. When he would wake up Serefina would scold him like a teacher letchuring a student. But first she would strangle him with the tightest hug ever.

But would he wake up?

A hundred years...

Serefina reached for Bryan's hand which was icy cold. She laid her head on the bed. She didn't know how but her eyes started to get heavy and the sadness pulled her into slumber.