Awakening (18 page)

I didn’t know who had come in the front door, or where they were, or what the demon had planned to do to me, but all I could do was think about where Athen was, and if he was ok. I hoped with all of my heart that he was still on the plane with his sister. The demon pulled me away from the wall and threw me across the room with such speed that my skin stung with pain as the flesh was exposed to the comforter turned sandpaper as my body skidded across it.

A light that I recognized from outside my window flashed. The prismatic colors told me that I was no longer alone. It was Athen’s prism. My family was here. I fought with everything to keep the thoughts out of my head so the demon wouldn’t pick them out. I didn’t understand why the demon was no longer interested in whoever it was that came into my house.

“
Ana?” I heard Arie’s voice coming down the hall. “Are you down here?”

I looked up at the demon for guidance, and he shook his head.

“
Um, hey Arie. I’m in the bedroom.”

Arie rounded the corner and looked up at the demon and immediately started backtracking.

“
Oh my word, Ana! Why didn’t you say you and Athen were in here? This is utterly not right. Gross actually. I’m going to wait in the living room until you guys come out.”

My soul fell with a heavy realization that even Athen’s own sister didn’t recognize the imposter. I closed my eyes as tightly as I could, hoping that I could wish this entire encounter away, knowing this could only turn out horribly. The black mist creatures appeared in my thoughts. Could this be where I meet my demise, so soon? I do my best to shove those thoughts aside, but the images of the black creatures plowing through me and ripping me apart are getting harder to ignore.

I braced myself for whatever was going to happen next, hoping my soul could survive if nothing else did. I heard a guttural sound rumbling from the being standing over me. His hand anchoring my hair to the bed, I took in a deep breath feeling my lungs burn. Then my skirt began to be torn from my body. I fought with every ounce of strength to keep any thoughts from entering my head. I didn’t want to jeopardize my family anymore than I already had. I wasn’t sure what would happen if we were all destroyed at the same time.

The wretched breath of the beast slowly surfaced up my thigh as he started pressing up against me. The tears in my eyes finally broke free, and each tear was like a blade penetrating my cheek. Those stinging tears would be nothing compared to the pain I was about to endure, but I did my best to focus. It finally sunk in that what this creature wanted from me was a child, a creation from his underworld.

I started thrashing with all of the strength I had. My nails became the sharpest claws imaginable. I tried with all of my power to defend myself from the impersonator. Matilda began barking, and within in a flash my bedroom became full of light. A deafening crack came through the air almost paralyzing me.

I opened my eyes and saw both Athens standing in my room crouched as low as humanly possible, hovering as if the air between them was creating a wall between good and evil. The imposter was no longer holding me down. I stared intently at them both, attempting to raise myself from the bed. Arie grabbed my shoulders and lifted me quickly off of the bed as I caught a glimpse of Athen’s green eyes staring intently at the demon before him.

“
Let me help him, Arie.” I screamed at her with all my might.

“
No, Ana, he’s got this. It will be alright. You are a complete distraction right now. Come on, honey. I promise.”

Arie half dragged my kicking and screaming body as she firmly held onto me moving out of my bedroom. The cheery color in the hallway did nothing to help my mood. The despair was multiplying within me. All I could hear was the sound of light buzzing. I strained to get out of Arie’s grasp so I could see one more glimpse of Athen. I somehow managed to free myself and turned around in time to see Athen lunge toward the demon with such speed that it was a blur of color turning into a ball. A piercing noise jarred me as Arie grabbed me again. A black streak was darting around, and I didn’t understand what I was seeing. I was certain that the image before me was the same kind as in my nightmares.

“
No Arie, I’m far enough away. Please let me stay. I need to make sure Athen is ok.”

“
Oh, that’s right your eyes haven’t completely developed yet.”

“
What do you mean?” I asked, but not being able to take my eyes off the speeding mass that was literally destroying everything in my perfectly placed bedroom. I didn’t care if all the walls came down. I wanted this to be over and to embrace the real Athen, my Athen.

