Dominique

Day 3

Two days went by slowly. Bracus left us updates and would often check to see how we were doing. Wistfully, he and his army didn't find anyone else. He said it in a sorrowful, yet optimistic tone. We were getting impatient by the day, but we hid it. We know that the others are in serious danger if they aren't found right away. I even had to tell Naomi and Blathnaid to shut up because they got a dreadful feeling about it. Blathnaid's feelings are accurate and I don't want to hear it.

I take deep breaths to calm myself down. This is another night where I can't fall asleep. A noiseless D.J blasts inside my head. I look at the window with the night sky filled with beautiful auroras. I may not have been to the north pole, but they are so uplifting. It doesn't uplift my insomnia though. A strong craving for meat emerged two days ago. I wasn't satisfied with the meals containing any meat. It's so bad that I am craving cannibalism. I have to keep myself from pouncing on my friends, especially Ivelisse. I don't want to eat anyone alive. It feels so wrong. It's not an animalistic drive that takes over me; it is an extreme hunger that is never pleased.

I toss and turn multiple times; no sleep position has worked for me yet. There are no sleeping pills to help. The odd part is that I am not tired from the long nights of unrest. I should've been disorientated by now. Sometimes the human body hides stress for a long time. That usually winds up with the person crashing dead. Sure there are things that everyone can deal with, but when it comes to major health issues, it's not the best to ignore.

That happened to my only son, Dave, while I was still living in Colombia. The third time's a charm, people usually say. Dave was my third attempt, which I didn't miscarry. I fell into the mistake of love at first sight. My esposo was not an abusive man, but he had more control of what runs in a typical household. We lived in the town of Ipiales. My mama and padre told me the survival rules in Ipiales: Hide electronics, hide vehicles, no flaunting money, don't travel alone, and don't go out at night. My family was never criminals, but a few were victims of crime. I still carry my pocket knife, but I didn't use it when I was in England. Padre taught me how to use my pocket knife in self-defense. I made sure that my son would be safe because he meant the world to me.

Sometimes life can be a real Qué Gonorrea. When Dave was six years old, he had fallen ill. Fever, no appetite, exhaustion, vomiting, coughing, and difficulty breathing. He had asthma, but I don't believe that is what killed him. I was getting concerned for him, yet my husband told me that it's just a bad flu and he would get over it. No, it got worse that we had to rush him to the hospital. There was fluid in his lungs and his respiratory system was failing. The doctor suggested it was pneumonia caused by secondary drowning. My esposo and I never heard about it before. We went swimming at a reclusive pond and he accidentally inhaled some water. He died less than twenty-four hours after admitting him. His respiration failed and an asthma attack also struck. He didn't recover.

This made me feel like a bad mother. If I ignored my husband and brought Dave to the doctor's, he could've been saved. He would still be alive. I kept the guilt within myself while my husband expressed it in anger, but he never directed the blame toward me. Our relationship was growing tense. We managed to have one more child, Clarisa. She was the light of my life; she was sweet, kind, bubbly, and energetic. At seven, Clarisa began to have multiple seizures. She had epilepsy. I was on her side in case she collapsed. I thought she could live a normal life with it. Three years later, she died of cardiac arrest from a seizure. My esposo started to become superstitious that I was bad luck. His family's bloodline was from an ancient indigenous religion within Colombia. They warned him that it was going to remain difficult if we stayed together. A year after Clarisa's death, we divorced.

I gave up on having more kids or finding love. It's really hard to stabilize after miscarriages and the death of my children. Therefore, I decided to put my job and distractions next. I attended a college in England to get away from it all. It felt weird in a new country with another language. I managed to learn English on time before classes started. I graduated and started my own online business, creating another blog and video platform for all ages. I placed parental restrictions to prevent their kids from stumbling on mature content.

Thinking about my kids' demise causes me to tear up a little. It's been years since their deaths and it's still hard. I am forty-one and their deaths feel like yesterday. Pain keeps coming back and there's no cure to grief. I will meet them again when I die if there is ever an afterlife for me.

Tap! Tap! Pebbles hitting the window startle the heck out of me. It wasn't finger tapping because I am on the second story in this house. Before whoever breaks the window, I open it and confront them. "Hey! What are you doing?" I ask threateningly, not in the mood for this crap.

