The Curse of Betrayal (25 page)

I know I’m in a dream the second my eye lids flutter open. It’s foggy but I know exactly where I am since I’ve been here before. Ari’s living room is nearly identical to the one I’ve been in a couple times before. I glance around, trying to find the subtle differences.

The room looks emptier than its real life counterpart. His coffee table is free of books, making me think school isn’t in session anymore or he hasn’t moved in yet. The beige throw blanket that hangs against the back of his couch is missing, making it seem bare and unwelcoming.
 

I shake my head as I leave the room in search of Ari. He’s probably why I’m in this vision, after all. I check the bathroom, kitchen, and foyer, and it’s clear he’s not on the bottom level. So I take the steps two at a time up towards his room. Before I get to his bedroom, I check the library, my eyes growing instantly at the destruction before me.

The study is completely ransacked. A full bookcase has fallen over, the books strewn about in disarray—some with their pages torn out, shredded into tiny pieces. I frown as I bend over to pick up one of the broken books. It’s a journal. The inside is hand-written in a manly cursive—Ari’s.

I flip through the book when a heavy thump comes from the next room. Startled, I drop the book, making another crashing noise. I tremble to myself, hoping that nobody can see or hear me in this dream. I turn out of the study and head for his bedroom so I can find him. When I open the door, I can barely comprehend what I see.

First it’s just all ass—Ari’s ass. It’s up in the air as he mauls into a girl underneath him. The girl moans out emphatically—a loving, pleasurable moan that brings bile up my throat. Ari places his hand over her mouth to shut her up, and my attention returns to the nasty sex. She squirms beneath him, but he continues beating into her—thrust after thrust.
 

“Shut up,” he tells the girl between breaths—pounding and pounding.
 

“Come on, baby,” she mutters as his hand leaves her mouth. Her voice betrays her identity. The recognition helps push me forward, and I rush to their side. I lean forward and slam my fist into her face, but of course in this dream, I’m invisible, so the punch doesn’t even sway her.
 

“God, I love you,” she screams, mid thrust.
 

“Stop!” I yell, reaching to Ari and pulling him off of Magdelina. It doesn’t move him, and instead, he continues railing her—pump after pump, moan after moan. Tears flood out of my eyes, wanting to get free from this nightmare. This feels like the longest dream ever, and I hate it. I turn so I can’t see their rough sex, but the noises haunt me.
 

I plug my ears with my fingers, but the noises still penetrate. I hum to mute the noise, but it doesn’t work either. I hate this dream. I hate Ari, and I most definitely hate Magdelina. I’m too upset to even consider this is a past dream. Instead, I’m filled with agony and hatred.

I can tell Ari finishes when the smacking of skin-on-skin stops and the room quiets. Someone stands, and I turn, readying myself to see what happens next. I have to be here for a reason—other than to watch Ari get it on with another girl.
 

Ari faces me in all of his naked glory, his growing limp appendage in full view. Even though he was just screwing Magdelina, the sight of him is instantly arousing. I shake my head, forcing my need for him out of my mind. I don’t want my first time seeing him to be like this. It isn’t fair. It isn’t right.

I look to Magdelina, hoping to squash my lust, and she looks down right pissed. Ari leans down on the bed and whispers something into Magdelina’s ear that makes her slap him clear across the face. I flinch back. It’s then that I feel the falling. My body trembles, and my knees wobble, making me trip head first in the sweat-soaked sex bed. I shut my eyes and wish to be back in my dorm.
 

“Oh my god!” I cry out when I wake up in the light of my dorm room. Kara’s lying next to me in the bed, her arm draped over my stomach. She sits up with a worried expression on her face, but when she does, she pushes on one of my ribs. I gasp in pain as the air gets pushed out of my lungs, but try not to let her know just how painful it is. She looks down at me, questioning what’s going on.
 

“What happened? Did you have a bad dream?” She knows about my visions and dreams, so I know that’s what she’s assuming.

“You could say that. I saw Magdelina and Ari having sex,” I reveal to her, frowning at just the thought of it. I want to go throw up, but I know it won’t make the images go away, so I push it back down.
 

“You’re kidding me.” She leans back against the wall, still on the bed next to me as she cradles her arm.

“I wish I was,” I tell her, hating what I just saw—the image of his bare ass and his love making engrained in my brain.
 

“Oh my god.” She covers her face with her hands. We snuggle together, and strangely, it’s nice. I’ve never been a big shower of emotions, but this is comforting—especially after everything we’ve been through.
 

“We have to get up soon, huh?” I want to stay in bed, just one day, but I know we have to move.

“We should have been up like twenty minutes ago. We’re going to be late,” she says as I look up at the clock, confirming what she’s said.

“We slept all day?”
 

“I guess so. Ari never came back for us.” She finally gets up from the bed and stretches like a tired cat, but I can tell that it tortures her to move. She’s stiff, and her face looks drawn together in pain.

“I can’t face him right now,” I say, thinking of how I might see him at the student center. The image is too new. It’s all I’ll be able to see.
 

“You’ll be fine. I’ll be there with you. Let’s go.” She retreats to the bathroom and locks herself in. I hear some grunting and moaning, and I know she’s having trouble getting ready for the day.
 

I sit on my bed and try to move my body around. Everything hurts, and I’m scared to move, for fear of breaking something. I touch my face, where the stitches are, and it’s still store.
 

As I wait, I watch the snow fall out my dorm window. It’s beautiful and magical. You would never guess that we were under attack by demons and their blood covered the ground just a day ago.
 

A knock sounds at the door, and after maneuvering myself off the bed in a way that won’t hurt my thigh, I open it. It’s Ari. Just his face right in front of me sends vibrations up and down my body.

“Hey,” I say, standing awkwardly in the doorway.