“
Ana, sweetie, if your eyesight was completely developed you would be able to see that your hero, Athen, is winning. He could end him now if he wanted, but because of what he did to you he is prolonging the torment for your sake. They feel pain like we do, if we are the ones to inflict it.”

My heart started to untwist a little bit as every syllable hit me. I still couldn’t believe it and wouldn’t until Athen flashed his smile at me. The force of the demon that I experienced didn’t seem like he would be as easily thrown down as Arie described, but I so desperately wanted to believe her. I still was in complete shock and horror over mistaking my boyfriend the way I did and what that creature was capable of. Cyril came bounding through the front door.

“
What did I miss? Did Athen have his fun yet or can I still join in?”

In that instant, I recognized the same look that I had seen several times before since I had met Cyril. The first time being when we were all dog sledding, and they were tracking the so-called animal. The second time was at the bar when he met up with Athen, Karen, and myself when the weirdo was casing me. All of those times led to this creature. They were tracking this evil thing.

“
Arie, you’ve got to tell me what’s going on! Is that creature who Athen is fighting, the same being who has been appearing and keeping Cyril and Athen’s attention? I thought the creature was only following me since my rephrasing, but after seeing Cyril’s expression it’s the exact same one from our dog sledding and many other times. Has it been following me this whole time? It’s turning into one of those beings from my nightmares, Cyril. I don’t understand.”

Cyril leaped from the hallway and joined the chaos with Athen. I suddenly knew that everything was going to be fine, at least for now. Arie grabbed my hand and squeezed it.

“
It will be over soon. Keep watching.”

The images started to slow down to an almost normal human speed that I could recognize. I could finally distinguish between the two Athens and Cyril and saw that the imposter Athen was badly wounded. He looked like a shell of a human. Depleted in every sense of the word, his face sunken in. His skin was a light ashy grey, and there were scratch marks all over his body that revealed burned flesh underneath. As I got a good look, I saw the real Athen’s hand grab the imposter’s neck with one fluid motion. He squeezed the creature with one graceful gesture as Cyril stood back. In a mere second, the imposter went limp, and a black mist began swirling up to the ceiling. The imposter’s shell vanished. I thought I was doing fine, but as soon as Athen looked over at me I slumped to the floor and began sobbing. Instantly, he was at my side holding me, gently brushing my hair from my face. He cradled me so quickly. A level of protection surrounded me that I never knew I craved. He truly was my hero in the greatest sense of the word.

“
It’s ok, my love. He won’t hurt you. I’m here. I’ll always be here. You’ll be protected. We never went to Seattle.”

Hearing those words made me realize it was true. As long as he was with me, I would make it. I only hoped that I could offer him the same sense of protection someday. I couldn’t imagine ever living my life again without him. My sobbing turned to a softer whimper, trying hard to control myself. Looking up at Athen and his radiant green eyes, I ventured my first words.

It was hard to fathom that they never left town, and this was a setup. They were here this entire time waiting for this creature.

“
I saw you finish him. I couldn’t see anything up until that point except a big blob of colors swirling around.”

“
You saw that? I’m so sorry. I never wanted you to see that. I figured you couldn’t yet.”

“
Well, I’m kind of glad I did. It makes me realize you weren’t kidding about being a bad ass. I only saw it at the end. It was a big blur right up until you grabbed him.”

Cyril never one to miss a beat yelled from the bedroom, “It wasn’t all him, kid.”

Athen helped me up, and we walked down the hallway to my living room. I was so happy to see everything in its place; a bit of normalcy still existed in the rest of the condo at least. I realized how tired I was from the attack and the fear of possibly losing Athen. My brown leather chair was calling me, I beelined for it sinking in to the cushion.

“
Your room is pretty destroyed. How about if you hang out at our place for a few days while we get it taken care of?” Arie looked hopeful. I wondered what she had up her sleeve. Turthfully, with everything that had gone on over the last few weeks I figured I would give in. It was probably for the best anyway.

“
I think that sounds like a plan, but at the moment I’m going to snuggle in my chair with Matilda.”

I was beginning to feel like a real wimp. The moment anything unusual occurred I needed to sleep, hopefully trying to wake up to a sense of normalcy that may not longer exist.

