He tossed and turned, his face covered in cold sweat. The beam of sunlight finally touched his face, Nathaniel finally woke up from the nightmare, gasping. He looked around his room rather confused but relieved after a few seconds to be safe.
Well, what do you know, I am relived that crap is over. He thought for a while still catching his breath. What's with the ending though? He grabbed the pitcher next to his bed and drank all the water, still catching his breath.
He pushed away the blanket, took a deep breath, closed his eyes and slowly turned his head up, his hands on his hips while he desperately tried to hold control over the situation and his volatile emotions running around and changing his mood quicker than the sinking of the titanic all the while the ticking of the clock got louder and more annoying than ever before.
Feeling overwhelmed, Nathaniel rushed out of his room and into the kitchen, the first object that met his eyes was a full bottle of gin standing on the dining table. Oh, believe me I wish---but--I cannot allow some vague and continuous nightmare ruin my day, not after the promise I gave to my brother and myself. He put away the bottle deep into the fridge faraway from his sight.
Opening the window, he caught some fresh air straight into his lungs that were in desperate and in need for some and then carelessly opened the fridge again, rubbing his chin, coming up with creative ideas as to what he could make for breakfast. And so, what came next surprised even Nathaniel as he made one of the most colorful breakfasts he had ever eaten in ages.
Relieved, calm and feeling fully in control of his deranged emotions as well as his mood swing, he strolled back into the danger zone that was his bedroom, "Let's see if there is something mischievous, I can do to take my mind off from these dreams. Now where did I leave that damn phone of mine?"----He checked his social media----"Oh look, Peter and David are at the gym, posted 5 minutes ago …. What do you know, I guess I could join their training and ruin the mood. What a joyful way to start the day!"
He opened his closet, "No skeletons in here…. Not yet!" he smirked and checked his many black attires, wondering which one he should wear. Going through them as if he was the next upcoming male model going on a flight to a show in Paris. It took him quite a while, but he finally decided on something and took out a plain black t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans, "Boy it has been weeks, I hope I got some clean gym clothes laying around somewhere." He scratched the back of his head.
The receptionists at the gym were just casually talking, when Nathaniel enter the main entrance. The girls stopped, their faces brightened up as they nervously smiled at him and excitingly and almost simultaneously said hello.
"Hello there ladies, how is your day treating you so far?!" Nathaniel searched for his membership card inside his wallet.
"Fine and you?!" replied the red headed girl staring at his eyes and lips.
"Where you abducted by aliens? You have been missing for quite a while, Nathaniel!" said the second receptionist, a young, cute brunette in her very early 20s.
Nathaniel just casually stared back at the two with a seductive smile, having found his membership card and pressed it against the gym's access control, "Oh believe me I wish they did on one of my countless missions fighting space crime. Sadly, the bad guys always lose and good always prevails making life a little more mundane than wanted." he winked and casually strolled to the locker room, making the them blush a little.
"What in heaven's name is going on?! The Wild one here at the gym?!" shouted David, his eyes fully dilated.
"No shit is that really the Devil's son?! WHAT'S UP MY BROTHER!" shouted Peter, giving Nathaniel a tight hug.
"I cannot believe my eyes, is that really you or is that an imposter you have hired to fill up for you?!" talked David, waiting for the two buddies to finish their embrace and give a bro handshake to Nathaniel.
"It is good to have you among us buddy, we missed you!"
"Yeah, yeah I had to join you two idiots else you would have continued to call my big-headed brother leading him to give me more of his stupendous fatherly lectures …. I only thought about shooting myself in the legs twice during my last conversation with him." He rolled his eyes and checked out a girl passing by.
David and Peter looked at each other noticing Nathaniel's paleness; he was weaker than usual but knowing him for years now, it was nothing he couldn't recover from. The trio began training, casually throwing in inside jokes to fill in the awkwardness of Nathaniel's obvious weakness.
Back home from a successful day from work, Daniel sat on a comfortable sofa, watching TV but not really watching, his eyes were fixated upon Cthulhu's painting. The sound of burbling water against a ship echoing in his head like captain Ahab on his hunt for Moby-Dick.
