Faithless

Chapter Five

“Jasmina, where are we going? What’s wrong?” Candice asked. Jasmina could tell she was startled, so she stopped for a second in hopes to convince Candice to bear with her.

“This is where I go whenever I have a really bad dream at night. I swear I will explain everything, but please can we just get out of here first?” Jasmina begged with tears in her eyes, pulling at her hand. Candice just nodded silently, letting Jasmina lead the way once more. There were trees and roots in the way that the girls had to get past, but eventually they reached a clearing. There was a lake in the middle, which Jasmina sat near and looked out at the water. Candice gave them both a minute to catch their breath, then she turned to Jasmina.

“What the hell is going on?” She asked, still a little out of breath. Jasmina sighed, closing her eyes tightly, taking in one more deep breath to calm herself down. Now she had really done it. There was nowhere left to hide anymore. Candice didn't want to show it, but she was feeling more and more scared as time went on.

“Look, this isn’t going to be easy okay? Just swear you will hear me out before you react?” Jasmina begged, looking Candice in the eye. In the whole time Candice had known Jasmina, she had never seen her act like this before.

“Okay.” She nodded, moving closer, so she could see Jasmina's face when she spoke.

“Before I came to this school, I was in… Hospital…” Jasmina sighed, taking a deep breath. “In a psych ward. I was having vivid dreams that I thought were real and one thing led to another. But I got better. I swear I did, so I was released and my family sent me here, but my dreams are coming back and I…”

“Wait slow down, so that’s what you’ve been hiding?” Candice asked, looking her straight in the eyes. Jasmina nodded, looking down to avoid Candice's harsh glare. “You could have told me that. I’m not going to think any less of you!” She scolded, hugging Jasmina tightly. Candice didn't want to say it but she felt as if a weight had been lifted. All this time she had worried that Jasmina was hiding something so major, something life-threatening that Candice wouldn't be able to handle, but sat where they were now Candice was convinced she could handle this.

“But wait that’s not it. I thought that I was seeing the future Candice and I know it’s stupid, but there’s been plenty of times that I had stopped us from doing something because I had a dream the night before, I thought I had it under control, but that drawing you were looking at this morning, the man, I dreamed of him the night before I met him and my head is just so… I’m so… I'm just messed up and I don’t know what to do and just now I heard… It doesn’t matter what I heard, I just need your help.” Jasmina practically cried, burying her head on Candice’s shoulder. Candice hugged her tightly, rubbing Jasmina's back in a weak attempt to calm her down.

“What can I do?” She said quietly.

“Keep me sane? Don’t tell anyone, okay? I don’t want to be taken away. I swear I can handle this. I just need to try and stop the nightmares. I feel like I'm slipping away and if I go too far I don't even want to think about where I'll end up.” Jasmina mumbled.

“Okay. We can go to a pharmacy or something tomorrow. Have you tried sleeping pills?” Candice asked.

“Some. They didn’t work though.” She sighed.

“Well we can figure this out.” Candice nodded.

“Why are you accepting this so easily? I was expecting you to freak at me.”

“Are you kidding? I’ve been coming up with all kinds of scenarios lately. I’m just glad you’re being honest with me.” She sighed. “I get why you didn’t tell me. But it does suck that you waited over a year.”

“I’m sorry.” Jasmina said quietly.

They stayed by the lake for a little longer. Candice wanted to get as much information out of Jasmina as possible and this was the first time that Jasmina had given anything up willingly. Candice fully intended on taking as much advantage of it as possible. Jasmina told her everything, apart from what she overheard in the classroom. Her dad was a pilot, her mum died when she was four and she was raised by my dad’s family, but they didn’t like her because she was too much like her mum and all her mental health problems scared them. She knew they thought she was a freak and she hated them all for it. The temperature got significantly colder while the girls were talking and they both began to struggle against the shivers that overtook their bodies.

“We’re going to miss dinner if we don’t go now.” Jasmina said, looking up at the sun. It was already going down, which didn’t really surprise them for this time of year. Jasmina always liked to come down to the lake at night, especially during a full moon, when the moon's light would dance on the ripples of the water.

“Yeah lets go. Hopefully Logan has perked up by now.” She sighed, rolling her eyes. “Are we telling him anything or would you rather not?”

“Nothing. Not yet at least.” Jasmina sighed. Candice just nodded in agreement.

“Lead the way. Seriously. I have no idea.” She smirked. Jasmina just nodded, showing her the way back through the woods and towards the school. It wasn’t an easy walk, but there was a faint path that the girls could follow. It was just hard to see in the poor lighting. Once they made it out they jogged to the canteen. There wasn’t much choice left but they grabbed their dinner and sat with Logan. They could tell just by looking at him that he perked up a little during the day.

“Where the hell were you two?” He asked as they sat down.

