DEFYING MY MATES

New Home

It’s been a week since I came to Rosemore, Athens. It’s a small town at the edge of a forest, peaceful and nice, away from all the hustle and bustle of a city. This was exactly what I needed. A break.

The house was the same as whatever little I remembered. A little renovation and voila, it would be as good as new. It was a cottage-style house with a small porch, a cosy fireplace, a kitchen attached with a dining room, a drawing room, two bedrooms, a washroom and an office c*m library.

All over it was perfect, the town and the house, for someone who wants to start afresh.

I turned one of the rooms into a small studio where I could paint and stuff. Just to clear my head out of the shitty nightmares if I ever get one, which I hope not. I painted it with a whole lot of different colors and the end result seemed as if someone blasted the room with colors, which was fun to do. Forest green usually gives a calming effect, so I painted the master bedroom and drew a few leaf patterns to give it an illusion of a forest, which came out pretty well. The office was in pretty good shape, so I left it as it was and replaced a few pieces of furniture and donated all the unwanted things.

Admiring at work, I thought this would be my sweet home and I was pretty satisfied with it.

The Mirror, the company where I work, is a media company. Pay is good and, most importantly, I have to work from home, and write articles on a daily basis about anything that might interest people to read the magazine, which is good, as I don’t have to worry about what to wear every other day. The perfect job I can get in the market. And with that I will have spare time for my unfinished writings. It’s kind of a win-win.

Everything is going well so far except my nightmares. In the day, the articles kept me up, while at night, my nightmares. I just couldn’t get a peaceful sleep and it’s been worse since I came here.

Day 1: At Night

Everything seemed normal. Nothing unusual. The room was pretty unhygienic to sleep in, so I decided to crash on the couch for the night. There were a lot of windows in the house, which was more than okay with me, but sometimes I felt a little suffocated. So, it was a great thing, that was what I thought until I heard noises, awful noises, more like screams, as if someone was injured or in a lot of pain. It seemed so real that I didn't realise I was dreaming.

Living alone, near a huge forest, in a different country with no one to look out for you and hearing that s**t scared me out of my freaking mind. Literally, it was terrifying.

At first, I thought it was the windows. You know, like a decades-old home with old pipes and all, so it might be the wind and my mind was playing tricks. So, I did what normal people do in that scenario, picked up a baseball bat in case I needed one and closed all the windows, double checked the doors and rooms for an intruder which I was sure I could handle if there was one. But, nothing at all.

For an hour, I couldn't sleep but drifted off in a dreamless state after reading a few chapters of a bizarre book that I found in that office. It was in Greek, which seemed like some kind of spell, maybe to unlock portals to the other world and s**t. Lol.

You know what the funniest thing is, I don't know Greek. Hahah,

Day 2: At Night

I slept on the couch for obvious reasons before I made sure I locked all the windows and doors as I really didn't want a repeat of last night.

Heard it, again. But, something was different. It wasn't a painful scream anymore. It was full-blown laughter dripping with evil. This was the scariest s**t ever, scarier than the one I dreamt about bathed in the blood. I don't know but there was something in that voice which kept me on edge the next day.

Day 3: At Night

I blamed the uncomfortable couch for all the shitty nightmares. I thought a fluffy bed would take away all the tension in my body. I worked all day long in my bedroom so I could get a peaceful sleep at night. I thought if I worked the s**t out of me, my brain would not have enough energy to make me see or hear the awful things. Stupid! But I gave it a try anyway.

Somehow, it backfired.

I heard it. Some kind of knocking. The noise was in between knocking and banging. I knew that sound, but just couldn't comprehend where. The dreams literally f****d up my brain and with that I woke up with a jolt.

Switched on the lights, took a couple of deep breaths to calm my racing heart. Today's one wasn't that scary, but still I was afraid as if my heart knew something wasn't right. But the thing is, I didn't know whether it was the place or me because I had had nightmares before. At times, it was triggered by something that I thought I have done already or lived at that particular moment or something that I heard or saw. It was different every time.

There wasn't any connection in between my dreams and it was never a repeat. It wasn't anything related to my life. I talked about it to my father as I was close to him, but he took it too lightly to my liking and assured me if I faced it then it would all go away. And I believed it. But, nothing happened.

I shared a few dreams with Nia, she said chuckling lightly and I quote," Usually, I dream about someone chasing me while I run for my dear life, but mostly, I kill myself or someone close to me all the time in my dream. It's nothing unusual. I have killed you thrice."

