"I'm coming for you, Devian. You took my love away from me. Now, I get to take something of yours..."
+++++++++++++++++
"NO!! PLEASE!" I jolted awake, screaming. Even though I knew that my eyes were open, I couldn't see! I began to panic.
Suddenly, a blinding light shattered the darkness, as if it were made of glass. Right then, a voice that I had not heard for about a week, made its way into my mind; "What in the name of Father Time is going on!?" The voice demanded.
It took me a minute to figure out that the voice actually belonged to Parker, since neither he nor I had crossed paths since my rescue.
"What are you doing? Are you trying to wake up the whole place!?"
I realized that I must have woken Parker up with my shouts that had been caused by... well, what I think had been a nightmare. Oops! My bad!
"I-I'm very sorry." I stammered. I could tell that Parker noticed that I was still disoriented and groggy from waking up too fast.
My eyes were adjusting to the sudden light, which was causing my head to spin.
Ignoring my apology, Parker just went straight into scolding me. "I thought I told Mackie to keep you in control! But nooo, she has to let you wake up the whole neighborhood!"
"I'm sorry." I said again. I felt tears stinging the corners of both of my eyes. Geez. Whatever happened in the nightmare must have really terrorized my unconscious mind. "S-sorry..."
Suddenly, Parker sat down on my bed, and sighed. "It was a nightmare, wasn't it?" He asked, without looking at me. "What was it about? If I may ask?"
"Uh. I. I really am not sure, sir." And that was not a lie. Whatever had happened in the nightmare, had seemed and felt unbelievably real. A young woman... and that man... who were they? I felt like I had somehow met them before... but where? Better yet, when?
"Hmm." Parker nodded in a quizzical manner. "I hope that wasn't what I think it was..." His voice trailed off, as he took note of the look of curiosity on my face. "Never mind." Parker suddenly said.
I had no idea what Parker was talking about, so I tried to move the already awkward conversation, forward. "I would like to apologize again, sir. I..."
"Don't call me sir."
"I'm sorry?"
"Parker." Parker said with a sigh. "You can call me Parker. Besides, I'm only a bit older than you."
"Oh. Alright, then." I answered. "It's just that Mackie told me to never bother you."
Needless to say, Parker's invitation for me to call him by his name, had indeed, surprised me. Personally, I had been thinking that this was going to be a "Beauty and the Beast" situation.
Parker huffed out a laugh. "Well, Mackie was right to tell you that. But I hope that you didn't take that personally."
I shrugged. "No, I-I guess..." I answered. "Not really. I just thought I was like in a quarantine, or something." It was my turn to force a laugh.
"No, it's nothing like that." Parker assured me, with a small smile.
I smiled back, but before I could answer, my head was suddenly overcome with a familiar pain.
"AHHH!" I doubled over, grasping at my head "N-not again!!" I whimpered.
"Devian!"
I barely heard Parker's panicked voice, calling my name, as I felt myself being yanked from consciousness...
++++++++++++++++
Flash Back/ vision:
I wasn't sure how long I had been unconscious, but when I opened my eyes, I realized that I was back in the nightmare that I had recently been woken by. The same setting, the same feeling, the same... girl!?
The girl that I had dreamt about, was on the ground in front of me. Only she wasn't dead. However, this time, violent sobs were wracking her body.
Even though I had no idea who she was, my heart went out to her.
I reached my hand out to comfort the crying young Woman. However, as soon as I did, I noticed that my hand was pitch black, like a shadow! I gasped in shock. What was going on!?
That was when I noticed that the young woman had stopped crying, and was now staring directly at me, a look of shock was on her pristine face.
I tried to speak, in an effort to tell her that I was a friend. However, when I tried to speak, nothing passed my lips.
The girl seemed to have read my mind.
"I am not afraid." She said with an air of defiance. "You are a soul thief. Are you not?"
"What?" I asked in my mind.
"A soul thief." The girl repeated. "Well, in your time, you're known as a time shadow."
I stared at her, confused. What was she talking about!?
"Well, it appears that you are not like the others. Any way, I'm Meralise." she laughed through her tears. "Although... my name seems meaningless now."
I still was not sure about what she was talking about.
Suddenly, a piercing scream surrounded us. The girl cowered against the ground.
After the screaming stopped, she looked back at me, fresh tears stained her face. "I am out of time, here. You will have to do!" She said, as she reached for something around her neck. It was a watch! An antique pocket watch... and I had seen it before... but where?
"Here." She handed me the watch.
I carefully took the watch. "What is this?" I asked.
"My soul." Meralise answered.
"WHAT!?" I stared at her in shock.
"Take my soul. Please! I am giving my soul to you! Take it!" Meralise yelled.
Suddenly, my shadowy hand involuntarily reached out, and clamped on to Meralise's chest. There was a flash of light, and then nothing but silence, and then... darkness.
+++++++++++++++++
Present day:
My eyes flew open. I felt the pain in my head. I was gasping for air.
"Devian! Hey! Hey!" Parker's voice broke through my panicked thoughts. I felt Parker trying to steady my shaky body. I began to pace my breaths, and settle down. I looked up at Parker, with tears threatening to fall from my eyes. What just happened, I wondered.
That was when Parker looked directly at me, and said; "Devian. I need to know if you remember anything about your dream. Please."
I looked Parker dead in the eyes, and asked one single question; "Parker, who am I?" With that, my knees buckled, and I fell to the floor, Unconscious.