Lea, who's eyes were glued to the TV screen, put her hand on his shoulders in disbelief of what just happened on the show. Seeing no reaction from Danie, however, she noticed his distraction, "Have you had vivid dreams again, my love?" he gave her a quick side-glance and turned his attention back at the TV screen, "Something among those lines." He said evasively, his voice low.
She moved closer, putting her hands on his shoulder stroking his hair, "What was it about this time?"
"Nothing important, just some meaningless dream with a bitter ending, nothing I care about too much." Replied Daniel evasively again, avoiding all eye contact.
"Honey, you can talk to me! You have been overthinking more than usual as of late!" she insisted.
"Like I said before, it is not that important …. Just some reoccurring, weird dream including my deranged older brother. it's not that dreams have meaning or anything… this too shall pass." Lea kept looking at his face like a mother trying to comfort her child.
She slowly put the palm of her hands on his face and turned Daniel towards herself, "What was it all about? You seem so troubled by it."
He looked at Lea who was not about to give up and reluctantly opened his mouth, "Very well, you win this time. Where do I begin….."-----he glanced upon the painting and tried to remember his dream---"It is just this weird dream where I am watching Nathaniel follow this woman--with raven black hair and oddly enough …. Her eyes are ruby red…. they walk together into a thicket forest. He keeps laughing joyfully, holding her hand, blindly following her into the darkness. I keep screaming, begging him to stop but he ignores me and so like the idiot, protective brother that I am, I follow them. Eventually I catch up to him being all alone by himself ….. the wicked lady gone from my sight…. All alone in the dark woods I suddenly hear the howl of a lone hungry wolf not far away----it terrified both of us…. Owls and ravens flew randomly from one beech tree to another distracting and frightening us even further…. Even I began to feel helpless. As I look upon Nathaniel, however, he is not fully himself but a little boy version of him, crying for help and a black fog around him thickens, I rush towards him…. And that's when the nightmare stops."
She comforted her, caressing his hair, "Do not worry so much baby. It is just a stupid dream; just like you said, it doesn't have any meaning. You probably dreamed about Nathaniel because you met him yesterday. You are really concerned about his well-being because you are such a good brother." Daniel felt a little discomfort, feeling of guilt rising from the corners of his conscious. She put her index finger on her chin and thought for a short while, "Come to think of it, we haven't talked about your meeting with Nathaniel! You came home so late last night that we didn't get the time to talk. How was the wild one?"
"Oh, I haven't heard anyone call him the wild one since Highschool ….."---he shook his head---"Pale and weak…. nothing that mischievous bastard won't recover from soon enough though." He said carelessly kissing Lea's hand and removing it from his face, turning his attention back to the TV screen. Lea trusted his words and rested her head on his shoulders, watching the TV show.
Daniel's mind drifted back into memories. Voices and laughter, the sound of leaves rustling, "Come on Daniel, don't be a wuss. We won't go too far!" screamed Nathaniel in excitement and laughter, holding gin and tonic bottles in his hands.
"Do we have to go all this way back and right next to the freaking lake?! It is really dark out here, and all this walk seems redundant to me." protested Daniel following him, pushing away the bushes and branches from his path.
"Yes! What kind of a stupid ass question is that? This bottle cost me a fortune and I am not sharing it with anyone but my brother!" He replied looking back at him with a smile. Nathaniel strolled with ease across the pathway in the dark woods as if he had done that for the 100th time, dodging and treading around the bushes and tree branches like a ninja.
"For crying out loud COME ON Daniel. You are so freaking slow!"
"Alright, alright I am coming. Can't get any more scratches on my arms, I'm not Indiana Jones you know."
They came out of the woods. Nathaniel jumped on top of a flat rock right next to the lake. The full moon shined so ever bright on the clear water. Its reflection flawless thought Daniel as he slowly walked right next to Nathaniel.
There was no sound but the calming chirps of crickets. He looked at his brother but got no reaction, Nathaniel was just enjoying the view and ignoring everything else. "Don't you get girls to sleep with you faster when you get them drunk or something? Why did you bring us so far away from our camp?!"
