Nightmares

The Second Chance

            I received an email that morning telling me I need to get there quickly. The items I was set to work on that morning were from Ancient Egypt and were supposedly all covered in soot. When I arrived at work the first item I noticed was a scimitar that seemed to be discolored from the middle of the blade down to the tip. The moment I touched the knife I knew exactly where it came from, but I checked with my director just to be sure, and found out that the site we were working on was from Memphis. The site these items were from had been found under a layer of soot. We were supposed to carbon date the items and catalog them for a new exhibit that was coming out. We were supposed to stay and clean the items to be photographed until nine that night, but I stayed longer and wound up falling asleep at my work station.

            I knew I had fallen asleep, and I knew that I was in another gown. This time the fabric felt different. I looked around the room and noticed the items had a Greek look to them, and saw a statue of Zeus in the center of the room. I knew then that I was Cassiopeia and was of about 18 years of age. I knew that I was said to be one of the most beautiful women of that time, except for Helen of Troy, and that every man had wanted me at their side. One man in particular had tried to seek me for his side and was named Octavius, but he had the feeling of an eel about him. I can remember having fallen asleep in the house of my parents, but something was now off. The feel in the room was as off as it had been when I had the nightmare from Egypt. I started to rise off the bed and found that there was something keeping me on the bed. I looked at my legs and noticed that there was a rope around my ankles. I was about to start screaming when I heard something moving in the room.

            “Is there someone in here with me?” I yelled.

“I wondered when you would start to wake up. Now you will have to stay here and be my wife whither you want to or not.” Said a voice from the shadows of the room.

                “Why do you not come out of the shadows so I can see your face instead of just hearing your voice?” I asked the stranger.

“I think that is not wise since the first time I asked you to be mine you laughed in my face and said that you would never be with me.” He said with venom in his voice.

                “Octavius, why have you tied me with rope around my ankles and left me in this room? You know Zeus would never stand for doing this to someone. Untie me now and I will not tell the King what you have done to me this night. If you do this for me I will be yours and not hurt you.” I begged with him.

“It is too late for that Cassiopeia. You had your chance to agree with me, but you laughed in my face like the spoiled brat that you are. Now you will stay here as mine and never leave this room.” He laughed and finally stepped out of the shadows. I noticed that Octavius had his hunting bow about him and that the same feeling of offness was about him even on this night. I tried my best so loosen the bindings about my ankles but he had done them so tightly that the more I moved the faster they cut my skin.

“You won’t be able to get out of those Cassiopeia, I tied them the same way the King does when I go hunting with him. The only way you will ever be able to get out of them is either to kill me and get my blade away from me or to accept your fate and be by my side till the end of this time and into the next. But I know you will never agree to being by my side so I will keep you in this room for the rest of your lifetime.” Laughed Octavius with an evil glint in his eyes.

                “But you know my parents will be looking for me come morning when they don’t find me at home. How could you think that a plan like this would work? Why would you keep me tied up like a prize from another land that you have fought in? Do you honestly think that any one person should be kept this way?!” I questioned him in hopes of getting to a side of him that I remembered being there from when he and I were small children. But it seems like that side of him has dried up like a husk of corn in the hottest day of the year. I knew I would only have one chance of trying to get free, but the only problems were timing it just right so as not to make him notice it.

“Just what exactly do you think you are trying to do?” Octavius questioned me.

                “I wasn’t trying to do anything, honestly. I was only trying to get my skirt to lay flat. You are not my betrothed and shouldn’t be seeing my legs like that.” I replied to his question. But little did he know that my father had given me a small knife that I could hide in the folds of my gown on my 15th birthday that my mother didn’t know I had or that I even knew how to use it. I was trying to get the knife when Octavius noticed. The only downside to my knife was that he was halfway across the room and my aim was not that well, so I would have to wait until he came a little closer.

“Well that matter can be easily changed, all I have to do is go tell your parents you have changed your mind about being at my side. That can all be done in a matter of hours, but I would never tip them off that you were with me. How much of a mush do you think I am?” he exclaimed.

                “I never thought you were a mush, Octavius. I’ve always know that you were different than most. Now please just let me fix my gown. If you will but turn around for just a moment I can straighten it and you won’t see more of my legs.” I pleaded with him.

“Fine you will have five minutes to fix your gown and not a moment more. If I think something is off I will know and you will never leave this room.” Octavius exclaimed with vigor. But he was a man of his word and turned his back so I could adjust my skirt. The only thing he wasn’t aware of was that I was also going after my knife at the same time as moving my skirts back to where they should be.

I had managed to get the knife from where I had placed it. I was trying to make it seem like I needed a little help with getting the rest of my skirt back in place so that he would come closer so that I wouldn’t have to try throwing my knife halfway across the room. When he was at my side trying to help me, I managed to s***h his side with me knife. The only problem with having done that was that he had his hunting knife in his other hand that I did not notice before.

“That is a mistake you should not have made Cassiopeia,” he said. With that out of his mouth he took his hunting knife and lunged it into the muscle of my right leg and cut the main artery. When he pulled the knife out all of the blood started to flow freely out of me and he didn’t seem to care that my life would soon end. “Your parents will never find you again and you shall walk this earth for as long as you are around” he laughed with sadistic glee, “for if I can not have you then neither shall any of the other men in this world.”

                As he left the room that he had tied me in I saw a faint light coming from outside the wall. I tried yelling for help but was unable to make that much of a sound. I looked around for something I could throw and remembered that my knife was still in my hand. With what strength I had left I managed to through the knife outside and heard the voice of my father saying that he knew I was but inside for the knife that came out was the one he had gifted me. I felt the warm hug of death starting to embrace me and closed my eyes to meet it knowing that my family would not make me stay in this house a moment longer.

                I woke with a start from this dream and noticed I was still at my work station. I have always hated when that dream came around. I always woke up and had to check that my leg wasn’t bleeding still, since that was always what it felt like.

 I decided to take the items back to the holding room so that way I could get ready to leave for the night. As I was leaving the holding room, I noticed the small knife that I had thrown out the window in the dream I had just up woken from. I looked at the tag the was next to it and couldn’t help but laugh that the person who had written it actually got that it was from Ancient Greece correct. I was about to touch the knife again after so long, but then felt the sharp pain in my leg again from where I had been stabbed all that long ago. I left the room and headed home for some much-needed sleep.