“Heya little sis.” my brother’s crackled through my laptop’s speaker.
I sat on my bed with the laptop lying on my crossed legs, my door closed against parental intruders. Sunday afternoons were always the best part of my week. It was the only time I could relax and express whatever was in my mind to the one person in my life who would understand no matter what. While Kayla was my best friend and I trusted her with most of my secret thoughts, she didn’t always understand where I came from – our cultures and backgrounds were too far apart. Niklos, on the other hand, had to share every situation with me and therefore he knew me better than anyone else. It was just sad that I couldn’t tell him about Morpheus. That was one thing he would never understand.
“Heya big bro” I replied, turning on my camera so I could blow him a kiss.
He chuckled and turned on his camera, revealing – surprisingly – a spotles
“Excuse me? I’m what?”I was certain that I hadn’t heard her correctly. How could I be betrothed to an immortal god without even knowing it? And who on earth made the betrothal? Surely one of my parents would have to agree to the engagement for us to be betrothed and somehow I couldn’t imagine my mother making that deal with Hypnos.“You’re betrothed. Have been since before you were born.” she smiled sympathetically and patted my hand which gripped the blanket on her bed.“How?” my voice shook.“I’m not actually sure. To be honest, I only found out myself when I barged into your dream unannounced. I think that’s something you’ll have to bring up with Morpheus.”“Oh, I’ll bring it up with him.” I said through clenched teeth.Miss Clark laughed and squeezed my hand.“Go gently on him. The poor boy has had it rough lately.&rd
I woke up to the sound of birds chirping in the tree outside my window and the sun streaming through my window, a perfect way to wake up if I may say so. Morpheus hadn’t come to me again, but this time I didn’t bother to call for him. If I truly needed him then he would come, I was sure of that. Besides, I didn’t really want to see him after what had happened with Ricky the previous night. I sort of felt as if I was cheating on him with Ricky, even though Morpheus and I weren’t together and nothing even happened with Ricky. Ricky had left soon after dinner with no more awkward incidents between us and he even gave me the weird side-hug he seemed to always give as if everything was normal.I looked at my bedside clock and swore. I was late! I yanked on a pair of jeans and the first shirt I laid my hands on while brushing my teeth, hoping to save time by not eating breakfast. Barely catching my father in time to catch a lift to school, I did my makeup in
The doors to the haunted house were guarded by Miss Matthews and Miss Carlson, both armed with vicious looking swords which they crossed until we had paid the entrance fee. They were both dressed as geishas and looked as if they had stepped straight out of a Chinese action movie, apart from the fact that they weren’t Chinese that is.“Have fun.” Miss Matthews giggled as we passed, closing the door behind us with a resounding thud.Her giggle was distorted by the closed door, transforming it into a sinister chortle – as if she knew the secrets of the house which we had yet to come across. The path was lit with small lights which had been hung up on the ceiling to resemble stars. Potted palms encroached and added to the aura which made us feel as if the house had been abandoned and the garden had begun to suffocate the mansion. So far, no creepy beasts had jumped out of the trees so we assumed that they’d saved the best for later. We crept f
By the time Robert finally joined us, his face deathly pale and his eyes empty, we were starting to get restless in the Cook’s restrictive lounge. Doc and his wife were still at work, although they would be home at any moment, so they hadn’t even heard the news. I contemplated calling them but Josh and Nana said that it would be pointless making them worry when there is nothing they could do – their hands would be as tied as ours were.Robert sunk down in an empty chair and said nothing, even when Nana poured him a cup of hot chocolate. The policeman who had accompanied him remained and asked Nana if he could search Kayla’s bedroom for any clues or information that they might have missed. I wasn’t too sure what they would find. Kayla wasn’t the crazy person who kidnapped some poor, unsuspecting teenager in the middle of a haunted house. For some reason I got up and followed the policeman up to her room, sitting on Kayla’s bed and watc
I woke up partially disorientated but lucid enough to remember that I had to urge the policeman to search through the farms which lay to the west of our small town. I just hoped that the guy was still around. He seemed to be open to anything as long as it granted the possibility of finding Kayla.Kayla. Her appearance in her dream freaked me out a bit. The jerk had hit her repeatedly by the look of the bruises which had begun to appear. I would never be able to understand what drove a man to hit a woman – let alone one as sweet and caring as Kay. Another thought crossed my mind as I walked toward the lounge – how sure could Morpheus and I be that what Kayla had said in her dream was the truth? On the other hand, Morpheus was the god of dreams and should be able to tell the difference between what is dream and what is reality, right?“Any news?” I asked my friends who looked drained and withdrawn.Violet shook her head making her purple ha
My serious tone seemed to put Morpheus on guard and I could almost see his mind working as he tried to find the words to put me at ease. Clearly he knew what was coming but hadn’t expected it. Or perhaps Miss Clark hadn’t told him that she had told me about the betrothal and so this reaction was for a completely separate offence he had committed. “Talk about what, my love?” he asked, his hand reaching for mine as we sat facing each other on the park bench. I didn’t really know where to start and so I let the first thing that came to my mind blurt out. “How the hell are we meant to be betrothed?” The projectile word-vomit seemed to strike him hard and Morpheus physically recoiled as if I had slapped him. He let go of my hand as if it had burned him and he moved back slightly, edging away from me. “Who told you?” his voice was gentle and yet I could sense the fury which hid behind his words.
I plopped myself down on the back porch, nibbling some toast as I watched a bird bathing in the bird bath. Something Morpheus had said came back to me and struck me as being a bit strange. He had said that he could only wait for me until my birthday because his power was fading... which may seem innocent enough but when I actually sat down to think about it I began to ask questions. What is the tie between me and his strength? If I marry him will he miraculously become strong again? I had a few too many unanswered questions and I wanted answers. Somehow I had the feeling that I wouldn’t get those answers easily from Morpheus – after all I had to twist his arm to get him to tell me about the betrothal. The bird I was watching hopped onto the edge of the bird bath, flapping its wings to dry its feathers before it took off into the nearest tree. I envied its freedom, although the life of a bird seemed lonely and without much purpose other than to be the next link on the food ch
The Dreamlands were well passed my imagination. Whenever I had thought of it I thought of rolling hills with a castle slap-bang in the middle of it. Instead, I stood on a cliff looking over an ocean which faded into walls of dark mist. Sinister clouds hung above us, blocking out the sun and plunging the whole realm into near-darkness. I could see ethereal lanterns casting light onto the paths which trailed from the shore to another hedge of mist, although this one had a hole in it that looked suspiciously like a doorway.“Warrick is late again!” Ally Clark mumbled as she walked toward a bench which stood facing the sea, playing with the tiny dagger pendant which hung from her necklace.I walked around a little, inspecting the leafless trees and plants which were mostly just a bunch of thorns. The land of my dreams was rather bare and depressing.“Is it always this dark?” I asked Ally, sitting next to her to watch the waves.“