Nathaniel slowly turned his head to him feeling insulted, "Ohm gross, you really need to get to know me better. Better yet, how about I teach you the way into a woman's heart before you resort to such terrible, heinous ways to get them to sleep with you. I mean aren't you tired of always being with the one?! Don't you ever want to cheat or be with multiple women!? You know I have noticed how Valeria keeps staring at you even though the most handsome Devil known in town is present!" Nathaniel pointed to himself.
Daniel simply rolled his eyes, "If that's the reason why you brought me so far away from my lovely girlfriend and our friends then it's not going to work. Watching you run through all kind of women has taught me not only to be a better person but a better man, too. I am not falling off the path of righteousness any time soon nah-ah no how."
"Ohm, are you trying to insult me further and challenge my wicked ways, Lord King?! Because it is working!" Nathaniel talked looking at Daniel with his typical smirk. Suddenly a splash in the waters interrupted their conversation.
"What the hell was that?"
"Oh, probably some dumb fish swimming too close to the lake shores or some….other weird….water creature. What!? Are you scared Daniel?!"
"No!" Daniel said curiously looking upon the waters, but even with the moon light, it was still very dark for them to figure out what was swimming in the near. As the waters slowly became calm again, they saw their own reflection, "Ahh look, the King brothers standing tall and stronger than ever!!" proclaimed Nathaniel.
They stared at the waters but suddenly a black fog began to take over Nathaniel's reflection, his eyes turned red, he began to look like a monster. Daniel could not believe his eyes, he kept staring at his brother's reflection and Nathaniel's actual face clearing his eyes, but his face was still one of a human, however the waters kept changing his features.
"How is thi---s thi-s-s- is not happening?!?!" stuttered a confused Daniel. He could not possibly believe his eyes. Fear took over him and to make matters worse he wasn't even remotely drunk, to blame the illusions to the one beer he had.
He took a few steps back and fell on the floor and began crawling back in horror, continuously looking at his brother and the transforming waters. Nathaniel was unmoved. "It is just as the book described it…. It is so---beautiful!" He did not fear what he saw but staired at it in awe and amazement, "Is the Temhos finally here?! Is it going to claim me and make me the next harbinger?!" he said obsessively staring back at his reflection, ignoring Daniel's pleas to flee to go back to the camp to their friends. "Nathaniel!! Nathaniel! LET'S GO IT IS NOT SAFE!!! Nathaniel!? Nathaniel?!"
"Daniel, Daniel?! Honey are you alright?!" Lea caressed his face. Daniel came back from that wicked memory and shook his head. He was obviously irritated but too tired to explain his thoughts to her.
That memory was one of the few things he never wanted to share with Lea. It was too dark and too bizarre to share with anyone who would ever believe him without accusing him of being a crazy person.
And thus, without saying a word, Daniel grabbed his lover into his embrace got up and walked to the bedroom. There he laid her on the sheet. It smelled so ever fresh, still holding eye contact with her, he walked to the other side, laid on his side of the bed and began kissing and teasing her for what was to come next.
Laughter, joy and sexual tension filled the air in their humble bedroom as the two lovers cuddled and kissed each other passionately regardless of how late it was or how tired there were, there was no tomorrow, they were living in the moment!
Hours earlier, Nathaniel and his buddies trudged out of the gym, "Whoa, where you idiots going now? I am finished with annoying the crap out of you and just really want to go home and have some me time, this much socializing is just a wee bit too much for me these days, one cannot have too much of solitude."
"What's the point of training if you are not going to eat something to help your body build muscles, Nathaniel?" "Come on buddy, we are going to the city center. The Asian food there is one to die for!" Proclaimed Peter.
"Ohm, I don't know about that….truth be told my bank account is really trying hard to push me back home and stop me from wasting money on some raw fish."
"Come on man! Since when you became such a downer, Peter and I can invite our buddy, whom we haven't seen in like an eternity I may add, for lunch, now can't we, Peter?!" David looked at Peter and they both push Nathaniel into the subway directed to the city center.
During lunch, Peter and David kept nervously staring at each other, hoping that one of them would initiate the conversation and see exactly what was Nathaniel's problem? "We really need to have the talk with Nate. He keeps going completely stealth at times and it has worsened for the past few months to a degree that he will avoid all of us! Something's got to give."
