Khalilah groans softly in her sleep, but she felt something uncomfortable, twigs and sticks poking at her sides, she groaned again and regarded the ill feeling as just her imagination until she heard bats crying. She jolts in shock only to find out that she wasn't in her bed, where she was now, it resembled a field out in the middle of nowhere.
She staggered up, the cold wind seeping into the loose material of her night dress, and she hugged herself tightly, rubbing her hands on her skin, trying to provide herself with some sort of warmth. That's not all, it was dark and chilly. She rubbed her bleary eyes, hoping that this was a dream but it was not, how the hell did she get here? Unsure of what to do, she took a step forward, she was unable to see, since it was dark and foggy, and the moon wasn't kind enough to lend her some illumination.
She had never seen such an empty and lonely night before, in a way Khalilah felt it was sad. The night was abandoned because it was night, and not even the moon was kind enough to keep it company.
But she had other important things to worry about, it was quite baffling that she would wake up in a place like this, alone and in the middle of nowhere. She was surrounded by tall imposing trees she could see them casting an even darker shadow against the ground.
"Hello!" She called into the emptiness, confused and scared but she continued to walk forward, even though she had no idea where she was going.
"Can anyone hear me?" she shouted louder and this time again there was no answer, just the echo of her voice coming back to her. She felt some twigs snapping and a shadow ran past her, at an unimaginable and great speed.
"W—"She froze for a bit, peering suspiciously into the darkness whatever passed beside her just now was too fast or too quick to just be the gust of wind. "Grandma is that you?"
A small scream erupted from her mouth when something hard collided with her, and she fell to the ground, she was immediately covered by sweat, and as she tried to move backward, she couldn't see… she couldn't see a damn thing!
"Hello!" she called again when everywhere became calm and silent like it first had, her heart palpitating in her chest. "Is anyone there?"
Another scream escaped her parted lips when she was slammed into the ground even harder, she tried to move but there was something on top of her making snarling noises, she stifled a scream when her eyes were met by a pair of red angry and fiery eyes.
"Khalilah!" She heard her name in the distance and her eyes flung open to meet Rose-Anne's worried blue eyes, she heaved a sigh of relief as soon as Khalilah opened her eyes. Khalilah realizing that she was in her room, jumped out of the bed, and she fell to the ground, hitting her head hard against the wooden floor.
"Khalilah!" Grannie Rose rushed towards her, the girl was covered in sweat and tears were leaking out of her eyes, in her years of experience raising her children and countless other children, Rose-Anne could tell that Khalilah had had a traumatic dream and she wasn't fully awake yet. "Khalilah open your eyes, look at me, my child."
She cooed as she brought her into a motherly hug, only then did Khalilah's labored breathing stabilize. "What is it?" Rose asked curiously as she pulled Khalilah's long black hair behind her ears.
"Grannie…" She said her eyes still terrified. "T-there was a-a m-monster."
"Monster?" Rose asked curiously and Khalilah nodded in a hurry.
"It is very scary, it was after my soul." She rambled taking loud unsteady gasps as she spoke and Rose only nodded trying to make her calm down, after a few breathing exercises Khalilah was finally able to catch her breath.
Khalilah set down the mug of hot chocolate, finished it in two gulps, and Cherry-picked the cup from the saucer.
"Should I bring you some more chocolate?" She asked and then Khalilah shook her head immediately, Cherry took the cups and disappeared into the kitchen.
"Tell me about the dream." Rose-Anne offered to listen to her granddaughter now that she was a bit more stable now.
"What dream are you talking about?" Khalilah asked curiously, she picked the macaron on the plates and stuffed it into her mouth and Rose's eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"Why? You don't remember you were telling me about a dream you had just now." Rose's eyebrow furrowed in a small frown when her granddaughter shook her head. "You said you saw a monster."
Khalilah went into deep thought, as she chewed on the macarons, unable to fathom the idea, she picked more macarons and stuffed them in her mouth and she moaned loudly at how sweet they tasted.
She should probably learn how to make Macarons today this one tastes like heaven, and she giggled to herself at the idea, she could already picture herself working very hard.
"I don't remember having such a dream." She confessed as she finished the rest of the Macaron on the plates. "Um… Grannie, the girls are going to the beach today, can I please go with them?"
In confusion, Rose-Anne stared into Khalilah's golden orbs for a while, as she tried to find a hint of pretense but her sweet little granddaughter didn't seem like she was hiding anything.
Is it possible for a person to forget a dream so quickly? What is going on? Rose-Anne asked herself but she didn't know the answer to the question.
"Please grandma, I promise I will be careful."
"Oh, you want to go to the beach with the girls," Rose murmured, she wondered if it was okay to let her go somewhere so dangerous. But then again, Rose knew the girl's freedom was numbered and she would soon be taken away, so in every little way she could, Rose wanted the remaining two days to be the happiest in her life.
"Alright, you may go," Rose said with a worrisome frown creasing her forehead. "On the condition that Robert has to go with you."
Khalilah's eyes widened in delight, Robert was coming along too, she would probably get to talk to him more, even though there were limits to the things she could discuss with him, he has a girlfriend.
She reminded herself.
"Thank you grand-mama, you are the best." Khalilah rushed to the other side of the table and pulled her grandmother into a warm hug and then kissed her cheeks repeatedly before she ran back upstairs to her room, to get dressed for the day.
"Remember you mustn't allow any man to get close to her." Rose-Anne reminded Robert who bowed his head calmly as he received his orders from his boss. "Make sure she never leaves your sight, not even a scratch must be found on her that is if you need your life."
Rose-Anne said that didn't mean she was going to go do anything if Khalilah got hurt, Lord Olive would be sure to rip off their heads if that happened.
He might not be present physically, but Rose could feel his sinister presence all the time, maybe she was being too overreacting about it, or it could be the fear he instilled in them.
"I will keep that in mind, Madam Rosie," Robert said as he exited the room, and Rose fell into deep thoughts.
Time was ticking away, and she still didn't dare to tell Khalilah what they had done, and what was going to happen to her. She was scared, her mother, Vina had strongly advised that they keep this secret away from her until she is being taken away.
And when Rose-Anne had asked for her reason, Vina said Khalilah was a very stubborn child and she would run away if things weren't in her favor.
"Joe…" Rosie called as she stared at the small portrait that was sitting down majestically on the oak desk, the portrait being that of her beloved husband. "What would you have done if you were here?"
She spoke to the man in the portrait as though he could hear her. "Would you tell her or would you leave her in the dark?"
This was something she had to decide before the night of the next day, but no matter how she thought about it, she couldn't help but imagine the look of betrayal that would be on her face.
"I don't know what to do, Joe." She covers her face in her palms.
"Khalilah…" Robert called as he got out of the house and approached where she was, she had a radiant smile on her face, and when she stared at him, he felt his heart rate increase, and it was like staring at the sun.
Beautiful, enchanting, and endearing at the same time, if only she wasn't betrothed to death itself, maybe he could have a chance to get close to her.