DeJa VU Diaries - Dream Drifter (BOOK 1)

Chapter 19. The Three Tasks

"YOU'VE CHANGED!" Bobby's voice echoed loudly.

"YOU'RE NOT THE SAME PERSON!" Charlotte's voice echoed soon after.

Where were my friends?

All that I survey before me was a sea of blackness.

"YOU'LL ALWAYS BE A FAILURE!" My step-dad Ralph called amidst the echoes.

Faceless beings wearing hoods coming into view.

"What do you want?" I called out to these unknown creatures.

Not a voice was heard from the hoods but then one by one as though an invisible veil was removed from beneath the hooded cloaks, I could see their faces.

I was expecting to see faces that live in nightmares but it was my friends that stood before me.

Bobby, Charlotte and Alice wearing hoods of the Followers, all with marks on their foreheads.

"LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO US!" spoke Alice.

"No, I didn't want this. I wanted to be the one to join them, not you," I cried.

"JOIN THE FOLLOWERS? YOU ARE PATHETIC. THEY WOULD NEVER LET YOU JOIN!"

"But I can try," I pleaded.

Alice's words played on my mind.

What if they wouldn't make me a Follower?

"Please, I need to find my parents."

"YOUR PARENTS DON'T WANT YOU. I'VE ALWAYS BEEN THE FAVOURITE. THEY HATE YOU!" Bobby laughed maniacally.

I cried out.

"It's not true, I'll become a Follower, rescue my mum and dad and we'll be a happy family, you'll see."

"Don't give in to their taunts, Leon, you are stronger than this," a mystical radiant voice spoke out against the dullness.

"Who's there?" I said.

"I am your self conscience, only you can hear me. You are stronger than them and you need to prove your worth. NOW WAKE UP AND MAKE US PROUD!"

My face hurt like someone had slapped me with an invisible slap.

I jolted up, sweating.

Looking around, I was in the Knights quarters still at the guild.

"Just a nightmare," I sighed.

"Everything OK?" Bobby asked, sitting next to me.

He wasn't wearing a hood, and neither was Charlotte.

"Fine, just had a bad dream that's all. I'll be OK," I replied.

I knew it was a dream but perhaps it was my minds sick way of telling me that when I become a Follower, I need to be strong and not give in to pressure, no matter how hard it gets, I had to do this for my family.

"Come on, up and at it. Long day ahead of you lad," Baz called into the room.

The smell of eggs and bacon perfuming the air making me hungry.

Quick bite to eat I think then I'll say my goodbyes.

Saying this didn't make me sad to be leaving my friends because I knew we'd see each other again.

A deep bearing feeling from that nightmare kind of made me want to do this even more now.

"You definitely sure you want to do this?" Marie asked with egg yolk dripping down her chin, she quickly wiped it with her hand.