Within The Bonds

61: Dream Or Reality?

The comfort of my bed is all I asked for as the sun hides under the edge of the horizon and its golden rays tinted the sky for the last time today.

I hope that after the little progress I made today, sleep would be a bit more welcoming to me than the days that passed.

Hope Well that's the operative word. We hope for a lot of things in life, but not all of those do we accomplish.

Sinking into the warmth of my silk clad sheets I inhale the vanilla scent permeating the air of my room as I relax further in awaited anticipation of peaceful slumber.

But how I wish I did. How I wish, I would've stayed up drawing in deep thoughts just like I had for the past couple of days. How I wish...

My damp hair felt cool against my skin sprawled across my pillow as I snuggled deeper into my comforter. In ticking moments my eyes slowly get heavier as they pass and soon enough, I thrust into the world of my subconscious.

At first, it felt like falling for a great height with no estimation of its length. No longer than a couple of seconds later a whirlwind of images and flashes surround me causing my head to spin along with the rest of my body.

Gripping a fist full of my sheets into my hand my eyes snap open pulling me out of whatever hex I was caught in. Panting I prop myself on my elbows scanning my room in alarm.

Pushing aside my comforter, I wipe my sweat-drenched forehead with the back of my sleeve yet it does little to spot new pearls of sweat to glisten against my skin momentarily.

"It was just a dream. Just a stupid, meaningless dream. I've seen worse, right?" I rumble to myself in an attempt to calm myself enough to breathe properly...It doesn't work.

My throat parched and the glass on my nightstand non-existent, I make my way downstairs towards the kitchen. But as soon as I open my room door and set out of it a whole different world greets me.

Frowning I turn to return back to my room ignoring the photo frames hanging across the walls of the hallway that I distinctively remember was never there before!

The knob to my room refusing to dislodge giving me the perfect reason to feed my curiosity and explore this abnormality. Approaching the wall, I study the frame and the picture it holds with great intrigue.

But what I didn't expect is to be left dumbfounded by what my eyes lead me to believe. The picture in the frame was of mum and me when I was around seven...or maybe less.

"She looks so different," I notice running my hand down the cold frame when my eye catches the small detail in it.

"That looks so...familiar," I mumble to myself yet again as I try to decipher the pixilated detail in the photo.

"It should," I voice calls out from the encompassing darkness earning a frightful scream from me.

"Whose there?" I call out yet receive no response from the darkness.

"What the hell is going on!" I grumble under my breath wrapping my hands around myself.

Still facing the wall, I look at the next picture hanging on display, and my eyes widen in terror. Yet another snip of my memories only difference, I don't remember this picture ever being taken...yet I remember that day perfectly.

'The day mum gave me the jewelry box'

And that's when I catch sight of the neckless adorning her neck flashing the intricate design that made up the family crest. A shiver runs down my spine as I feel a presence beside me.