“We got distracted.” Candice shrugged. "Girl stuff." Logan just glared, then carried on eating. Candice and Jasmina did the same, it was a comfortable silence they sat in. Jasmina glanced at the door as Cam walked in. She froze, just for a second, then looked to Candice. She had spotted him too but didn’t say anything. Jasmina could feel his eyes on her. To the point that she wanted to talk to him, to just get it over with. Jasmina made her excuses and threw away her leftovers. She made a point of walking straight past Cam and out of the canteen. She knew he was following, but she didn’t care. She didn’t think he was the kind of person who would attack her or anything.

“Jasmina wait.” He sighed, jogging up beside her, trying to match her pace. She didn't want to look at him so she carried on looking ahead of her.

“Don’t want to.” She muttered, wrapping her arms around herself, trying to shield herself from the cold. He sighed again, shoving his hands into his pockets..

“Can I just explain?” He begged. Jasmina stopped suddenly and looked at him, throwing him off guard. He nearly tripped over his own feet as he came to a stop in front of her.

“You have one minute to convince me you and your family, and Ruby aren’t completely insane.”

“This is going to take more than a minute.”

“I’m counting.”

“Fine. Look I don’t know how to explain this but what you heard is true. You're a witch. So is Ruby. That’s the whole reason we are here. You’re not the only one either. There’s some girl called Maxine who's one of us and obviously so am I and my brother but we would be called…”

“Time's up!” She said loudly, cutting him off and covering her ears to block him out. She carried on walking away as fast as she could. She actually heard them right. They all believed she was a witch. Yet somehow, she was supposedly the crazy one.

“Jasmina, wait, I had more time and you need to hear this.” Cam pointed out, as he reached for her arm. His face remained deadly serious which unnerved Jasmina enough to make her stop for a moment.

“No I don’t! This is exactly what I can’t be hearing right now! You are just screwing with my head, just stay away from me! All of you, including Ruby!” She snapped, walking away. He let her go this time, but Jasmina could tell he wasn’t happy about it. She got back to her room and got changed, getting into bed straight away. Her head was spinning as she laid there staring up at the ceiling. She heard Candice come in but she pretended to be asleep for now. She needed time to process. A lot of time.

Jasmina woke up in the clearing near the school. It was still night and the stars were shining brightly, reflecting on the lake, dancing in the ripples caused by the cold breeze. Jasmina watched the water for a while. Cold air blew through her hair making her shiver. She was still in her pyjamas, which weren’t very thick.

She heard yelling and screaming coming from the school, but she was too scared to move. Jasmina knew she had to though, so using every bit of strength she could muster, she forced her legs to move one at a time, until finally she was running. She made it back to the school, only it wasn't the school anymore. It was a home and it was on fire.

It looked like the middle of nowhere. There wasn’t one other house in sight. The house was surrounded by fields, and on the edge of them was a forest. There was one dirt road that went through the field from one side, all the way to the other and through the forest. She heard yelling from inside, but she couldn’t bring herself to move any closer.

It’s just a dream

Jasmina took a deep breath, moving closer, but still staying out of sight. She could see people ready with hunting rifles, taking aim at all the exits. Cam ran out the front, then guns fired, sending shockwaves through Jasmina's body. Cam crumbled to his knees, his white shirt turning red. Jasmina screamed.

She woke up in her bed, panting and sweating. Candice was still asleep, which she was glad of. It meant that she hadn't screamed out loud at least and Jasmina didn’t want Candice to worry, especially now that she knew all of Jasmina's past. Slowly, she got up and wrapped her jacket around herself, before sneaking out of their room. All the girls knew exactly where the cameras were pointing and could easily slip out unnoticed when they wanted to.

Jasmina was careful coming out of the dorm, then she practically ran to the clearing, not even slowing in the woods. She had spent so much time in the clearing, that she knew the path like the back of her hand. Only when she reached it did she stop running. Her leg and ankle were still sore but she did her best to ignore it. She sat by the lake then breathed in deeply. She needed to find a way to separate herself from her dreams. But how?

“What did you dream of?” Cam said, from behind her. Jasmina froze, her breath catching in her throat at the sound of his voice. She took her time standing up and turning to face him. “Come on Jasmina, just talk to me.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She lied, looking away. "How did you find me?" Jasmina couldn't help but notice he was wearing the same white shirt she had just seen him in. Her eyes scanned over his body, checking for signs of blood. It was only when her eyes met his that Jasmina realised what it must have looked like. Cam didn't say anything, he just sat down next to her, facing the lake. Slowly, Jasmina sat back down next to him, hugging herself tightly.

"Magic." He said to himself quietly, but Jasmina refused to acknowledge it. She stayed quiet, looking out to the water. “Whether you like it or not, you know I’m right. Look, from what we know, your power includes visions. Someone’s life might depend on this.”

“You’re wrong.”

“You want me to be wrong.” He muttered. Jasmina just sighed quietly.

“Trust me you want to be wrong on this one.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because I saw you die.”