The culprit, he looks around the same age as me. His skin is of a fair Spaniard with a forming mustache with a v-shape chin. He has an athletic build. His eyes are extra reflective like a dog. I swear, if every humanoid person in this world looks like a model, I am going to flip. I don't think I'm the ugliest woman, but it's starting to feel like it. I scowl with my tired sense of humor, "If you keep throwing rocks at another woman's window, hoping to score, you're not going to get it."

He doesn't say anything, only whispers to himself.

"Why did you throw rocks at my window, Caremonda?"

"You haven't been sleeping, have you?" He abruptly asks, shocking me. "It's happening," he mumbles. He sounds like he doesn't want me to hear, but wants to inform me at the same time. I stare at him in silence. He mumbles to himself again before running off into the forest. For the love of God, my friends will hear about this in the morning. It will add a dose of intrigue to our suspenseful lives. Don't we get enough?

I couldn't sleep for the remainder of the night. I waited for Blath, Ivel, and Naomi to have breakfast at the table before bringing about what happened. Their reactions are mixed, alarmed, confused, or trying to make humor of it.

"That sounds weird... Are you sure it isn't a dream or...?" Blathnaid asks.

"I was still awake when it was happening, Naid," I replied.

"I t'ought I 'eard tappin' in the early 'ours of the mornin'," Ivelisse mentions, "I just brus'ed it off as not'in' serious."

"What did you do, Dom?" Naomi asks while sipping juice from this realm.

"Do what a human will do; get up, open the window, and answer before they break something. It was a dude, by the way."

"Ooooo, a dude," Ivelisse marks with a sarcastic smile, "W'y did 'e do it?"

"I thought he was trying to score. I mean, a new realm, new customs; their ways of flirtin' could be throwing rocks at windows. Then, he asked me if I wasn't sleeping like he knew something was off before he walked away."

"That's weird..."

"More alarming than weird," Naomi plainly opines, "He comes to our house as if he knows where you live. He starts throwing rocks at your window, in order to ask you if you weren't sleeping like he damn well knew. Sounds more like stalking than weird to me."

"He could be part of the wolf clan?" Blathnaid assumes, less concerned than Nao, "We shouldn't harm any of them. They don't fully understand us. They won't harm us either."

"Wait a minute," Naomi abruptly says, "One of them did know all of our actions from the past."

"That could've been Netedinark," Blathnaid assumes again, "That could've been one of his powers. Bracus did say that the Lady of All Kind blessed us all with power."

"Still, keep an eye open," Naomi suggests with caution.

Day 5

Five nights without sleep will drive anyone nuts, yet I feel not faltered by it. I just wish that I had a book to read or a phone to play games with. The only way I can keep myself occupied is by counting the leaves and trancing myself. My brain feels wired more than ever before. I have to stop inhaling through my nose because my sense of smell has enhanced significantly and other smells that I can't find the source. If one of the girls got hurt and started bleeding, I would smell the iron from here.

Maybe I am going crazy? I thought, I have been indoors for way too long.

I check from the window. No one is around. I grab my dear old pocket knife and head outside. Green and blue fluorescent blankets dance in the night sky; it must be the realm's magnetic field. Distant stars with many colours in the night sky, making the above a fun place. The only thing that made the night sky look ominous was a void area with a lens flare. Stars seem to go around this certain object in the sky. The auroras go across it because they are not too close to be affected by it.

I look at the palace and look at where the woods are. The forest that houses the people or a castle that nourishes the king. My gut keeps telling me to go into the forest. The forest usually gives out a murderer's home for their bodies, but this forest is a welcoming hug. I continue to walk to the forest in a blank state. Wolves, fairies, and vampires look at me with curiosity, but with welcoming faces. The smell has turned into a sweet smell, an aroma that I feel safe in. A trance has taken over me, but I don't fight back. I stop with wolves in front of me. The same man from two days ago walks up to me.

"Hello, Dominique!" He greets me as he extends his hand, "Welcome back to the lovely heart of Gaeriscelleh!"

"Hello there!" I greet him and shake his hand.

Euphoria and relaxation take over me. I let them take me; my body goes numb. There are no hands on me. I breathe with relief as I look up. My body gently lies on the grass. The grass feels so comfortable to me! It cradles me into a peaceful deep sleep.