P.R.I.S.M of Memories -on Hold

Chapter Four

~Conrad~

The darkness presses me from all sides. Suffocating me. The air heavy in a floating world of oblivion. Light floods all around me, lighting my world and pushing back the shadows that threatened to drag me down. Eyes wide, I turn my gaze upwards towards the sky of light. I see Laura's serene face.

Laura! I'm going to Heaven. To be with Laura! I reach out for her and get smacked in the face.

I can hear Laura's distorted voice ask, "Are you awake yet?"

Groggingly, I sat up. My eyes adjusting to the sunlight pouring in the room from the windows. A small mountain of pillows are covering me. How annoying. I pick up one of the pillows.

"Did you just throw these at me?"

I didn't bother to hide my irritation. I despise being woken up early on a Sunday. The only day I could sleep in.

"What are you even doing here, Laura?"

My eyes focus on my room. There is a pearl white vanity with a small blue cushioned chair. When did that get in here?

"Don't you remember what happened last night? How out of it were you?"

Memories flood my mind. That's right...I was too tired to drive home. So she let me crash at her house in the guest bedroom.

She playfully swats my arm. "I've been tossing pillows at you for a while now."

She crawls on to the queen sized bed and settles down beside me.

"You didn't seem like you were having a good dream. Everything ok?"

I rub my eyes with the palms of my hands. Unsure if I should answer truthfully.

"...I had a nightmare."

She tenses up slightly but her response seems cheery. Like she was asking about something unimportant , like the weather.

"Was it a repeat?"

"No. It was a new one."

She sighs and climbs over me to get off the bed.

"My parents invited you to brunch. We're going to the Biltmore. I left a couple of polos that might fit you. In case you don't remember, bathroom is through the door on your left. There should be some fresh towels on the racks. I need to go get dressed myself. Meet you downstairs in about an hour?"

I opened my mouth to speak but she cuts me off.

"Just leave your clothes in the basket by your bed and Olivia will be by soon to get them. Your clothes should be washed and dried by the time you get out."

"Don't you want to kno-"

She interrupts me. "Of course, Con. But not right now. After brunch. Ok?"

I shrug my shoulders. "Alright."

And with that, she quietly walks out. I listen until I could only faintly hear her footsteps. Trying not to dwell on her less than stellar reaction, I rise from the bed and walk to the vanity. My phone lies there plugged into a charger. I look quickly through the app store for a diary app with a lock and download it.

This will be my new dream journal.  I didn't care much for Dr. Cervera, considering what a huge pain in my ass she had been, but I will take her advice. Continuing the dream entries might prove to have some validity. Maybe my mind was starting to remember what I had forgotten.  This dream is a breakthrough. Or at least that's what Dr. Cervera would've called it. It marks the first time that I'd dreamnt of Astra. I had seen... her pictures hundreds of times when I was in that tiny room.

I shudder slightly recalling the darkness and solidarity of my time in that place but I push it aside.   Something about the way Astra was dressed seems oddly familiar to me.

The hoody...the blonde, almost silver-like, strands of hair...THE GIRL FROM THE MOVIES!

My mind races with the feasibility of it.

Had that girl been Astra?! What would a terrorist be doing in a movie theater? What were the chances that it was even really her?

I shake my head. The most logical conclusion would be  that it wasn't Astra. Plenty of girls have that hair color and her wearing a hoody doesn't automatically make her suspicious. I'm still a bit disturbed by my dream and I'm just fixating on hoody chick because she was wearing a hoody. I glance at my first entry and hit the save button.                                                            

I strip my clothes off and leave it in the wicker basket by the bathroom door. I always forget how nice Laura's house is until I sleep over. Even the bathroom reflected the extravagance of her family's wealth. I ignore the jacuzzi bathtub and head for the shower. I switch on the music player built into the wall. Sliding the glass door open, I check to make sure there are towels. Then descend down the steps to the circular tub to Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.

Using the digital thermometer, I choose to have the water a bit warmer than usual. I wait for a moment and the water cascades from above. My own personal waterfall. I use the border line steaming water and the soft piano to push my troublesome nightmare deep into my sub-consious. Further and further down...until it became a meager, watered-down memory. Until I can't recall Astra's face with such livid clarity. Until all that consume my thoughts is Laura and the excitement I felt of being able to spend more time with her. I've never been to the Biltmore before.

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Sorry that it took so long. I'll be uploading Chapter Five momentarily. I hope that you're all happy that Conrad isn't dead. Lol Please look forward tot he next chapter.