A/N: Hey, y'all! An update finally! FINALLY!
Recap: Lyla and Cole have begun their training. They met Delilah and her team and the conversation started off on a "Are you two a couple?"
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Chapter 22: Dream (Part 1)
The clatter of white porcelain resounded through the place as both the dirty and clean plates were stacked separately. Each person had a stack of dirty plates to clean by their own respective sinks, which were aligned a lot like laboratory benches - each row had four sinks with a gap between every two sinks for a person to walk down. The rest of the surroundings were black and light shone down from an invisible source.
I don't spend time looking around though as I focus on cleaning the plates with a soap soaked sponge, returning them to their original condition, and I don't question why nobody has a face. Some plates had stains which are harder to remove. Obviously, some of the stains had been there longer, almost as if they were part of the plate itself.
Somehow, the large stack to my right had also miraculously shrunk to nothing with the last plate lying in my hands within a few moments. Once I was done, I looked up to find that everyone had finished too.
When I paid more attention to the front rows, however, there was one person still busily scrubbing at her last plate but no matter how she scrubbed at the stains, they never left. I soon realised that person is Pam. She frantically scrubbed but to no avail. She handed the plate to the person, Leo, beside her but he, too, cannot remove the stain.
It doesn't take long for the plate to be passed down, each attempt by every person, some faceless and some identifiable like Delilah and her team, had no effect on the plate at all. Eventually, we all realised that the plate cannot be washed and Dee Dee appears. The plate is clasped between her small hands.
All eyes are on her as to what she would do as she walks down the gap between the sinks. She passes by Cole as well and I don't question if it's Cole or Daemon; I just knew. When she halts, I realised that she was asking me to give it a shot. I took the plate and began scrubbing. The stains disappeared quickly and the plate began to morph into a cylinder with ridges and dents slowly appearing.
The pristine white shape looked familiar but I still couldn't place what the object was as it morphed.
A flat base forms and the sides steepen inwards-
"Lyla, wake up!" and I was violently shook by the shoulders. "Wake up!"
"What?" I asked angrily. For some reason, I felt the last part of the dream was very important. I had been pondering about why I was here the night before so what if my dream was the answer? I had to go back to the dream, let it continue. Fear gripped my growing conscious. Each second I became more aware of the room I was in and Cole/Daemon's presence was each second the chance to return to the dream was lost to me. "Let me go back to sleep," I mumbled, shutting my eyes.
"Not happening," Cole/Daemon said before I felt the warmth from the blankets stripped from me and I folded myself into a fetal position. I winced from moving my legs so suddenly. I had a feeling that the dream was lost to me now but my leg muscles were still sore from yesterday so any additional amount of shut eye would be great. "Jogging again helps to get rid of the muscle ache."
"Sleeping helps too..." I said sleepily.
"Get up in ten seconds and then brush your teeth or I'll do it for you." In normal circumstances, I would have heard the threat clearly and gotten up but dreamland just seemed far too welcoming than putting my sore muscles through the very same torture as yesterday so soon. My conscious slipped into la la land without even bothering to register his countdown.
"Zero." I think I screamed when I was slung over his shoulder; the world spun for a moment in the most nauseating way till the point I wasn't sure where we were even headed. The ground was just moving along while my head tried to recover but just as abruptly as I had lost contact with the ground, I regained it. The cool marble-like flooring and harsh glare from the ceiling lights startled me and whatever sleepy haze was hanging around me dissipated.
"I can brush my own teeth!" I said and pushed the intruder out of the bathroom before slamming the laquered wooden door shut. Laughter chorused outside and I was pretty sure I heard a "Baa." Fuming from the morning irritation and horrible wake-up, brushing my teeth was no longer a peaceful act, it was an anger filled one. Quite a number of bristles fell out from the toothbrush, all victims of my anger but thankfully, I had simmered down a little when I had no choice but to pull on my black sport shoes patiently.
But reading off the pixelated numbers on my wristwatch hadn't helped. "It's bloody 4 a.m.!" I exclaimed once I was done.
"4 a.m., yes. Bloody, not quite," Daemon responded from the doorway sarcastically, the yellow light from the hallway pooling in through the gap. Okay, 'bloody' was an inappropriate term to use when there was someone willing to do just that. "It's the best time for morning exercise."
"How did you even get into my room?" I asked as I mentally checked if I had forgotten to close my door yesterday. 'Yes, I closed it properly.'
"I asked Dee Dee for an access card yesterday since I had a feeling you wouldn't open your room's door at 4 a.m.," he replied calmly, completely unfazed by the frustration I didn't bother to mask.
"She just gave you the card?" I questioned incredulously. Considering the amout of security in this place, entrusting an access card that easily was anything but secure.
"No, I teleported in," he answered with much sarcasm again before gesturing to the sheep waiting patiently outside. 'Oh. That explained that explained the "Baa."' "Let's get going unless you need me to carry you again."
"No, no," I responded and frantically wave my hands, walking passed him and into the familiar red hallway immediately. "Besides, I'm pretty sure the fireman lift was for unconscious people only."
"Then, bridal style would've been fine, right?" he asked. It was obviously a joke but I couldn’t help but refuse it quickly. Yesterday's conversation with Delilah rang around in my head, making this conversation far more awkward than it should. "What? Cat got your tongue?"
The red hallway was not helping at all with the situation. Any form of 'No' seem to escape my mind temporarily.
The amused expression on his face turned into a slight frown. "What happened? Someone said something, didn't... she?" A few months of facing this should have made me partially immune to being surprised by his habit of deducing but the keyword is 'should'.
"Yeah..." I admitted and I couls fell my face starting to heat up. It was either he deduced the answer or the latter - I explained it. "Yesterday, a girl, Delilah," I paused when his face contorted in an expression that questioned 'Delilah? "Yeah... Erm... She sort of well..." How did one phrase this?
"Asked if we were a couple," he finished and I simply gave a nod. "And you would think that both of you had more in common considering your names," he joked. "Well, she isn't so far from the truth because Cole has a crush on you for quite some time now. But she's only met Cole. She wouldn't say the same thing if she met me," he said and began moving towards the entrance to the multipurpose dome.
"Are you sure you should be telling me about Cole?" I blurted out the outstanding question and started walking as well.
"Just don't tell him about it. I'll never hear the end of it if he finds out," he said with an exagerated dire look on his face. "It was why he suggested you as perhaps an actual friend. He was coincidentally right about it."
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A/N: Finally, an update! :D I'm really sorry for not having updated in about 3 weeks now. T.T This is what school complicates. (Yeah, some of you are lucky to be enjoying your holidays now. I'm so jealous. :<)
Anyway, I'll try to do the update weekly thing now since I no longer have as much 'other' work.
And surprise! How many of you actually guessed that Cole might have/has a crush on Lyla? ;)
What was it that Lyla was about to see in her dream and what does it mean? *MAJOR hint* :O
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