The Picture.

David put the laptop aside and spread his arms, ready for a hug.

"Pff, are you thinking about something foxy, heh?" Elena asked, enjoying the pleased look of her husband. She climbed onto the bed and happily clung to his broad chest, his strong arms wrapped around her body, and the woman plunged into a bliss of warmth and tenderness.

The man already knew well that if his wife was worried about something, hugging was the best way to relax her always filled-with-thoughts head. "How is Sean? Sleeping already?"

"Uhm, he is," Elena replied quietly and nuzzled into her husband. "Everything is going to be all right, right?"

"Of course, don't even doubt it," David pulled her closer to him and stroked the girl's back, reassuring her as a small child.

"You know, I'm worried about Sean. It seems to me that he is very worried because all his abilities have practically disappeared, but every time I want to talk to him about this, he leaves the conversation and pretends that nothing has happened." Elena closed her eyes, this situation has been tormenting her from the inside for a year already.

A year ago, for no reason at all, Sean had forgotten how to use his abilities, if before that he could easily teleport, move objects and even hang in the air, then at one point everything suddenly disappeared, and the maximum that he could do now was to move small objects by no more than a few centimeters. Unfortunately, in the case of their son, this was not an ordinary event about which one could consult a doctor, be it a disease or something like that. Sean was a special child, like Ashley, and it would be dangerous to devote someone else to this mystery.

"I understand your concern, dear, but this is not a situation which we can somehow influence on. Maybe this is a temporary phenomenon, but maybe not, we do not know for sure. But I think that it's better if he has less abilities, it will be safer. Otherwise, I can't imagine what kind of chaos he will create as a teenager," David answered jokingly, to which Elena laughed in response.

The first year of Sean's life was quite a challenge for all family members. Having not yet learned how to crawl, the baby could already move his favorite toys to him, then his activity grew into a chaotic movement around the rooms, which gave him indescribable pleasure, unlike adults, who constantly kept loosing the child at an important moment. Unless, of course, taking a bath and broccoli for lunch are to be considered important things.

But as it turned out, the fun has just begun. When Sean learned to walk and began to talk, his favorite activity was to frighten his loved ones, appearing at the most unexpected moments in the most unexpected places. Grandma Dina almost got a heart attack when she came to visit from England, and Sean pretended to be a ghost and climbed at her ceiling at night, scaring the poor woman worse than ever.

But the worst thing of all was the fact that the child could not be punished for his behavior, as he could have easily avoided any punishment simply by fleeing from the crime scene. In general, Sean Anderson was quite a brat, but all his hankey-pankey ended when the boy turned four years old.

Since then, he has turned from a prankish and restless child into a calm boy, who spent more time in his room reading books or comics. In dealing with his family, he was as merry as before, but with strangers, he began to behave noticeably more distantly. Even in the kindergarten, Ashley took the leadership position in a group of children, but he did not react to this and without any objections began to obey her commanding instructions.

"You know, it seems to me that he is becoming more like you. I mean, he is turning into a more restrained, reasonable person. Maybe he just outgrew his childish behavior? They say that children are now growing rapidly. You didn't think this could be the reason?" David suggested, knowing that Elena was quite a panic monger sometimes and could easily exaggerate the situation when it didn't make any sense.

"I hope so," the woman sighed. She herself knew that sometimes her motherly feelings overshadowed the voice of reason, and she could not think adequately, which was why she would go easy on Sean for many tricks, and David did not approve it that she pampered the kid too much.

The man's hands slipped under her sweater, his hot palms began to caress the girl's back, instantly changing the direction of her thoughts. The couple instinctively changed position, Elena threw her arms around David's neck, the man pulled her closer, and their lips met in a hot kiss.

A few minutes later, the couple was already lying on the bed completely naked, enjoying the warmth of each other's bodies. David stretched his hand to the bedside table, opened the top drawer and began to fiddle in it, without taking his lips off his wife's mouth.

"Wait a second," he kissed his wife on the cheek and looked into the drawer, then with a heavy sigh he lowered his head to her chest, "Damn, I forgot that we ran out of condoms."

"So what, let's do it without it," Elena replied, David's face became restless. The woman smiled and cupped his face with her palms, "Hey, when you look at me like that, I start to feel guilty. Don't worry, everything will be fine," she raised her head and kissed his nose, "Today is a safe day, so you can not worry. Otherwise, I will start thinking that a child from me will be a burden for you."

