"Stop! wait! stop!! wait!!" Aaron found himself repeating those words as he ran in a haste to meet up with Duke who was about shutting a door behind himself.
Duke who was totally surprised at the sight of Aaron, so he had no choice but to usher him into the house.
"So, why were you running after me? and how the hell do you know this place... wait, were you stalking me?"
Seconds passed by as Aaron tried catching his breath, and then he managed to speak.
"I was at your house, i mean the other house." finding the phrase 'the other house' the appropriate thing to say having seen another of Dukes family property. "I met a maid, she said you had left the house about seven minutes ago, she said if i could run i would meet up with you,so after giving me a nice description of where you're headed, i chased after you."
"That woman..." Duke thought to himself. "So what brought you here?"
"This!" Aaron snapped.
"What's that?" Duke asked as he strained his eyes to see what looked like a folded sheet of paper.
"You're such an idiot Duke, didn't you give me a piece of paper back then at the cinema, now you've totally forgotten."
Aaron had to remind himself that Duke is a bully and using such an insulting adjective was not the right call. Countless times Duke had dealt with students who had bad adjectives oozing from their mouths, even sarcastic statements like the ones Aaron pulled up in the cinema few days ago was enough for Duke to land him a punch, but he didn't clench a fist. All this left Aaron wondering if Duke had gone soft.
Aaron took a glimpse of Duke, trying hard to read his countenance. He looked poised for anything or was he angry with the remarks? Aaron also took a quick glance at the interior part of the house noticing for the first time he was in the house of a bully, though it was an exotic place filled with lots of space, few furniture, but if Duke were to teach him a lesson there was no place in the first floor to hide so he thought it wise to be calm and collected.
"So what do you think?" Duke asked breaking into Aaron's thoughts.
"It..." stalling for time so as to understand Dukes' question. "It left me clueless, i mean almost everyone had a bad nightmare but me! whats the meaning of all of this?" Aaron replied.
"I'll tell you then, my father... Gregor Oxette. Am sure you've heard of him, he's a member of the Double Shadow organisation, he..."
"You mean the DSorg?" Aaron cut in.
"Yes! he told me of the chaos that awaits us, the same as what you read on the article, he stressed the fact that this ones really big unlike the ones before.
Aaron wanted to take a seat but that wasn't the issue now; for him his questions wasn't answered and he needed to know more about the so called plagues or whatever. Does the nightmares has anything to do with the chaos?
Duke offered Aaron a seat on one of the exotic sofa, but that was only to help him feel at ease as the controversial answers he wanted began weighing down on him.
Duke asked, "What did you notice in the article?" Without waiting for an answer he continued. "The date! the date!!" Duke bellowed. Then he began lamenting about the date on the article, as well as complaining about his misfortune.
Aaron was shocked at Dukes attitude noticing he shivered, quite unlike the Duke he knew.Though he was furious he could also see the fright in Dukes eyes.
"My father..." he began, "Kept telling me of plagues that were to happen. He informed me of the date saying a lot of persons were going to die.
"Look!" he continued, "He gave me several instructions to follow, though uncertain but its the only way at least to avert the incoming uncertainties."
"So why should we believe in the DSorg after what happened the other time." Aaron asked, sounding like a critic.
A moment of silence passed as Duke stood still starring at Aaron with a serious gaze and with what looked like a smile on his face. Then out came a question.
"... What's today's date?"
"6th of June!'' Aaron replied, baffled by the way Duke payed unnecessary attention to the date of the so called anti-ascension.
"So... whats the big deal about the date?" Aaron asked.
"Tsk! don't you get it, the article made it clear the plagues are gonna begin in preparation for the anti-ascension." Now he sat down, feeling he had stood for too long.
"Before we met at the cinema i was really happy, having known through my father about the situation at hand. So i decided to follow all the instructions meant for persons who haven't been soiled by the curse that follows the so called *half a fortnight ,*but it has all come to nothing..." he paused, and then screamed in regret. "Just because i fell asleep! damn!! and then a miserable nightmare... am so unlucky."
"Wait wait wait... you too, you're among those complaining of the nightmares from yesterday?" Aaron asked jokingly.
"Of course!" Duke shouted, his tone of voice reminded Aaron of how serious the issue was. "Yeah! you think its funny? have you ever had a nightmare were a seed is forced into your left ear and it has to germinate with you feeling all the painful sensations that comes with its spiky adventitious roots piercing through your ear drums and then only sprouting a single shoot at the surface of your right ear, and then you hear several voices saying at the same time: 'test failed lets start allover again with the right ear'!?"
"No" Aaron replied. "I don't think that's funny, because my dad, my mum and most especially my younger brother, they all complained of silly nightmares."
"Hmmph, and am sure your're included."
"No am not."
"You mean you never had such experiences?" Duke asked shockingly.
"No, i didn't experience any nightmare."
After a moment of silence, Duke began. "According to my father the signs for the anti-ascension starts from 6th June and that was yesternight... so if i may ask, by what time did you sleep yesternight?"
"... I guess by--"
"Don't guess! be precise" Duke yelled at Aaron.
"Ok ok! 2am" Aaron replied.
"I see... that's the reason you didn't have any nightmare because the midnight didn't meet you in your sleep. So at least your're free, you just have to make sure you're gonna be fortunate for the next six days."
"So what about you? what are you gonna do?" Aaron asked with curiosity."
"If you ask me... i'll just have to follow the instructions set out for persons like me."
"I can see this anti-ascension rubbish is getting too deep... so i have got no choice but to help."
"Help who?"
"Is it not obvious, i want to help my family. They know nothing of such and i think am in the best position to help them out."
"Ok then, go back home set things straight and comeback by 6 pm. You know parents won't allow their kids outside. Its almost like a curfew, so i'll be waiting."
"I'll be on my way then." Aaron replied as he opened the entrance door.
"Good luck! lucky ass." Duke shouted as he hurriedly locked the door.
"I should have told him..." Duke thought to himself.
Duke father had made it clear... ' if by any means the midnight meets you in your sleep, you have no choice but to do as i have told you. Stalk to the grave at the christened path after the white bush. this is a way out at least for those who the midnight met in their sleep and if your friends have similar problems and even anyone else don't hesitate to give a helping hand, don't be rude!"
"And remember after performing the required rituals, the creature Mograi will help you out."
"I'll do as you've said father." Duke had answered.
"But be careful, he's unpredictable." Gregor added