Chapter 18

Chase felt his body shivered when a hand touched his own, and it was surprisingly warm, in contrast to what Chase had expected.

"You…Who are you?" he managed to say, completely shocked he was able to. Because it was the first time he had managed to make his words clear to the person—the child—in front of him. 

Honestly, he was scared. He felt his hair stand in different places of his body. It was the older version of the child in his dreams. The one whom he hadn’t seen for months now, was now standing in front of him. Chase felt this person was staring back at him even with the blurry face.

As usual, the person from his dream just gave him a smile. A smile that only led Chase to more confused thoughts and emotions all at the same time. 

It wasn't like this was the first time Chase experienced a lucid dream. He didn't know the effect of knowing he was inside of his own dream would be a big hit inside his brain and heart back then. Now he knew when he woke up, he'd have a terrible headache accompanied by the painful thousand stabs in his heart. But Chase was determined to know what he had to know right now. Somehow, deep inside him, he knew he needed it.

So, Chase slowly moved his hand up, reaching to the person in front of him. 

"Who are you?" his lips managed to move once again. He was feeling proud of what he had accomplished, finally being in control of his subconscious body. That didn't make any sense, but Chase didn't care. He wanted to know everything.

The person suddenly disappeared, making Chase's heart start to pound louder. What does he want from Chase? Why does he keep appearing and disappearing in front of Chase? It then appeared again, only this time, the person’s face was covered with a mask, with the mouth uncovered. 

So that person could still give Chase a smile.

Chase felt his hair stand in different areas of his body again after the sudden smile flashed in front of him. He took a deep breath and with enough courage, he started to walk towards the said person. His eyes began to narrow as he carefully looked at the lips of that person.

Somehow, the pair of lips were familiar to him. Chase knew it. Chase knew it but he couldn't make it into words. It was on the tip of his tongue, at the end of his chaotic mind, like a puzzle piece he could see from a distance, but it was somehow being pushed away, too far away from him again. The discoveries he was about to have on his hands were now being pushed away, washed away like waves on the shore, pulled back to the vast, deep, blue ocean where they came from…Back to where everything happened and began. 

Isabella felt her stomach twisted in a bad way. She wasn't ready, but she couldn't tell Mrs. Dalton about it, could she? As soon as her feet landed on the old house that she knew too well she had practically memorized every corner of, she knew there was no turning back. 

She could feel her body tremble at the sudden memories flashing in her mind the moment she saw her own two feet entering the old two-storey house, the same air and scent of old, maintained furniture, reliving the past mixed with the present condition of the residence. She felt her mouth and throat becoming dry and it took all her effort to swallow every emotion she had down hard.

"Isabella…My Isabella…" Chase's grandmother recited her name with a trembling voice while forcing herself to stand up from her wheelchair, her eyes red from the tears she'd been shedding the whole time she was waiting for Isabella to come.

"Grandma…" Isabella's voice was so soft as she muttered the word, the word Isabella had missed so much.

Isabella didn't wait for Chase's grandmother to walk towards her as she ran towards her instead, wrapping her arms around the old woman tightly and finally letting all the tears she had been trying to hold back since the time Chase's mom told her Chase's grandmother’s desire to see her.

"My Isabella…Oh, my Isabella is finally here…" Chase's grandmother muttered between sobs that made Isabella's body shake as she let out her own sobs too. 

Chase's grandmother caressed Isabella's face, staring at Isabella with loving eyes and whispering the words "You grew up so well" "I'm so sorry" and "I missed you so much" repeatedly. 

Isabella could only feel her tears fall as she stared back at the woman. “Me too, grandma. I’ve missed you so much. I, I’m so happy to meet you again.”

Mrs. Dalton stared at the scene before her, a tear rolled down her cheek and she immediately looked up at the ceiling trying to prevent any tears threatening to fall again. She let out a soft smile as she saw her mother and Isabella smiling at each other as they headed to the kitchen, like the old times. Yes, just like the old times.

Silently, Mrs. Dalton’s tears rolled down once more.