Afterlife (Afterlife Saga) (26 page)

“Why do you have to go if it's my dream?” I bravely said this with more than my usual tone. But I still retreated, backing into a corner, only looking down for a split second to make sure I wasn't going to do my usual tripping over act.

“That's a good question but unfortunately one I cannot
yet
answer.” The breath
of his words hit me across my lips, as he was once again so close to my face. I couldn't understand it. How had he reached me so quickly? Before I could react his lips had moved and were at my ear whispering the end of the nicest dream I had ever had in my life.

As always his last words lingered in my mind making it impossible not to obey such a commanding voice.

“Good night my Keira and this time
…

You
will dream…peacefully.”

Chapter 14 – Childhood

As soon as those words had been said I was awake. It was still dark outside my window but it was closed as though it had never been touched. My heart sank instead of the usual rush of pleasure I would normally feel.  I tried to piece together the nightmare, which had then erupted into the best dream yet. It had seemed so real I could barely believe it was just a dream.  In fact the only reason I still believed they were all just dreams is because any other explanation was impossible. The man despised
me that
much was clear. To him I was an intruder who didn't belong, not only in his world but most definitely not in his club.

I got up, wrapping a knitted throw around my shoulders, as I was about to do something I hadn't done for a very long time. I walked over to my white washed wooden desk and took out the supplies I needed from one of the drawers. Libby had put a load of art stuff in one drawer in the hope that one day I would start up my passion once again. As it turned out she had been right. I held the pencil in my hand as though I had been a wizard reunited with his wand.

Libby and I had both shown a passion for art since a young age. But Libby then went on to develop a taste for interior design, begging our parents to let her decorate their lounge at the age of sixteen. Ever since then she had known what her calling in life had been and she was a master at it. I, on the other hand, had developed mine in very different ways. 

You see, I had a secret. The deepest and darkest of secrets. I was different from the rest. I had always known that one day it would catch up with me. Like a personal realm of demons I just couldn't hide from and no matter how much I closed my eyes, they were there...they were always there. Waiting in the shadows of what was left of my mental control. Waiting until the day I finally broke and gave in for the very last time. The scariest thing was
,
it really didn't feel like that far away.

It started when I was younger, one year when we all went on vacation down to Cornwall to spend the summer with my mother’s parents. My grandparents lived by the sea, which would attract various types of tourists. The summers would be buzzing with people from all walks of life and was a
breeding
ground for all types of entertainment. Everyone would wait with excitement for the famous travelling circus and fairground to come to town.

This particular year it did and it would be the life changer I would never forget.

My sister and I went skipping through the crowds with giggles and smiles at all the wonders our eyes could see. Fire eaters, acrobats, men that would eat swords and clowns with sad faces squirting each other with water filled flowers. The rides with happy screams of excitement and the smells of sugar treats and hot dogs filled the field, transforming it into a child's blissful playground.

It had been my first time at a fair, well one that I could remember anyway. I was nearly seven so I couldn't go on every ride like Libby but I didn't care, I was just so happy to be there, that I could barely contain my excitement. Libby and my dad had just come off a roller-coaster called the “Inferno Twister” when I started to ask about the candy stand over near the “House of Fun”. My mother had waited with me and bribed me with the chance of candy-floss if I waited like a good girl. Given my love for all things sweet this wasn't a hard task to comply with. But as soon as they came in sight, it was all my mind could think of.

“Libby, take your sister to get some teeth rotting sweets before she gnaws my hand off.”

My sister laughed and took my hand in search of the red and white stand.

“What's gnaws mean?” I had asked innocently enough when the crowd started to get thicker due to the end of a show in the big top. My sister’s hand squeezed mine in vain just before I broke away. I couldn't see for bodies all moving in different directions. I was pushed along with a family that weren't speaking English and I couldn't hear the sound of my sister’s voice calling my name over a language that I didn't understand. 

Finally after following them I was left standing in a quieter part of the fairground where there were no rides or stalls. I was on the outskirts of the park. I stood with a wet face from tears of panic when a woman with a kind voice approached me. She was dressed strange, with a number of red and purple scarves around her head like a turban. I remembered seeing people dressed like this in some of the books in my grandparent’s library and I recognised her to be a gypsy.

She wore a white shirt with big sleeves and a red dress on top that tied under the bust with ribbons crossing over. Her arms were covered in bangles and gold bracelets with what looked like coins hanging from them. She wore multiple sets of matching hooped earrings. But her hands were covered in so many rings that you could hardly see the skin on her fingers.  One caught my eye as it was shaped like a silver dragon's head and its mouth opened up as though it had swallowed her entire finger. The teeth on the end looked sharp as the spikes interlocked and clamped together.

“Are you lost young lady?” I remember thinking it was nice to be called young lady instead of my usual “Little squirt” nickname Libby called me.