“Hey, I just wanted to check in.” He smiles at me, and more waves of lust travel around me. But I can’t pay attention to them because I’m hurt.

“Oh, I’m fine. We’re going to get food, though, so I kind of have to get ready.”

“Sure.” He nods, but his eyebrows knit together in confusion. “Let me just check your stitches.” He steps forward, but I don’t budge. Looking at his hand just reminds me of my vision, and it makes my heart clench.

He checks out my cuts and bruises in silence. His fingers trail on my bare skin and shockwaves vibrate through me. But I ignore them. After seeing him with Magdelina, it’s only upped my desire towards him.
 

“I’ll see you later?” I try to be friendly, but I just need him out of my space. It’s killing me to have him touch me when all I can picture is him screwing another girl.

“Yeah…” he answers and then turns to leave. I’m about to shut the door, when he pushes past it and envelops me in a hug. Surprised, I stand still.
 

He tucks his head into my shoulder, and his arms clench me tight without hurting me. He breathes me in, and a moment later, he’s gone. I watch him retreat down the hallway in confusion and then shut my door. I lean my back against it, sighing out in relief.

Kara comes out from the bathroom. “Who was that?”

“Ari came by.” I tell her and retreat to the bathroom as fast as possible to take a comforting shower. I can barely get all my clothes off, but this shower is about the only thing motivating me to get up and eat.

After washing the dried blood off myself, I throw on some weather appropriate clothes since it’s snowing. I don’t bother to look nice or dress up. I put on my sweater and a form-fitting long-sleeved V-neck shirt. It’s green, and when I notice the color, I contemplate taking it off but don’t bother since it was hell putting it on with my cracked ribs. I grab my backpack, and when I throw it over my shoulder, my entire back spasms in pain.
 

“Damn…” I mutter and adjust the bag so I’m carrying it like a purse instead of a pack. But it’s useless; I grab my ID and shove it into my pocket so I don’t have to bring a bag.

“Let’s roll, chica.” Kara holds the door open for me. We look ridiculous walking together. I’m limping since my leg still aches with the huge bruise on my thigh. One hand cradles my stomach since my ribs are crying out in pain. Kara’s walking fine, but she has one arm in a tee-shirt acting as a splint, tied right above her shoulder. Her bag is over one shoulder and it keeps falling off since she can’t hold the weight with just one.

That doesn’t even begin to explain our faces. My eye is still swollen into a slit. The stitches Ari put under my eye are crooked, but they’re holding me together. Kara has a black eye and a split lip. We look like we’re zombies walking through a battle zone.
 

Although there’s new snow on the ground, as we walk through the courtyard, images from yesterday flood to my mind. I picture the fighting and the killing. It’s hard to block out the horror.

The wall of the gym is broken as if someone punched it. I think that was from Ari throwing the guy around. There are random parts of the ground that look like a meteor hit and left a massive ditch. I imagine they’re from Martin or someone similar who scorched the ground.

All of the bodies have been removed, but I can still picture it. My body involuntarily shakes remembering everything from yesterday. I inch closer to Kara for comfort.

We get to the student center and tug open the door. But it doesn’t budge. I try again, shaking the doors, but they’re all locked. “Is it closed?” I ask Kara, frowning.

“I guess so. Maybe we got an email about it. I didn’t check.” She shrugs her shoulders.

“I have Poptarts in the dorm room,” I tell her.

“Looks like we’re ordering in.” She links arms with me and we head back through the courtyard, faster this time—avoiding the center, where the main fighting occurred.
 

Sure enough, when we get back to our room, I check my cellphone and see the email from the school saying that we’ll be closed for today. Classes resume tomorrow.
 

Kara and I don’t leave the room for the rest of the day and night.
 

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

playing nice

The next day everyone is acting like nothing happened. The attack is old news—at least the people we saw at breakfast acted that way. It was kind of like an alternate dimension. Most of us are bruised and beat up yet it’s a normal day.

I stumble into Statistics after leaving Kara at her Physics class for first period. Ari has already started class, so I try to be as quiet as possible as I stumble to my seat in the front row. I pull out my math book and then hide behind it the entire time. Of course, I’m not as discreet as I’d like to be, and as I tilt the book up to cover my face, it knocks my notebook on the floor. It slaps the ground loudly, but I try not to move. I pretend it’s not mine. I don’t even look up to see who’s staring at me.

“Is everything okay, Eury?” Ari’s voice is all teacher-like, and it sends shockwaves up my body.

“Yep, all good here. We’re good. Super good.” I ramble on, making an even bigger fool out of myself.

“Good,” he says with humor in his voice. “I would just like to make an announcement about the attack on the school.” He pauses and the entire class waits on the edge of their seats. “So far, there are two deaths, both students. A few more injured, but our nurses have administered their skills so they should fully recover, which is outstanding.

“For the next few days, or as long as it’s needed, the admin building will have counselors for anyone who needs it. Violence is never the answer, and what we saw was certainly graphic. I know it upset me, seeing first year students like yourselves,” his eyes dart to me, “in danger.
 

“I promise, the threat is gone. Professor Nike interrogated all of the assailants, and it was a random attack. The school is protected by a force field-like bubble, so you’re all safe.”

A few kids around the room sigh and talk amongst themselves. “Also!” he exclaims to regain control of the room. “The retreat will still happen this weekend. We think it’s important that you gain the experiences those before you had. So we’re still going.”

The entire class cheers, loving the fact that the field trip is still on. To be honest, this is the first time I’m even hearing of it. I don’t remember anyone talking about it.

I cringe when Ari announces that we’re working with partners today and taking it easy. I sulk in my seat, hoping I can continue to hide and work alone, but of course, Lisa finds me from her seat in the front.