Chapter 20 — The Dream

On the same day, October 6th, Leo came home after work really tired. But he wasn't tired because of work or following the Mad Dog case, but because of worrying about Esther. He was constantly wondering if there was any way he could help her. Leo did not know how Esther would react if he made an appointment with a psychiatrist for her, which was why he didn't want to go that far yet, although on the other hand felt that this was what he should do. Leo was wondering if he should at least call her mom and grandma to let them know that something is wrong... No, that's what Esther would be even more angry about—she would reproach him for complaining about it all to her family. What else could he do then? Leo had no good idea and was torn all the time between wanting to help Esther at any cost and leaving her alone as she had asked him many times.

After eating the ready-made food and taking a shower, Leo went into the bedroom, laid down on the bed, and quickly fell asleep. Unfortunately, his sleep that night was not any calmer. He dreamed that was standing in a room drenched in darkness, with one spotlight illuminating only him. There was complete silence all around, for almost a minute nothing happened, and Leo was afraid to even move his finger. Eventually, however, something moved in the darkness and soon a figure began to emerge, tall and slender, a woman with long blonde hair and very attractive face features. The first amazing thing that struck him was the two huge wings, scarlet in colour, that seemed to almost glisten in the strange light that surrounded the woman, making the wings look like they were made of rubies. However, as the figure approached him, individual feathers were visible. But Leo was terrified when he looked into the eyes of this beautiful woman. The entire retina was dark blue in colour, and there were no pupils at all.

"What do you want?" Leo asked, his voice trembling even though he was trying to sound confident.

"Don't be afraid, I'm not here to hurt you. You are a good person and therefore you have nothing to fear from my side," a nice female voice spoke up, but the lips of the female angel standing in front of him did not move at all. "I wanted to contact you a long time ago, but since you are a sceptical person, I had to work hard to visit you. I am coming because your friend Esther Moore seems to be interested in the wrong things, instead of focusing on bringing the sinner's case to an end so he would be properly punished," the voice explained. "I want to ask you to take care of her well, can you do it?" it asked at the end.

"Of course, I'll do my best. But I must point out that this is not an easy task." Leo explained, still feeling a little scared, but already more relaxed than at the beginning.

"Life shouldn't be too easy. Straight paths lead you astray, only the winding ones, full of obstacles, lead to true happiness," a woman's voice replied in a lecturing tone. "Don't hesitate and do what you need to do. Your friend may get angry at first, but then she will thank you for caring about her well-being, trust me," added a voice.

Then the female figure began to disappear into the darkness, as if the light that surrounded her so far had been gradually fading away. Leo wanted to say something, so many questions popped into his mind, but the figure was gone, and then he woke up, suddenly opening his eyes, simultaneously rising up and sitting on the bed. Leo rubbed his eyes, but before he opened them again, was struck by the sun shining straight through the window, which meant it was already morning. He leaned over to the nightstand to grab his phone while disconnecting it from the charger. When Leo looked at the screen, the clock on the phone said it was almost five, so he slowly got out of bed to start getting ready for work.

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Next day, October 7th, while being already on the police station, Leo tried to talk to Esther again, but she seemed to lose touch with reality more and more. From that moment Leo started to seriously considering persuading her to go to a psychiatric consultation. Of course, this was helped by the words of the female angel from his dream, which was still strangely clear in his memory. Still, Leo felt some hesitation. Also, the fact that he had such a strange dream didn't help. Leo tried to explain to himself that he had dreamed of the same scarlet-winged angel because Esther had mentioned these beings to him, and in fact it was his subconsciousness that wanted him to understand that he should stop hesitating if really wanted to help Esther.

Throughout the day, Leo couldn't stop thinking about it all, which made it difficult for him to concentrate on his work but didn't want to mention the dream to anyone, especially Esther, because he knew it would only deepen her obsession with these Scarlet Angels and she would probably start saying, "Didn't I tell you? They exist!", and that Leo couldn't bear. He felt bad about hiding something from her, but on the other hand, was doing it for her sake, not to make things worse. If Leo had told Esther about his dream, it surely wouldn't have helped her, so he decided to conceal it.

"We're done with our current case, so I think I'll take a few days off, as you advised me." Esther spoke to him suddenly, looking away from the report she was typing on the computer.

"Really? Are you serious?" Leo looked at her, shocked at what he heard. He did not expect her to make such a decision, but at the same time it made him very happy.

"Yes, I am absolutely serious." Esther confirmed, smiling gently. "I guess you are right, I'm exhausted and need a longer rest. That's why I will apply for a leave today and will definitely get it, after all, I have been working non-stop since I got a job here. I deserve a short vacation, right?" she added in a happier tone, although you could hear in her voice that she was trying hard to sound like that.

"Yes of course. Don't worry about anything and rest. We'll do without you for a while, besides there is no serious investigation at the moment." Leo replied, smiling slightly. "After your vacation, you will certainly feel better and have more strength to continue working. And if the Chief will have any 'buts', I'll talk to him seriously." he added with a slight amusement, winking at her.

"I hope our Chief is not an absolute asshole and you won't have to do that." Esther said, clearly more radiant, and began to resemble her former self before that damn Mad Dog case came to surface.

Leo smiled slightly as they both returned to work. Until the current case was completely closed, they had only some paperwork left, as the criminal had already been arrested and awaiting trial. Then the complete files had to be sent to the court, but Leo could easily take care of this himself, besides he had other colleagues in the Criminal Investigation Department who could help him if needed. Therefore, Esther could safely go on vacation without having to worry that, without her, the police station will lack personnel.

As she said, at the end of the shift, Esther wrote a leave request and took it to the Chief of Police, who signed it without hesitation same day, in her presence. This meant that Esther had a three-week vacation from the next week, October 12th to November 1st. Leo was glad to hear that the Chief had agreed to the vacation, and so soon, because it meant Esther would be able to rest well and hopefully feel better when she returns to work.