Chapter 73 Hide.

Chapter 73 Hide.
Ariel

It took me several long seconds to notice that I wasn't alone in my bed when I woke up later that morning. It felt like something was grabbing my arms on both sides while my body remained glued to the bed like it was paralysed.

A deep sense of dread filled my body immediately.

Who were they? How did they get into my room? And why were their hands so wet?

I proceeded to blink my eyes open very slowly, my heart pounding loudly in my chest as I took in my surroundings and that's when I noticed that I wasn't even in my room. Or on my bed.

I was back in that room, from the flashing images in my head with two women grabbing onto my arms on the floor. They were both staring at me, with wide eyes open while mushy brain matter dripped out of a hole in their head. 

I instantly tried to scream. Out loud. Until my lungs burnt, but nothing came out. I tried to move. But they wouldn't budge.

My heart started palpitating when I glanced sideways to see them moving closer to my head, simultaneously with that same wide-eyed stare. 

They both whispered into my ear as my own eyes widened. 

“Hide.”



My heart was still pounding loudly in my chest when I forced my eyes open. Oh my God. Oh my God. It was a dream. 

It was a dream.

I sat up frantically on my bed and felt around the sheets just to make sure. It was just a dream. A very distorted one at that; I couldn't help but wonder if something had happened that I was missing.

That room. The women. The blood. 

I flinched when I rubbed my palm together and felt something wet. Oh God. What was that? Blood?

I reached for the small lamp beside my bed to illuminate the room and almost immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Oh thank heavens. It was just sweat… 

I got out of bed to go splash some water on my face in the bathroom and then picked up my phone from the bedside table to check the time.

Okay. 6:30 am. Not so bad… if we discount the nightmare and terrors. That was five hours of sleep, thanks to my sleeping pills, though now I could feel a very painful migraine building in my head.

I winced and staggered towards the bathroom again to grab a bottle of aspirin from my stash of pills in my top cupboard. 

I popped three into my mouth at once. Probably not a good idea but fuck it. I had things I needed to do, starting from visiting Mom first in the hospital and then going to pick Chloe up from school to both talk to her and take her to Mom.

I needed to be in the right state of mind if I was going to pull both off successfully. 

I headed back into the bedroom to grab my phone and was about to pour myself a glass of water in the kitchen when I saw him on the couch… laying down with his eyes closed. I stopped dead in my tracks. Was he sleeping right now? With a gun on his chest?!

I moved away from the counter a little bit to get an even better look. He looked fast asleep with how evenly his chest was moving and he had his arm above his head, which was making part of his waist show beneath the shirt he had on.

I took another step in his direction and stared at the gun. 

What exactly would happen if I grabbed it and just put a hole in his head like those women had in my dream?

Would that be so bad?

I’d barely finished the thought in my head when I noticed that his eyes were now open and staring at me. 

“Uh… hi… good morning.” I stuttered as I stumbled back to the counter to grab that glass of water. Fuck. It felt like he had heard what I was thinking. 

“I came to take this.” I raised the glass, like that would instantly make me innocent. I also grabbed the bottle I'd poured from and started heading towards my room. 

He didn’t stop me thankfully but that didn’t make me feel any better. 

I can’t believe I'd thought of that at all.

Killing someone… again.



Vincent

I was surfing through news channels to see if there was any new thing I should know about when Ariel stepped out of her room again. This time she wasn’t dressed in a long white t-shirt that was drenched in sweat with a messy bun that was cascading all over her shoulders. 

“Uh…” she started when I glanced in her direction. "...I'm going out.”

“Where?” I glanced back at the current channel I was on, where a lady in red was going on about some political jargon in relation to the business sector. 

“My mom. I-I mean, Kael gave me the address of the new hospital. I’m going to see my mom.”

I nodded but then stopped her just as she got to the foyer. “Wait”

She turned around, her eyes wide with that expression I've gotten so used to seeing in her eyes. Fear. “Have you heard anything from General Yuri yet?” I asked anyway

"No, not yet.”

Hmm… and why would that be? He was probably out of the country.

“Okay.” I nodded and signalled for her to go. She did and shut the door behind her with a small click.

I leaned back on the couch and groaned at the growing ache in my abdomen. I should go take my meds. And also check the burner. See if there was anything new from Kael.

There was. I realised by the time I did in fact turn on the burner in the guest bedroom an hour later. 

It read, "Bait set successfully," which was exactly what I needed to hear.

Now all we had to do was wait.