THREE

~Luella 

It’s a strange phenomenon, like seeing my dream play out in front of me. 

There is no doubt, that this is the man from my dreams. He’s otherworldly, immortal, but not in the way I am. He hasn’t once been a mortal before; I can see it in his eyes, and not just because they are silver. It’s the way he looks at me, without any fear, without any regret for coming to stand in front of me.

“Of course I’m real. I’m standing here, aren’t I?” he says, raising his arms into a shrug. I try to swallow, but the lump in my throat prohibits it. 

That’s the issue. He is standing here. 

“What is it you want with me? Why am I having dreams about you, when I’ve never met you before,” I comment, folding my arms over my chest uneasily. I’m unsure of whether or not I can trust this man. Should I stand and listen, or make a run for it?

The man shrugs, wandering over to lean against the wall of the neighbouring building, giving nothing away. Nothing, from his stare, to his expression, gives up his intentions, and it’s unnerving. He’s impassive, patient, being all the things that leave me helpless. I need to get out of here as soon as I can. 

“I just want you to listen,” he comments. 

Sighing deeply, I nod for him to continue talking. Any information is good information, as long as I leave before I’m the next one to talk. 

“My name is Revel. I thought I would do you a favour and assure you that as long as you live here, in the oblivious life that you do, these dreams will continue. Going to therapy is futile,” he informs me. 

“Why? Why am I having these dreams?” I question. 

“It’s a complicated story I can’t indulge you in just yet,” he tells me, stepping forward. My heart rate accelerates worryingly, the closer he gets to me. He stops directly in front of me, so close, he starts to blur, making me wonder whether he is truly real. “You can’t know anything until my master wants you too. And right now, he’s too busy enjoying you from afar.”

My heart jumps into my throat. “Your master?  What does that mean? What does any of this mean. Who are you really?”

He reaches out, grabbing my chin between his fingertips. They are cold, ice cold. “I shouldn’t have done this. I shouldn’t have shown myself to you. But I couldn’t help myself. You’re just so fascinating to me.”

For whatever reason, I can’t pull away from him, as if I’m paralysed with fear. Whatever he is, and whoever he is, he’s not normal. Maybe he’s from another reality, or maybe I’m simply hallucinating. That seems the most likely, since every time I blink, it’s as if the sight of him lags behind. As if he’s not really here. 

“Please leave me alone,” I shudder.

As he steps back, I notice someone approaching. They have an umbrella up. A bright yellow one. It’s raining, my clothes are soaked. How did I not notice? The person approaches, as I look back at Revel. Every inch of him is try, that strange hair of his, those dark clothes, don’t have a drop of rain on them. 

“How are you not wet?” I ask him. 

He smirks, shrugging loosely. He doesn’t respond to me, though, instead looking over his shoulder at the approach girl, who is looking at me strangely. 

“I’m sorry, were you talking to me?” she asks, stopping a few feet from me. She looks confused behind the shower of rain falling from her umbrella. I don’t even feel cold right now, standing in the downfall. 

“No I was talking to-“

When I look directly in front of me, where Revel was standing less than a second ago, he’s gone. Just a puddle where his feet would be remain. Blinking a few times, I try make sense of the sudden disappearance. He’s gone. He disappeared as quickly as the rain falling heavily against the girls pretty yellow umbrella. 

She doesn’t stick around. I watch her walk off, completely dumbfounded. Looking down at myself, I see my white T-shirt is completely soaked through. My bra seems happy to be showing itself. I hope Revel wasn’t here to see that. 

Wrapping my jacket around myself, I walk quickly down the street. This day has not gone well. 

Because I’m sure I’m going crazy. 

***

“I got the impression you wouldn’t want to come back,” he comments. 

Mr. Fisher hands me a plastic cup filled with icy cold water. I’m not sure how I managed to get here. After the incident with Revel, I needed to talk to someone, to get answers. Mr. Fisher has been the only one so far who has given another opinion out of the ordinary. Even though I highly doubt it’s the reasonable. 

“Things have escalated since I last saw  you. Like a lot,” I say, clutching the cup between both hands. Mr. Fisher rests against his desk, narrowing his eyes on me. He looks young. I wonder how many people have come into this room with anything similar to me.

“How so?” he asks. 

“Well, last night, for the first time since I arrived in the immortal realm, my dream was different. I overslept a lot and missed...An important event. I don’t know if this is because I came to see you, but whatever it might be, this is the first time I’ve dealt with that,” I say, practically in one breath. 

Mr. Fisher, or when I glance down at his nametag, Julian, frowns. By his reaction, this clearly isn’t normal. I feel like I’m going crazy…

“And today, I had an entire conversation with someone who wasn’t there,” I exasperate. Saying it aloud makes it all the more real. I was talking to a hallucination. Revel doesn’t exist, with that snarky tone, silvery eyes and tattoos. 

“Are you sure they weren’t real?” Julian asks. 

I consider that for a moment. “Well, someone caught me talking to myself. Either this Revel guy has amazing disappearing abilities, or he doesn’t actually exist. I think I’m going to go with the latter.”

Julian pauses for a moment. He hasn’t yet given his opinion, which I assume is because he has no idea what is wrong with me. I believe that, until he gets up, moving away from the desk over to this bookshelf. No words are spoken, as he moves along the shelf, clearly looking for a book that might explain my problem. 

“The name Revel sounds familiar,” Julian murmurs, as he pulls out a book. He doesn’t show it to me, flipping through it himself. 

When he turns to show it to me, the book is named Gluttony. 

“I knew I’ve heard that name before. Revel is a Sin; Gluttony to be exact. Can you tell me if the man you spoke to looked like this?” he asks, leaning over to hand me the book. Swallowing nervously, I glance down at the illustration. 

There’s no doubting it’s him. 

It may be a painting of him, but it encapsulates the man I spoke to today so well. Those eyes pierce right into my soul, as I look down at him, being portrayed like a king sitting upon a throne, draped in lavish looking cloth. His tattoos are represented perfectly as well, yet still the meaning behind them is unknown. 

“Why am I dreaming about a Sin who I never knew existed?” I ask nervously, closing the book slowly to hand back to him. 

“Well maybe you’re not dreaming,” Julian offers. 

Shaking my head, I dismiss that idea immediately. It felt real, but what would a Sin be doing in Fate’s territory, where they usually aren’t allowed? It’s was most likely a strange symptom of these dreams that I have. Obviously something was off, and it followed me into my everyday life. 

“He told me the dreams are normal. I think that is just me trying to make sense of everything,” I tell him. 

“I don’t believe that is the case. This cannot be a coincidence. I think you need to consider the fact that something else is going on,” Julian murmurs, looking at me intently. My throat goes dry. 

“What if it is an Immortal? What if this is real?” I breathe.

Julian takes a moment to answer, considering that option. Then, all of a sudden, he gets up, brushing past me to open the door behind me. “If it is real, then you need to leave. I want to help you, but I don’t want to get involved with an Immortal.”

I’m up in a second, being escorted out of the room. Julian is afraid. He’s afraid of being involved with me, who is being plagued with dreams about an immortal.

As I stand outside the doorway, Julian looks back at me.

“I’m sorry,” he breathes, before closing the door. I stand there, dumbfounded. How am I meant to deal with this?

How am I meant to escape an Immortal?