"Beats me! I don't know maybe he is going through a deep depression and needs people to pull him out of the endless void of his sheer existence or maybe he is going through a phase in which he is finally preparing himself to forsake his old, wicked ways with women and commit to only one." Whispered David in a chill, relaxed tone.
"Believe me I wish the latter was remotely true, the cosmos know that it has been my dying wish since senior year of Highschool." Replied Peter.
"There is no one I would rather see more happy than Nathaniel, not even my girlfriend Anja who is the love of my life but can be a pain in the ass sometimes." The two kept looking, arguing, whispering and anticipating as to which one should initiate this so ever crucial conversation and Nathaniel, who was checking his phone caught wind of what was exactly going on.
"Gush not this again, I know I am a moody, grumpy ass hole but you guys can talk to me. Come on! Ask your puny little questions about what has precisely befallen me that I have collapsed to such high lows this time. And no, I am not suicidal, thank you very much. We are pass that for like----10 years now!"
Peter looked at David one last time before nervously opening his mouth, "Well then. Would you like to talk about your problems, you know the stuff you have been going through as of late?!" Peter talked, looking back and forth at Nathaniel and David expecting some support but David stayed silent, preferring to not fully partake in their conversation and stay a witness instead.
Noticing his cowardice, Peter kicked David on his legs really hard. His face turned red, "Yeah---ouchhhhh---that freaking hurt like balls---I mean yeah, yeah Peter is right. You can totally talk to us about your problems if you feel like it, man! I mean you always get the girls and have a dream job which allows you to work when you want, how you want and how long you want. You got an awesome style and looks an----"
"Ok I think we have had enough bromance going on here." Peter interrupted David's useless little speech and began whispering into his ear some stuff in German.
"Jesus H. Christ, it's like we are in Highschool all over again." Nathaniel looked at them in annoyance, they were like two useless chickens fighting over a grain of rice. "Ladies!! Ladies! I think we have already put on a long enough show for everyone to enjoy at this wonderful restaurant. Now quit it!" his angry voice slowly raising while his eyes were cold heartedly dead.
"Fine, big guy! I know it scars your manliness but even the most alpha male influencers on social media think that talking to your buddies about your problems from time to time is healthy and even necessary. All we want to do is help!" Peter said, a look of concern in his eyes worried about Nathaniel's well-being.
"We haven't seen you this bad since the last couple of weeks of high school and we just don't want to see you go through the same cycle again that's all!" said David.
"Am I wearing I secretly need a ton of help T-shirt?! Why does everyone around me keep asking these dumb questions?! I am fine, I just need to take care of myself, go out more often and exercise and I'll recover soon enough. I have been through worse!" Nathaniel leaned back on his chair confidently looking back at his friends. Oh, things are definitely going to be different this time! I will find the Temhos no matter what and nothing shall stop me! The reoccurring dreams----definitely means that I am getting closer! I am sure of it! Else why would I keep seeing the same ruby eyed girl from the visions of the past not long gone?!
"Alright your body your choice?!" replied David who got an elbow in his belly from Nathaniel and a huge laughter from Peter. They finished their lunch and began walking on the beautiful streets of Vienna's city center where the air was so ever fresh, the carriages kept the stinking smell of horses so ever raw and the annoying, 1700s century dressed, Opera ticket vendors were standing there with a brochure in hand, twisting their words into whomever tourist who was foolish enough to stop and listen to their wicked words and buy a ticket to the local opera show.
For once after a long time, everything seemed so peaceful, thought Nathaniel walking side by side his two buddies with a genuine smile on his face. They walked around the city for a while, joyfully reminiscing old, drunk memories and laughing so hard that Nathaniel felt like is lungs were going to collapse at any given moment.
The three buddies eventually reached Schwedenplatz, Vienna's heart of the party life, bars and all types of wrong choices. Peter and David were about to enter a local bar when all of a sudden they realized Nathaniel is no longer walking among them. "What?! Come on now, you are not going to say no to a beer, are you?" said David looking back at Nathaniel who stood still in the middle of the street.
