Chapter 25 - Kadis
1427 Words
Jane’s screams cut through the apartment, startling me out of my thoughts. I’m in the bedroom like a bolt of lightning and find her tangled in the blanket. She’s thrashing around, fighting to get free. If her screams weren’t filled with terror, it would almost be comical. I grab a corner and peel the blanket from her head and shoulders. She takes one look at me and screams again. I let the blanket go in surprise. She manages to free her arms and scoots to the other side of the bed. I try to go around the bed to make sure she doesn’t fall off, but she draws away from me again. Her face is filled with fear. I back away from her and stand near the door.
“Jane? Honey? Are you okay? It’s me. Are you awake?”
Her breathing starts to hitch and increase in rhythm. Her eyes dart back and forth wildly as she starts to panic.
“Jane! Focus on my voice! Slow down. You need to slow down your breathing.”
Her panic continues to rise and I start towards her again. This time she shuts her eyes tight and holds her hands up, as if to physically stop me from coming closer.
“P-please leave.”
Her chest is heaving and she has gone deathly white. I’m torn between going to her side and listening to her. She finds her voice again and yells her demand.
“Go!”
I reluctantly leave the bedroom, though I hover in the hall. I hear her trying to control her breathing by taking deep breaths. After a few minutes the sound of her crying hits me. Her deep racking sobs tear through the bedroom.
What is going on?
Is it about her friend's death? This sounds different. And her reaction to me. She was scared of me. I thought I had just startled her out of a bad dream, but then I was sure she recognized me once she was awake, but maybe not. I cannot shake the look on her face when she saw me. Her sobs fade away and I eventually hear the bed shift.
“Jane?”
Her voice comes back quietly. I can barely hear her as she hides just inside the bedroom door.
“Give me a bit, please. I need some distance.”
I retreat further down the hall. I don’t know what to do. I can see her outline in the dark of the bedroom door.
“The kitchen.” I don’t move. “Please!”
The desperation in her voice compels me to do it. I stay a few seconds more and then back into the kitchen. Just before I’m around the corner, I see a flash of movement and catch a glimpse of her as she runs to the bathroom. Her eyes are wide and panicked, her face pale and drawn. She looks like a wild creature running from a predator. I can feel the bathroom door slam from the kitchen. The sound of the lock echoes through the apartment.
I jump as a knock resonates from the front door. Jane has me spooked. I shake my head at myself and answer it. It’s her neighbour from down the hall. I met him at the funeral, but for the life of me, I can’t remember his name.
“Uh, hi Kadis.” He looks over my shoulder as I open the door. “Is Jane here? Um… I heard screaming.”
“Yes she is. I think she had a nightmare. She’s in the bathroom right now.”
“Could I talk to her?”
I have to give him credit, he didn’t take my word for it. Kind of insulting and courageous to be honest. He could just walk away. Waving him in, I lead him down the hallway. I knock softly on the door.
“Jane? Mr…..” I look over at the neighbour.
“Johnson.”
Giving him a nod, I turn back to the door, “Mr. Johnson would like to know you are alright.”
I look back at Mr. Johnson, Bob! That’s his name, and back away from the door.
“I’ll leave you to talk to her in private.”
Leaving him standing in the hall, I head back to the living room and settle myself down on the couch. Maybe he can get her to talk about what happened. Murmuring voices float down the hall. I hear the bathroom door open, then close again. A few minutes later Bob comes out of the hall. I walk with him to the front door
“Is she okay?”
“Yes, she said she had a bad dream and thinks she had a panic attack when she woke up. She asked me to tell you to just wait until she’s ready to come out.”
“Thanks Bob.”
He gives me a half smile as he leaves and I close the door quietly behind him. In the background I hear the shower turn on. I go back to the couch and make myself comfortable. Nothing to do but wait until Jane is ready to see me.
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I must have dozed off, because the next thing I remember is the couch moving slightly as Jane sits down. Tucking her feet under her, she curls up on the other end of the couch. She’s dressed in sweats and an old hoodie, but still manages to look beautiful. Her face has lost most of its paleness, and her eyes don’t look quite as haunted. She catches me staring at her and she quickly looks away, nervously tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. I sit silently, letting her make the first move.
“I’m sorry, Kadis. I had a horrible nightmare about a war and you were in it. But you were a different you. You were evil and cruel and you enjoyed doing bad things. You were attacking me, but I wasn’t me. I was a girl with green hair and skin.” Her voice drops to a whisper, “You were laughing as you attacked her.” She shakes her head as if to rid herself of the image.
“I woke up and all I saw was the evil you from my dream and I panicked.”
As Jane tells me her dream, a face forms in my mind. A face tinted light green, pixie-like and framed by forest green hair. And from behind her mane, a set of emerald eyes are looking up at me in terror. A feeling of excitement and arousal surfaces along with the face. Is it a memory? Or just Jane’s description? Is Jane’s dream a reality or is she projecting it on me? Is this an ability of hers. Without knowing what she can do, it’s hard to say. But I do know that the description of a green girl definitely invoked strong feelings in me. Luckily I have a millennia of practice in keeping a straight face.
Jane finally gathers her courage and looks at me. She looks so lost and broken. I stay where I’m seated and hold my arms out to her. She hesitates for a second then crawls into my lap. I wrap my arms around her.
“Do you want to tell me about it. Maybe it’ll help.”
“You’ll think I’m crazy.”
“It was a dream, that’s all. It doesn’t mean you're crazy.”
Maybe if she tells me more about her dream I can learn more about her and about the green girl. Maybe her subconscious is trying to tell her something. I have to get her talking somehow.
“Maybe tomorrow. I just want to forget it right now. Not that I think I'll be able too.”
She snuggles deeper into my arms.
“It’s probably from seeing that stupid picture in that book.”
“What picture? Show me.”
I go to move her so I could stand up, but her arms tighten around me.
“Later, please. I just want to sit here and hold on to you. The real you. Not the dream you.”
Unfortunately, I have to bite my tongue and wait until Jane is ready. She said she saw a picture in a book. One of the books from the Archives? It’s killing me to wait, but I can feel that Jane is still really upset about this dream of hers. I don’t want to push her, not after her reaction to me when she woke up.
Damn. I wish I could just mark her or use my aura to get the answers I want. But if I could, would Jane still be the Jane that I want? That is one of the biggest reasons I’m became so obsessed with her in the first place. If she didn’t have her abilities, would she still be as intoxicating? I dismiss the idea. It’s no use wondering about what if’s. Leaning back I make myself comfortable as Jane shifts in my lap again and buries her head into my chest.
I'll just have to be even more patient I guess.
- Writer