David shook his head and gave the girl a kiss in return, "My love, you know, if it were possible, I would have wanted at least a thousand children from you, just ... those two weeks were the worst in my life. Probably even the worst in both of my lives. If something happens to you again-"

"Nothing will happen to me, David. Look, I am here, next to you, I'm fine. Five years have passed since that incident, so no need to worry anymore, okay?" The man nodded his head, but the sadness in his eyes made Elena's heart cringe, it was unbearably painful to see him like that. The woman smiled, her eyes reflected all the tenderness and love, which over the years have become stronger, "Come to me," she whispered and David obediently fulfilled her request.

. . .

Elena looked around; this room was not familiar to her. She walked forward along the corridor, the door of one of the rooms was half open, and from there a warm and bright light was flowing into the corridor.

The girl looked inside; in the middle of the room was a large canvas on which the other girl was painting something. The sunset sun in the picture gave a special warmth as if it was real like you were looking at this landscape live. In the lower right corner, there was a gazebo in which either a girl or a woman was sitting - this was not clear since her portrait was not yet complete, but it was obvious that she was watching the sunset with her eyes.

"How beautiful!" Elena did not notice how the words flew from her lips; she was so admired by the picture that she went into the studio without asking.

The artist turned around, by her look she was no more than sixteen years old, the oriental features of her face made her image sweet and sophisticated, and how elegantly she was sitting even while she was working made her look like a daughter of a respectable and reputable family.

"Hehe, I knew you would like it," the girl laughed and winked at Elena. For some reason, her face seemed very familiar.

"Um, sorry, haven't we met before?" Elena asked.

The girl looked at her as if Elena said something crazy.

"Yes, yes, ha ha, funny joke, if you pretend that we have never met one more time, I will definitely be offended, dear Amelia."

"A-Amelia?" Elena asked in confusion, "But my name is-" She turned her head to the side and saw the reflection in a large mirror standing on the floor. Another young girl was looking directly at Elena from the mirror, also looking sixteen years old, and she was not Elena. She was...

"M-mama?" Elena's eyes widened in surprise, she raised her hand, and the reflection in the mirror did the same. "Wh-what the?" She looked at her hands and realized from their look that it wasn't really her. As if she got into the body of her mother. Elena raised her head and looked in the mirror.

The reflection in the mirror began to move on its own, young Amelia opened her mouth and said something.

"Umm-sorry, what? I don't understand," Elena shook her head, she was already confused, whether it was reality or a dream.

Amelia raised her hand silently and pointed her finger at the picture, Elena turned around, and she was terrified. The bright red sun in the picture was becoming bigger and bigger, turning into flames until the fire filled the entire room. The girl rushed to the exit, but once she crossed the threshold, she again got into another room, much smaller than the previous one, the size of an ordinary storage room. Elena turned around, but the door slammed shut right in front of her nose, leaving the girl imprisoned in a small and dim room.

Smoke began to fill the room and the girl felt herself start to choke. She twisted the doorknob as best she could, but it didn't open, she screamed and called for help, but no one replied to her.

She heard a stifled baby cry behind the wall, but even it faded away at the same second.

"Somebody! Anybody! Please help!" Elena screamed as loud as she could, but acrid smoke had already filled the entire room and the girl's lungs. She hit the door several times, then slowly slid to the floor and everything darkened in her eyes.

. . .

Elena opened her eyes and jumped on the bed, looking around. David's hand, lying on her waist, twitched, and the man woke up from her unexpected movement. He rubbed his sleepy eyes and looked puzzled at his wife,

"Um, honey, why are you not sleeping?" Only then did he notice that the girl's body was trembling slightly and her breathing was heavy as if she had just finished the Olympic Marathon. "Hey, baby, what is it? Are you not feeling well? Do you want some water? Maybe I should call a doctor?"

Elena squeezed his hand to make sure that all she saw was just a dream. "No, no need to call a doctor, everything is fine. I just had a terrible nightmare," Elena replied and pressed against her husband to forget these horrible feelings. If it were not for the warmth of David, she would not be sure whether it was a dream or everything was actually happening.

This nightmare was too real.