Beautiful Dreamer

Chapter 1

Everything in my life was perfect. I had the house with the white picket fence, a husband who loved and adored me, and our perfect son. I was happy, in true bliss living the dream, but that’s all it really was. 

“Analise! Analise...please wake up!”

My eyes fluttered open to Zachariah standing over me screaming for me to wake up. I didn’t remember falling asleep, and I had no idea where I was. I looked around the room and I was surrounded by 4 stone walls, with a large wooden double door to my left, and a stained-glass window to my right. I tried to stand up but I felt so dizzy I had to grab the banister of the bed to hold myself up. What was going on here? This wasn’t my bedroom, it looked more like the bedchambers of medieval style castle.

“We need to leave,” Zachariah insisted. 

There was an urgency in his voice that made me take heed. I looked around for a minute and found a pair of shoes... a perfect fit. He took my hand and we ran out the door into a hallway. It was lit with oil burning lanterns and up in the distance we could hear footsteps against the slate of the ground. We headed in the opposite direction of them down the hallway being very careful to be as quiet as we could, until we reached some stairs. I could hear calls of alarm from the direction which we had just come. Our disappearance was definitely noticed. We had to act quick so down the stairs we went, through a couple more hallways, until we made it to a room. It was small with a single small bed and the number of books that cluttered the room made it feel even smaller. Zachariah grabbed a bag and stuffed a few of his books in it as well as a few other amenities and two brown cloaks.

“Do we really have time for you to be grabbing books? I thought we were trying to escape and you have led us straight into a dead end!” 

 I began to panic at thought of being captured by our mystery pursuers. I didn’t know who they were or what they wanted but I trusted Zachariah and I knew in my gut that being captured would not be good. Zachariah shushed me as he pulled aside the tapestry that hung on the wall. He pushed a small stone in on the wall and it opened like a door for him. It led to a secret tunnel and I followed him into the dark as he walked through. The door closed behind us and in that darkness, I started to finally feel safe. We were not out of the woods yet though... or rather in them because that is where the tunnels finally led us to. I looked behind me as we headed into the forest. There stood an enormous castle to likes of which I had never seen. The sight of it made nauseas. Whoever was looking for me was no doubt very powerful.

“Zachariah... where am I?!”

He looked at me and refused to speak. I trailed behind him letting him lead me farther into the depths of the woods. The branches of the trees were barren making it easy to see the star filled night sky. I wanted to stop and break down and cry. I missed my family. I wondered if my husband had noticed I was missing. My baby had to be hungry, I needed to get back home so I could feed him. It was taking everything I had in me to keep from stopping. I knew what was behind me could only ever be bad. Zachariah was my friend; we hadn’t talked in several years but I knew he would never let any real harm come to me. 

I knew by his silence though that he was hiding something. All of this was so confusing and I had so many questions that I knew he wasn’t going to answer right now. Why was I here and not home? Who were those people after us? Why did they want us? My questions only led to more questions in my mind. I was starting to get dizzy again. I lost my footing and tripped on a tree root. As I began to fall, I felt his strong arms steady me. I looked up into Zachariah’s blue eyes. My friend seemed so different from the man I once knew. Besides his physical features that had once been scrawny, they had now turned into ones of strength, there was also a coldness, something that I could only describe as loneliness. His eyes quickly averted mine as he steadied me back on my own feet. I shivered as cold wind blew through my cloak, and he drew me closer to warm me up. Heat rose through my body. I was not used to being this close in proximity to a man who was not my husband. I moved away to create some distance as I was not comfortable with anyone other than my husband being near me. Even if it meant I was going to freeze to death.

“I am ok. It was just a chill.”

He looked at me hesitantly and just shrugged his shoulders. I was probably making too much of a deal of it. He was only trying to help me and now I made it all awkward. As if the silence was not bad enough...oh here! Add another layer of awkwardness to the mix! 

“I am sorry. I know you did not mean anything by it. I just do not think that my husband would like the idea of another man trying to share his warmth with me. Even if it is innocent.”

I saw Zachariah visibly cringe. I must have offended him. Oh my gosh! I just seem to be making things worse. I have not seen the guy in years, he saves me from something or someone and I am sitting here seeming like an ungrateful brat. Maybe I can try for a subject change.

“So, I have an age-old question. Are we there yet?”

“Not yet.” He smiled.

“Oh...ok. Soooo....where exactly is there? Can I go home?”

His smile disappeared. “We are almost there, when we arrive, I will explain everything.”

I tried to meet his eyes again but he would not meet mine. I knew whatever he had to tell me. It was not going to be something I liked.