• Chapter TWO: Dreams


    Raul watched her walk away and felt guilty. She wouldn’t see him again, or at least not like this.
    He gave another sigh. He hadn’t planned on falling in love with her. Everything had become one big mess and now he had to pull the strings apart rather then untangling them. There wasn’t much time left, he had already wasted too much time as it was. Now it was going to be even harder taking something from her. He couldn’t help but feel as if he was betraying Bendore all over again.
    Raul frowned. He had a job to do and he couldn’t let her get in the way; there was work to be done.

    He waited until he was sure that Rayne was asleep the next morning.
    As he crept into the room he checked to see that Nydia wasn’t there, as far as he knew she was sleeping in Monique’s room so she wouldn’t wake Rayne up. Unfortunately, he saw Rayne as he was checking for Nydia. She was so beautiful, perfect. He hated taking something from her, even if she didn’t know she had the page. But he had to find it. There was a good reason for it too, even if it was still wrong.
    He also hated having to leave her. He knew that things would fall apart if he stayed. Even now Theodore was watching him as closely as he could. Raul was being forced to leave tonight.
    Finally, after a few wasted minutes, he managed to pull his eyes away from her.
    Quickly, he began to shuffle around the room looking for the page. It was dawn before he gave up. He had been certain that she had a page.
    Raul turned from the dresser and looked at her. Dawn was just hitting her face. The sun’s rays danced in her hair, glinting off her locket, making it look as if autumn’s mornings were there just to please her. Her face glowed in the new morning’s light. Raul couldn’t help himself, he bent down and kissed her on the forehead, and then on the lips lightly. A last kiss. Because of him not finding the page he had to do something terrible to her, something that would hurt her, he had to tell her the truth. After today she’ll hate him, she’ll want to kill him. Maybe, in the end, he’ll let her. She would be happy then.
    He spoke barely in a whisper,” I will always love you.”

    ***

    Rayne woke with a start. She put her fingers on her lips in wonder. She wondered if her dream was real in some way.

    She was in a white room, or at least she thought it was a room. There was no door or windows, even the wall seemed to fade into themselves.
    There was a rustling to the right of her and she jumped to see Leon frantically digging through pages muttering under his breath. Rayne could have sworn that there had been nothing there just a moment before, but none of that mattered. Leon was here with her and he needed her help.
    “Leon?” He didn’t hear her, and continued to look through the pages with even more vigor. He seemed desperate now to find what ever he was looking for; fear seemed to push him on.
    She said his name again and this time he turned to face her and she screamed. In his hand he held a knife red with fresh blood. Hatred like nothing she’s ever felt before seemed to grow inside her and tears began to well up in her eyes.
    She blinked back tears then jumped. He was close to her. It all felt too natural, too normal, like how most dreams feel. Rayne couldn’t help but wonder at the odd sensation as she looked at the ring he was holding up to her. The ring had a diamond on it, encircled by tiny emeralds. Her wonder vanished as she realized what the ring was and felt complete joy and over whelming love towards Leon.
    She blinked again, and again he was closer, almost arm’s length away. This time he held a book. It was oddly familiar and the title almost struck a memory, Halmaj. A closer memory told her that the title meant time.
    Again she blinked. He was now directly in front of her. Hopelessness, sadness, exhaustion, and love showed all over his face. A single tear fell from his eye, and Rayne mirrored it. Then he kissed her.

    Rayne wiped a tear from her eye and looked at it and wondered about her dream. She knew there was something significant about all of it, but she couldn’t puzzle it out.
    Nydia walked in, her cheeks red from laughing and being out in the sun. “Hey, there. Have you finally decided to join us? I thought I was the one who went out last night.”
    Rayne smiled; maybe Nydia would be able to help her figure out what her dream meant.” I had a dream last night. It was about Leon.” Her smiled faltered. What did her dream mean?
    Nydia’s face fell. “Rayne, I have something to tell you.” She paused as if thinking on how to say something, and Rayne had an idea of what she was going to say.” Leon is gone. Somebody saw him talking to the Head Mistress, and then leaving. He had his bag with him.”
    Inside Rayne felt as if bugs had begun to eat her inside out, but on the outside she was calm. Her voice hardly sounded as if she was pleading. “Maybe he’s gone on vacation early? Or went to see his mother? Or…or…or…” Rayne was beginning to loose control and started to beg Nydia. She wanted her to say that it was all a joke, some cruel joke, but she knew it wasn’t. Rayne knew that this was the hideous truth that she had known Nydia was going to say. But she wasn’t about to let go that easily. She opened her mouth to say more, but Nydia jumped in before her.
    “He’s not coming back.”
    Determinedly, Rayne tried again, “But he just wouldn’t leave, not without saying good bye, maybe-“
    “Rayne you have to face the truth and it better be sooner than later. He is not coming back. Tamic says that his dorm room is completely empty.” She looked at Rayne sadly. “I’m sorry. He didn’t give any signs or tell anyone.”
    Rayne felt as if she was suffocating, those bugs had become ravenous dogs starving for her heart. She had known somewhere deep inside that he would leave, but she had no idea that she would miss him this much. No, this was worse than missing him; this was pain in all of its definition.
    Somewhere in the distance she heard Nydia’s voice. “Rayne, why don’t you come out into the sun? It always makes you feel better, and I think you really need it right now.”
    Rayne just nodded. She felt numb, but somewhere even deeper than her knowing that he would leave there was determination. The need to grow from the pain.

    Slowly, over time, she began to gain control on the pain of sadness on the outside, but was still crawling on the inside. She was careful to keep it hidden around Nydia and others, but when she was alone, she cried.

    ***

    Raul had a plan ready. If it worked Rayne wouldn’t know it was him, and then later he could have her again without her knowing the whole truth. She would hate Raul, not Leon.
    He had to act that night.