“Yes, I can't find my sister. S
he was taking me for some sweets.” She smiled showing a full set of yellow teeth, like ones you would find on an elderly person after a life time of heavy smoking. She looked at me strangely, staring deep into my eyes. Even as a child, I had known that something wasn't right about this woman and remembering the golden rule of childhood I took a step back saying,

“I should go and find them and I shouldn't be talking to you, you’re a stranger.” I turned to leave but somehow she stood facing me once more.

“How did you do that?” Her red lips curled up on one side revealing a yellow fang and she bent down to the level of my young face.

“Magic!” She said, and with a movement of her hand she produced a pretty pink flower. She gave it to me and then straightened up revealing a less creepy smile.

“My name is Nesteemia but my friends call me Ness. I'm a palm reader.”

“What's a palm reader?” I was at my questioning phase wanting to know absolutely everything there was to know about anything.

“I can tell you your future my dear by touching your hand.”

“How, I hold my sister's hand all the time and I don't see anything?” She bit her lip trying to hide a smile that would no doubt turn into a laugh.

“You have to know the magic to be able to see.” I nodded my head understanding, thinking she could be a witch. I held out my hand with a firm mind and said,

“Show me please.” This would turn out to be the biggest mistake of my life because when she took my hand in hers what I saw next truly terrified me… and the gypsy.

She closed her eyes as she ran her heavy metal covered fingers across the palm of my cold small hand and she started to chant words I didn’t understand. I got scared and tried to pull away but she held on tighter stopping me from removing my now quivering hand. She opened her lids, but her eyes were somewhere else. Rolling back into their sockets so all you could see were the cloudy whites of them. She started to shake her head and her eyes that had turned blood red in colour were now flicking back and to, as though trying to read the lines in a book a million words a second.

I looked around searching for anyone who might be able to help me, but I hadn't realised she had pulled me further from the fair. We were now completely out of sight. I tried to speak and scream but when I opened my mouth no sound came from it. It was as if she had put some sort of spell on me forcing me to be silent. I was helpless, wishing I had never even wanted candy-floss in the first place.

She started to slow down her breathing and her eye movement was less erratic. She looked at me but now she was the one who looked scared. Fear caught up with her body making it vibrate as mine once did, as though what she had seen in my future had been so disturbing she couldn't contain the terror. I stopped struggling now as a new fear had gripped me.

What had she seen?

“What is it, tell me... what did you see?” I asked in a panicked voice. She just stared at me not speaking a word but she wouldn't let go of my hand.

“TELL ME!” I managed to scream bringing her out of her comatose state.

“It’s all true, but it can’t be...you can’t be real...what trickery is this?” I didn't understand her babbling so I struggled once more to break free of her fierce grasp.

“Let me go!” I said over and over but she wasn't listening to me. She just kept saying the same words over and over.

“It has come, it has come.” Finally I could see someone coming this way and tried to make another run for it. She caught sight of them before I managed to draw attention to us both and she clamped her other hand around my mouth pulling me back behind a work shed, out of sight.

“I will make you see, ready for your master young mistress.” I didn't understand and I shook my head under her grasp.

“Be still,” she ordered as she grabbed my arm and held it out with my palm facing upwards. I was losing strength enough to struggle
anymore
and was giving up. The tears streamed down my face and on to the hand of my captor. She held the dragon finger out pointing it at my palm.

She said something that sounded like a command only it was in a different language.

“
укусить
!”(Means “Bite” In Russian) 
Then my eyes saw something impossible. The dragon's head moved, opening its mouth wide releasing its teeth into a biting position. I mouthed the words “Don't!” and “No!” But the sound was muffled by her hand. The dragon bit down hard on my palm making small puncture marks with its teeth. I cried out in pain wanting this nightmare to be over, wondering if I was ever going to see my family again. She whispered in my ear yet more words I couldn't understand.

“Θα
τελειώσουν
σύντομ
α
έν
ας
γενν
αίος” (Means, “It will soon be over, be brave” In Greek)

She pulled her hand away from my lips and I was in too much pain to say anything apart from cry. Then she repeated the same words once more to the dragon ring and placed it to her own palm letting it once again taste blood. At least this time it was hers. Unlike me she smiled at the pain as though welcoming it and pressed it tightly to my own bleeding hand.

“It has been a pleasure Electus!" (Means “Chosen” In Latin)

These were the last words I heard until my mother’s voice woke me up. I opened my eyes to the room my sister and I shared in my grandparent’s guest house. I first thought it was all a dream as I looked down at my hand for a cut in my skin but it wasn't there. I later found out that my parents, along with a number of fairground staff had found me curled up asleep near the tool shed. There was no sight of a gypsy woman and nor had there been one working the fair that year. I tried to tell my parents but without proof they put it all down to a nightmare.

I, too, had been convinced until the day I saw her again.

It was on my seventh birthday, we had all gone out to an American themed diner where they served burger and chips (Or fries as it was on the menu), which was a favourite of mine. Afterwards we all walked along the shore to get some ice cream, spotting one made with traditional Cornish clotted cream. I pointed it out as though the colourful ice cream van was a beacon drawing me in.