Narrator: Grey Zoria.
Right now, I'm in a garden. Just a normal garden like any other garden. There's a young man in his twenties playing with a young boy, they are throwing the ball at each other. An older man and woman are standing a few meters away looking at them.
All of the four looks familiar, but I can't recognize any of them. The young child has an innocent smile that makes my heart flutters every time I look at it. The older man and woman are looking at the young man and boy while talking and laughing. Although they look like any other couple, I feel emptiness, and my hand trembles in fear at the same time just by looking at them.
I look away from them rapi0dly and look at the young man instead, and I wish that I didn't. I felt sadness cutting my heart into small pieces as the emptiness filling me became fiercer.
Suddenly and without any warning, the green grass fulling the garden was replaced with a huge blue flame.
"NO, Stay away from me." I shouted and started moving backward. My whole body started trembling when I saw the blue flame.
As my trembling legs couldn't hold me anymore, I fell on the ground. Sitting on the hot ground, I continued to move backward as my vision turned blur.
Just when the flames were about to catch me, the ground underneath me disappeared and I began falling none stop.
I jumped out of my bed and started taking a deep breath after the other. I put my hand on my heart then, began to check my whole body for any signs of the blue flames, but I found none.
"Calm down, Grey, it's just a dream." I heard a familiar voice as someone put his hand on my right shoulder. I look to my right instantly to find who is next to me. When I saw that it was Gerrard, my breathes became slower gradually as I started to calm down.
When I completely calmed down, Gerrard left his hand off my shoulder and sat down on a chair next to my bed.
"Did you see that dream again?" Gerrard said, staring at the roof.
"Did you stay all night next to me again?" I asked changing the subject.
"You still won't tell me about that dream?" Gerrard tries to return to the original subject.
"How long have you waited here?" My last question is answered with only silence.
"Answer my question." I tried to force Gerrard to talk.
"You answer mine first." Gerrard switches his gaze from the roof into me.
We both lock eyes for a moment before I sigh. "I guess I can never win against you with words."
"Yes, I had that dream and no, I don't want to talk about it." I continued.
"Come one, Grey. It's been years since you first saw it and you never told me about it once." Gerrard finally talked like a friend rather than trying to milk answers out of me.
"Now is your turn to answer my questions."
"*Sigh* Yes I stayed here all night." Gerrard finally answered.
"And how long?"
"You have been sleeping since 7 P.M., but I only got here at 8 P.M."
"And what is the time now?"
"It's almost noon"
"WHAT THE HECK?!" I shouted "You stayed all this time on this chair? How many times do I have to tell you to stop this nonsense?"
"You are welcome, I'm glad you are happy." Gerrard scoffed.
"What will my gratitude help you with when you HURT YOUR BACK and walk with a WALKING CANE like old people?" I shouted at Gerrard.
"So, you want me to put myself as a priority and not care about you! If that's what you want, you got it." Gerrard shouted even higher.
We both sigh at the same time. Gerrard leans his back on the chair and stares at the roof, I rest my back on the bed and stare at the roof too.
As I stare at the roof, I see something like a small chamber in the roof with glass separating it from the outside world, the champers from the inside contained a white stone that emits light. Champers like this were everywhere in the room, lighting every corner in it. I think that's their own version of lamps.
"So, why didn't we go to the mayor? Wasn't it supposed to be today, early in the morning?" I asked still staring at the lamp-like stones.
"Can you sleepwalk?" Gerrard scoffed. I switched my gaze to him as my expressions turned serious for the first since I woke up. "I'm talking seriously."
"Okay, I will tell you, just don't kill me. The mayor sent a guard to escort us at about 9 P.M., but the doctor said your situation is serious and you need rest." Gerrard's tone turned serious as he explained "A lot of things happened, the poor guard was used as a messenger between the mayor and the doctor and finally it was decided that the meeting will be postponed to next Tuesday." He continued.
"Tuesday, huh?" I return my gaze to the roof again and stare aimlessly. "I guess we have some time to think things over."
I take a break before continuing "And the first thing to do is YOU GETTING AWAY FROM THIS DAMN CHAIR."
"As long as you are sick, I will stay like this."
I stand up immediately "Did you have your breakfast?" I said with a victorious smile.
"You won this one." Gerrard closes his eyes and looks at the ground desperately.
"Now we are even."
He quickly recovered and looked at me with a warm smile "Let's eat breakfast, but first you need to take a bath."
I take a look at my clothes; I'm still wearing the same white T-shirt that turned red of blood, this same T-shirt is torn apart in many places, but the biggest is at the right side and at the chest from shoulder to shoulder, the direct hits I took from Tom, and my trousers are full of dirt and blood.
"I guess you are right." I said before switching my gaze to the bed I was sleeping on," I feel sorry for whoever will clean this."
"With all this blood and dirt, I won't be surprised if they changed it." After Gerrard said that he stood up "Anyway, that's not for us to be concerned about. Come after me."
Gerrard raised his hand to put it on my shoulder, but he changed his mind at the last moment and pointed toward the door "Let's get out and let one of the maids escort you."
Both of us got out of the room and a maid immediately came to us in a hurry.
"Sir Grey, Sir Gerrard." She said, bowing deeply.
"You don't have to call me that," I said raising, both of my hands in refusal.
"My apologies, but I can't address you with disrespect, Sir Grey." She said, before raising her head.
Although she is just a maid, she has a firm and confident face and stands up with her back straight and shoulders aligned. She even looks more confident than the butler.
"I was ordered to escort you when you wake up." She continued "Please follow me, Sir Grey."
I heard the word escort a lot of times in the short time I spent here. I began to get bored of it. Putting my emotions aside I nod to the maid before following her.
We reached a corridor on the second floor. The corridor had doors on both sides of it, three for each side. She stood next to the second door on the right.
"This is your room, Sir Grey." She said, bowing slightly.
Thanking her I opened the door in front of me. The room was vast with a lot of furniture. Right in front of me, there was a huge, decorated bed, big enough for two people with a tall headboard. To my right, there was a big, wooded wardrobe in the corner and a wooded dressing table next to it. The dressing table had a wide mirror, a backless chair that can be drowned in and out of the dressing table, and six drawers, three on the left and three on the right.
To my left, there was a wide sofa with two armchairs next to it.
"Please allow me to get you suitable clothes, Sir Grey." The maid snapped me out of my shock.
"Of, course," I said awkwardly, looking at her. I wish she doesn't get a bad impression on me because of this.
She moves straight to the wardrobe and gets some clothes, that she holds in her hands.
She moves out of the room, and I follow her until we reached another room on the second floor. When we entered the room, I found a big pool of hot water. The pool was room wide and above it, with less than a meter there was a metal pipe with countless towels on it.
"I will be waiting outside." The maid put the clothes on a small table next to the pool, before bowing slightly and getting out of the room.
Not having the ability to resist the blood and dirt anymore, I take off my clothes and jump into the pool.