"Oh believe me I wish I could but as of now"---he quickly checked his watch---"I have been sober for a bit longer than 26 hours. Sadly, I have to stay clean for at least another week before I start drinking again, even if it is a beer with friends." Nathaniel responded with a firm tone of voice, his resolve seemed unshakable.
"Oh come on, it is just a beer. What are you going to shake and fall off the wa—" David was interrupted yet again by Peter who gave him an angry look and approached Nathaniel, giving him a tight hug, "I wish you the best my brother. We will catch up with our little party life next week then!" "Now that's something I can definitely promise!" Nathaniel hugged back, giving a bro handshake to David and leaving them to their evening.
He hated the feeling of not being able to join in for a little fun but then again that would lead him to the destructive path he had been on for the past few months, and he could not fall off the wagon so quickly.
The remaining buddies went inside the bar and quickly found a table and ordered two Austrian beer from the tab. The bartender, who knew them very well, delivered their beers and left them to their conversation, "I cannot believe that you are still afraid of Nathaniel and his reactions to what we have to talk to him about or our opinion of him in general. I mean for crying out loud, we are his friends since high school, why are you so concerned about his feelings, pulling back whenever he gets remotely angry?!" Protested David, grabbing his beer mug and taking a lung sip from it, "Damn I needed that!"
Peter didn't say anything but looked out the blurry window before taking a sip from his beer, "I guess old habits die hard but it is not mainly about the wild one becoming pissed that frightens me, what is he going to do? Beat me? Go for it, big guy! No that's not the reason but the little mischievous boy in him is not fully gone or lost. Oh, he is still in there alright. Don't you remember what he did to Kyle back in the days?! That kid missed 130 days of school. Nathaniel?! He felt no remorse or regret but kept his head high for what he had done to him for Kyle's puny little comments about him on that unfortunate morning!" Peter responded while raising his mug for a toast, "I love him to death but let us move to a more…. stable subject!"
That evening Nathaniel returned home empty handed with nothing, but his backpack filled with his dirty gym clothes inside. "Hi there empty home! I am back and if you're wondering? I carry no beer cans, no gin bottle….. not even a tiny Schnaps bottle with me, no Sir! I am going to stay clean…. And stupidly boring. Gush how do people tolerate life like this?! I feel like I want to hit people in the face every time I pass by someone smiling…" he said wondering around his little flat as if he was giving a speech to an audience.
He headed to his bedroom, turned on the light switch and looked at his empty bed which in turn made him feel empty inside and so with his head held low, while looking to the dark parquet of his room, he walked and sat on his study desk and checked his online business profile for new orders, ferociously putting in energy on the videos he had received. Regardless of how much effort and positive energy he put on, hours passed so pointlessly as he edited one video and picture after another, making quite a bit of money in the process but it did not satisfy him, not one bit.
"The damn money I am making is simply helping me to exist. I need a purpose, a huge change, something or someone to fight for….a cause maybe! I no longer want to exist but to live and make history!" he said staring into the laptop screen.
After his last edit, he closed the tab on his online business and opened the folder containing the journals from the past couple of years.
Opening a new word file and staring at its blank page for several minutes with no idea what he was going to write next. His mind kept drifting, jumping and turning from different memories and emotions which seemed hard to control. Frustrated, he simply turned off the laptop and laid on his bed with only his bed side lamp on.
Nathaniel gazed upon the tiny, red Persian rug that was lying beside his bed "Where the hell did I get that little rug from again?! Every time I think of the store, my mind keeps blocking this information as if it hits a huge concrete white wall…"----He tried really hard to think about the place or person who had purchased the tiny rug for him but he was hit with a blank wall in his head over and over again---"Ah, whatever I got enough pointless thoughts in my mind. I need to get some sleep." He looked at the bedside lamp and turned it off too.
He was going to embrace the darkness of his room regardless of the hardship of falling asleep. Somehow, he wished he could see the girl with ruby eyes in his dreams again, hopefully it would finally guide him to the Temhos, he thought like a young boy wishing for the impossible and so he turned around his bed and tried to sleep.