Free Minds

Chapter 65.

   I didn't realise how exhausted the day had made me until I was ready to go to bed. Fortunately, Camila came knocking on Dorian's door after he texted her with my pyjamas, clothes and other essentials I would need the next day. All I had to worry about after her actions was taking a shower for the night and getting some sleep.

   After showering in Dorian's bathroom, it was a battle trying to keep my eyes open as I lay in his bed waiting for Dorian while he took his shower. A battle I lost.

   At some point though, in my semi conscious state, I could have sworn I felt the foam of the mattress beside me dip. Slumber took its final and victorious toll before I could react though.

   Not even exhaustion, however, could hinder the nightmares that struck.

   And even though they totaled to two, the nightmares both began the same way.

   I was in Mr. Walsh's Electronics class watching the woman on the projector screen go on and on about the virus and its significance to Liberation Week.

   Then an ear piercing scream erupted out of nowhere, sending me to my feet.

   In a split second, the scene around me changed, and I was no longer in the Electronics classroom, but another one. That classroom. The one where I witnessed the placement happen on the Zavolonian girl in real life, courtesy of Yunies creepy syringe-like gun.

   The only difference was that not the girl, but Talise was there, fighting with all the strength she could muster. Her efforts, however, were pointless. Right before my eyes, the two Yunitides present doubled, then tripled. Soon, Tali's struggling frame was swallowed by the ever multiplying number of aliens and the only thing that made me aware that she was still around was the familiar hair-raising click of the gun.

   Her dilated eyes were left to my imagination to figure out.

   And during all this, what did I do?

   Simply watch from behind the classroom door, peering through a crack, like a coward.

   And that was the position I was stuck in as well for the second nightmare which basically occurred the same way as the first.

   Except that it was Minji's screams I had to shield my ears from.

   I woke up with a start.

   The chilly air that suddenly overtook my body made me aware of the profuse cold sweat that had broken out on my forehead. But I was more concerned with trying to regulate my hysterical breathing patterns as I sat up to lean against the bed's headboard with my head on the wall. Since my mind was yet to come to terms with the environment I'd just woken up in, it took a lot more effort to calm my chest that I was currently convinced was on fire.

   But then a familiar scent hit me. The coconut lemon smell made all the memories rush back in almost immediately. As if on cue, my eyes moved the stare at the sleeping frame beside me.

   I was surprised, however, to find that Dorian, keeping a safe distance from his side of the bed, had already sat up too. His wide-eyed stare never left my face.

   Suddenly, a million thoughts and questions came crashing in. How long had he been awake? Was I the one who woke him? Had I been so noisy during my nightmare that he couldn't sleep? Did this mean that he didn't just wake up when I did and had seen while I was still asleep, stuck in my nightmares?

   On that note, I broke off the eye contact we'd established to get under the covers again. I could only hope he didn't notice my trembling body as I rested on my right side. That had nothing to do with my nightmares anymore by the way.