So, I didn't think of it as anything more than a few nightmares and hoping it would go away someday.

Day 4: At Night

The knocking sound was still fresh in my mind. While working, I spaced out all the time, but somehow finished my article on time. I racked my brains out and suddenly, it clicked.

It wasn't knocking or banging, it was more like tapping like a cane, the walking stick type. And I was sure of it.

I wondered if this house was haunted. Maybe my grandpa, but he didn't use a cane. I was confused, scared and uncertain of everything right now. But, I didn't feel any kind of paranormal stuff.

So, I thought about installing cameras in the house. Better be safe than sorry.

Covering my body with a duvet, I slept in the hope of a peaceful night as I whispered in the air as if I was expecting a positive reply, “Give me a break, man. I'm tired as f**k. I beg you to let me sleep for today."

And it worked. For the first time here, I had a good sleep and I was over the moon.

Day 5: At Night

I turned the AC at a sweet 22 temperature, neither too cold nor too hot, just perfect. Hiding in the duvet, I whispered the same thing like a prayer while smiling to myself as if I thought it would be granted.

But, I should have known it was too good to be true.

It was cold, too cold for my liking. I shivered slightly from the cold. Cursing incoherently, I tried to grab the duvet and hold it tightly to warm myself up, but I found the duvet wasn't there anymore. s**t! I might have kicked it off the bed.

Opening my eyes sleepily, I stretched my arms, popping a few bones in the process, when I saw a shadow stepping backward and standing still a couple of feet away near the window at the corner. The dim light of the moon coming from the window illuminated my side while the corner seemed like a black hole. Nothing was visible, but I knew for sure there was someone standing there and watching me like prey.

My sleep went poof and now, my heart drummed like a bongo drum inside a rib cage. I found myself panting for air, Goosebumps rose on my skin, the room was cold, but I was sweating profusely as if I had run a marathon. Getting hold of my wavering courage, I moved slowly and steadily towards the night lamp sitting on the bedside table. Before I could switch it on, “Don’t." I heard it said.

I froze.

A single word and I felt my heart would explode. All the courage I gathered, did suicide by jumping out of the window. The only thing I could hear was my irregular beating heart. I didn't want to, but my head turned towards the shadow and I saw it. His eyes were of two different colors. His right eye was bright blue while the left one was green. It held no emotions and was as cold as ice. It was mesmerizing to see nothing and everything at once. I thought I would be scared but all the terrifying thoughts left and the only thing on my mind was those beautifuckinful eyes.

Unconsciously, I switched on the light and I woke up from the bizarre dream.

I was relieved, but on the edge for a certain reason. The more I thought about the eyes, the more I found myself lulled to sleep.

Day 6: At Night

Curious. I was so darn curious. All sorts of questions were making a recipe for disaster in my mind.

Who was he? How can someone be so beautiful and have such icy cold eyes? I too have blue eyes, but one can see all sorts of emotions swirling in them. But, his ones were empty, nothing, there was nothing at all. Damn.

With that fine specimen in my mind, I fell into slumber.

There he was, again, watching me from the corner as I drew the pretty eyes I saw on the easel. I wanted, no, I needed to fill in the emptiness of his eyes with something. So, I did it. I imagined how he would gaze at someone he was in love with. I imagined as much as I could while he stood in the corner waiting patiently for me, as if he wanted to see the outcome.

I couldn't see him, as if he didn't want to show himself. I wasn't sure of his s*x, but somewhere, deep in my heart, I knew the intense gaze could only be of a man. The dim light of the moon illuminated the studio a little bit. He stepped a foot forward. I could see his outlines as his right foot stepped in the moonlight with a cane in one hand. His dainty pale fingers held the handgrip of the cane tightly. I was afraid it would snap it into two any moment, but it didn't happen.

As I stared at his hand, I could imagine him having smooth porcelain skin. A sinful and unknown desire erupted in my abdomen which I never knew was there as I imagined his toned body and muscles from his outlines.

Shaking the thoughts out of my head, my gaze landed on the cane. It seemed to be made of expensive timber and a lion with a prominent mane was carved in gold in all its glory at the head. The collar was studded with sparkly diamonds. It wasn't just any cane. It was magnificent.

I stepped towards him, but with each step I took he seemed too far for me to reach.

There wasn't any kind of intimacy in my dream. But, I woke up bothered and hot.

My emotions were taking 180° turns with each and every dream. Firstly, I was scared, then curious and now, turned on.

I wish I knew what the f**k was going on with my life?