Part of the Family

Chapter 39: The News

There was only fire everywhere. Then, all of a sudden a blood-curdling scream broke through.

"ROMAN!!!" The familiar voice screamed. Roman was startled out of his sleep. He jolted up while heavy breathing. He looked next to his left and saw Catalina peacefully sleeping. He gently kissed her forehead. Catalina stirred up.

"Go back to sleep", he whispered.

"Hmmm." She hummed then went back to sleep again. He was awake earlier than he was supposed to. He got ready for work. He made himself a mug of coffee. While his coffee was being prepared in the machine he got dressed and brushed his teeth. While he waited for the sun to rise higher, he sipped his mug and scrolled through his phone. He checked the date.

"Crap I forgot it's almost her birthday", he mumbled.

"How dare you", she joked.

"Shit, you scared me."

"I heard you, Roman."

"I'm sorry". He smiled.

"Apologies not accepted", she grinned. Catalina jogged her way to Roman. She attacked him with kisses on his cheek.

"Alright, Cat that's enough", he smiled.

"No, this is punishment for not remembering my birthday", she giggled. Roman's phone rang. He looked to see who it was.

"It's the investigator." Catalina suddenly stopped kissing Roman's cheek. They both looked at each other then, at the phone. Roman answered, "Hello?"

"I found a woman in Romania related to Catalina's birth mom. It's Catalina's aunt."Catalina heard the faint voice of the man. She was feeling overwhelmed and a bit excited. She wanted to ask all these questions to her aunt about her parents.

"That's great!" Roman responded.

"Yeah, I was able to contact her. She wants to meet Catalina as soon as possible. I have Sylvia's location I'll send it to you." Not a second later the phone dinged.

"Alright thanks, Jim."

"No problem." Roman hung up the phone. Jim was in some sort of trance. He was standing at the edge of a tall bridge. Beneath him was a river. He jumped off, ending his life.

"Go get ready. You're gonna be late if you're just standing there looking sexy", he winked.

"I heard everything!"

"Shh, you're going to wake up Shelley."

"Oops, sorry." She covered her mouth with her hand.

"I'm gonna get tickets to Romania for tomorrow."Catalina jumped with joy. She couldn't believe she was soon to meet her aunt. "Catalina get ready", Roman repeated while smiling. He smacked her butt.

"Ok, jeez", she rubbed the bum that Roman smacked. As she went upstairs to get ready the doorbell rang.

"Who the hell could be ringing this early morning?" Roman mumbled. Roman headed to the front door. When Roman opened the door, he had a confused look on his face.

"Peter, what are you doing here?"

"I need to tell you something important."

"Can you just tell me after work?"

"No, Peter quickly replied." Roman sighed.

"Fine, make it quick though."

"Thanks", he entered his friend's home. The next words that came out of his mouth made Roman's heart drop.

"Don't go to Romania something bad is going to happen."

"H-how-"

"I had a dream." Peter proceeded to tell his friend about the horrific dream he had. Roman face went slightly pale. Memories of his dream came flooding in as Peter recounted his dream. "I did some research about that village. It was hard to find since it's not that well-known. Lynda also helped with locating that place." She said there's a story about that place. Something or someone is causing people to go missing and whoever enters that village is cursed and can never go back home."

"That's where Catalina's biological aunt lives. We have enough money to move her out to America. She'll be safe here. I don't want Catalina to lose another family member."

"Well, I'm coming with you."

"You don't have to."

"If something happens to you... to both of you, I'll blame myself for not doing enough to protect you." Roman almost teared up in front of him.

"Shut up. It's too early for that", he chuckled as he nudged his friend. "Alright, you're coming with us. We will be leaving tomorrow. You got a passport?"

"I haven't renewed it."

"Shit", he mumbled. "Just bring it, I'll deal with the people." And I'm going to let Catalina know you're joining us. And Peter..."

"Yeah?" Roman wanted to tell him he had nightmares similar to him but didn't know how to tell him. "Uh, you want coffee?"

"No, I'm fine man."

"Can your cousin stay here to keep Shelley company? I'll pay her 50 grand."

"Holy shit Roman. I think she'll take the offer."

"Alright, thanks. It'll be cash by the way."

"I don't think she minds", a smile formed on Peter's face.