“
Great! I’m going to get you all packed up.” Arie darted down the hallway as I curled up with Matilda and fell fast asleep.

Unfortunately, once again, my mind was no longer my own. I was in for a long night of torment. I just didn’t know it yet.

H
er serpentine eyes were taking me in. If I didn’t know better, I would think she could literally swallow me whole. The only thing missing was her devil horns. I was sure that she had them. She had to be one of them, one of the evil ones. Her deathly eyes scanned the room as her laughter rolled off the walls of the Starbucks I was in. I was pretty sure I was the target of the joke, whatever it was. The door swung open, and her raven hair blew gracefully in the wind, landing strand by strand, creating a web to disguise the person who just came in through the door. My world began to swirl around me. Nothing seemed right about what I was seeing. It was Athen, and he was heading straight over to greet her, not even glancing my direction.

Why would he know her? He spent his life fighting creatures like her. I spent my life fighting creatures like her, her evil. We all have. Emptiness was filling every part of my body. I caught his eyes for a brief moment only to realize there was absolutely no recognition. It’s like I never existed. I was just another patron waiting for a latte. I tried screaming as loud as I could. Nothing came out of my lips. This nightmare had to end. I had to wake up. I tried to force myself out of my deepest level of sleep yet. It wasn’t working. He was enamored with her, with her beauty. There she was, staring back at me grinning with her perfectly polished teeth. And then, her hand slipped through his as they exited, throwing me one last smile for the road. I immediately crumpled to the floor, feeling like a hollow shell of a person.

I awoke not in the leather chair that I fell asleep in, but in Athen’s bedroom. Matilda was sound asleep next to me, and Athen must have slept somewhere else. Sadness crept in very quietly, especially in light of my latest nightmare. I refused to call it a vision. I tried to force myself back to reality as if I could make these images less credible by ignoring them. I let the last shudder run through before I let myself enjoy where I was.

I secretly imagined what sleeping next to him must feel like. I had seen Athen’s room before a couple of times but seeing it from this vantage point was nice. I had the comforter pulled up all the way to my shoulders and embraced the warmth from his flannel sheets surrounding me. I noticed for the first time that he had a few pictures of me scattered in frames on his dresser. There was one of me at the dog sledding tour and one when I was dangling from the zipline, but there was one that I knew didn’t occur in Whistler. I wasn’t even sure what decade it was, but there I was in full glory standing by a Christmas tree with Athen, his sister Arie and Cyril.

It was so weird to be looking at a piece of history, my history, but with no recollection. I looked so happy. I hoped I would be able to remember all of those times. As I was daydreaming about the picture I noticed a dog that looked an awful lot like Matilda stretched out under the Christmas tree. I shot up and ran over to the photo and looked at it closely. Sure enough, it was Matilda. I was barely able to wrap my brain around our situation, but now I really couldn’t begin to fathom how Matilda would continually be in our presence. I made a mental note to ask Athen about that one. I looked at her on the bed still snuggled up as tight as a bulldog could be and decided to climb back in bed. Everything in Athen’s house was so meticulous and in its place, but his bedroom showed his character. It was attractive, bold, and very soothing. The décor was all in earth tones and very modern. There were dashes of red in the pillows and drapes – my favorite color. He had the softest grey throw on the bed. I couldn’t help but pull it up as I snuggled back in.

I kept trying to purge the images from the night before. I didn’t know if my nightmares were back because of the attack or if they were actually visions. I prayed with all of my heart that what I was seeing were not visions of the future. The darkest nightmares always ended with someone I loved being destroyed or vanishing. Last night losing Athen’s love was almost worse than any of the other dreams so far. Maybe that is how Athen has felt for all of the years unable to connect with me. I didn’t know. I knew I could bring him back from a lot of things, even these creatures supposedly - but another’s love, deceitful or not? I had no idea. I hoped to never find out. A few weeks ago, being woken up in terror by beasts tearing me apart seemed like the worst case scenario but after being reunited with my family I knew the visions that were most devastating were when any of them were in danger.