They made loud chatter on their way to the room and it was clear they had missed each other.
"At least tell me I can keep these shoes" Dana said ogling the high heeled LV pump and she swooned thinking of the price. All her grandmother's shoes were specifically designed to her liking which wouldn't come as a surprise seeing the gold lacing the sides as if spilled in an artsy kinda way. It screamed money, power and demanded respect.
"Oh stop being dramatic pumpkin, you know you can have whatever you want as long as it fits" she said carelessly before noticing the sly smile on Dana's face " oh no no no . . . except my wrist watch" she said wiggling the fourth finger in Dana's face.
They both giggled.
"Tell you what, since it's your birthday next month . . . how about you come to your fave grandmother's house and we can go all out spoiling you rotten" she said brushing her softly brushing her granddaughter between the shoulder blades. Dana purred softly, loving the touch as well as the sound of spending time with her less sour grandma.
"It's settled then . . . next month we have a date" Dana exclaimed in contentment then they decided to pick on each other's mind at sunrise when they both go jogging .
She opened her eyes again, like the universe was freakishly against her ever getting a peaceful sleep this particular night and she sighed in frustration. A shadow passed in the corner of her eye and whatever remnants of sleep she had had the few seconds before left her absolutely. The black shadow chanted her name in hushed whispers and she froze. She should be used to all the dark entities haunting her by now but no matter how frequent they made their presence known, she just couldn't get used to it and she smiled wryly. It seemed that the shadow wants to dance with her from the way it kept flowing in and out still chanting her name like it was testing if it can be made into beautiful music. She stepped out of bed and stood facing the door where the shadow's eyes gleamed like crystals save only the fact that its eyes were a hollow pit of darkness. It looked intriguing and left a sense of farmiliarity that she couldn't ignore nor adhere to at the moment.
"Why do you come to disturb my sleep, shadow"? She questioned into the darkness and she wrinkled her nose up when she figured the shadow must be a dumb, mute minion.
"Oh I am not exactly dumb and I am no lackey either" the shadow surprised her by answering her thoughts instead of her words.
"I take it my words mean little to you then"? she questioned again seeing the shadow raise it's bony fingers to scratch it's chin lazily as if it was deep in thought or was that a bored expression on its face? Dana couldn't tell.
"Oh but don't you know how much they do? I mean . . . yes, you don't know, right? I think what actually means something to me is your presence . . . yes, that must be it! Or is it your absence? I can't really tell as of yet" If Dana had thought that she was frustrated by the constant disturbance of her sleep then she said thought it too soon because now she was definitely frustrated! What sort of thing goes to answer your question by questioning the answers he has given? This must be her lucky day, not!
"Look Mr shadow, I need to sleep now, can you please . . . please try not to wake me up again and please have your monologues in silence while us humans who don't float and might actually need to have energy to walk and jog the next sunrise" Dana let out her frustrations to the shadow as polite as she could.
"My bad, I imagine you know I didn't actually come here for chit chats" the shadow said when Dana was about to step back into bed, she turned around in time to find the shadow's change of demeanor in transit "aren't you curious? Follow me" and against her better judgement and the danger alerts in her head, she followed the shadow out into the dark hallway where she didn't have to walk further before it clasped it's bony fingers around her neck, choking her. She was instantly overrun by fear, seeing her life flash by her eyes in quick motion
Nobody wants you here . . .
You're a curse to this family . . .
I will end you . . .
What is this? A trick . . . "Who are you"? Dana gagged while trying to see through the million stars clouding her teary eyes.
"Mhhm not far from the train of right questions but still, insufficient intelligence" the hideous creature said, as if contemplating how much to give away to the squirmish dying girl in his fingers.
"What do you want"? Dana tried again with her strained breath.
"You . . . I came to kill you before you become a real threat" the shadow said plainly "your existence threatens many of us so I took it upon myself to have the honor of killing you . . . one life laid down for the safety and security of tens of thousands" the creature continued to taunt her fleeting life and she stopped struggling and bowed her head. The creatured chortled in disbelieving glee. There was nothing special about the girl anyway, they were all just cowering in the name of an ancient prophecy! Indeed, the gods go to sleep and ancestors can be wrong too, who knew it was going to be this easy! It was lost in its reverie that Dana's hand reaching out to his own shallow neck was lost to him until his own skull hit the wall behind him with a force. How was that even possible! She wasn't supposed to have this kind of strength! She should have been dead! She must not even be able to touch him let alone smash his skull into the wall! Maybe he underestimated the girl. Was she pretending all along? The Oracle said she was yet to Become so what was this? He tried to unbuckle himself but even her strength suddenly became indestructible. Oh well, if it's his fate, he shall accept it as his superiors personal conquest. He felt the electrical infusion and for an instant he felt that he had a soul and felt it burn and melt before a wheezing sound rang loud, it took him a second to realize that the sound was from his vocal cords as he melted away in the hands of a mortal, or was it? Maybe he will find the answers in hell.
"Dana" a panicked voice shouted her name repeatedly "wake up Princess"
"Dad" and she weeped and let it all out seeing her superman. She never thought she would get tired of nèeding him.
"Shhhh daddy is here now Princess, cry no more" he said rubbing her back soothingly.
Nick and Sally had come to check on their Princess when they both noticed she had slept beyond her usual time. Sally made the excuse to say maybe its because she slept late with her sharing a bed with her second grandmother. Sally also found it odd that her mother would sleep past 6am until sunrise but she thought its the fatigue caused by travelling and the long boardroom meetings. They found them both sound asleep, Dana facing down with her face on the pillow and they knew she only face down or curl up if she's having nightmares. Sally touched her mother softly who fluttered her eyes and smiled seeing her daughter up before her. "morning sweetheart, you're up early. Are you okay" Miss Lawson, Salamina's mother asked to receive a look from her daughter before she smiled brightly.
"Mother, you came!" she exclaimed before looking to Dana's side of the bed " weird, when did you guys fall asleep"? Sally asked her mother who shrugged seeing absolutely nothing wrong with her granddaughter sleeping until the was completely high in the sky.
"Ofcourse I came, you're my baby but please let my pumpkin rest for now. She needn't wake up for anyone" Miss L. smiled sweetly before noticing the worrisome expression on her son in-law's face "What's wrong Nicky?" she sat up straight.
"Uhm . . . Did Dana wake up at all to maybe . . . errr go to the toilet"? he said to see Miss L. shake her head no which confirmed was he and his wife already suspected. She was trapped in a nightmare. Nick went to turn her over to face the ceiling when the stench of blood hit his nostrils. Dana had a nosebledd but add that to the increasingly hot temperature that drenched her night wear. Sally please get me a big towel and immerse it in cold water. Nick said, his panick raising seeing the amount of blood on the pillow. He moved the curtains leaving only the lace beneath for decency and opened the windows to let fresh air in. Sally came back with the towel and they made her lie straight while supporting her head with a less bloody pillow. Nick cleaned her bleeding nose and pressed them together to expel the blood stuck inside her nose.
Sally kept on chanting "you're going to be okay baby just come back to us" which was deeply rooted on hope more than the actual idea. She started moving her fingers sending shock waves to Nick who was closest to her before she gagged and shot up like she had just stepped out of a nightmare, which wasn't far from the truth.
She weeped to her heart's content before she calmed herself in her dad's arms. She iterated what had happened in her dream. They were all shocked to say the least. The words said by the shadow ringing the same alarm bells to everyone.
"Do bad coincidences like those happen"? Miss L asked the burning question in everyone's mind
Could it be that Snr Mrs Simons is involved with black magic? . . .