Breaking Lies: Stars and Fire

Chapter Six (Part One)

Cedric gasped and nearly kicked me. "What? What's wrong?" he exclaimed in a panicked voice.

I didn't answer. I couldn't. The flashes of white. The voices. The whippings. I remembered them clearly. It was impossible to forget.

"Aelia, what's wrong?" Cedric repeated, this time grabbing my shoulder.

I couldn't fight against the tears. I couldn't breathe either. I gulped in air, panicked for my life. I was going to faint. Going to die. I couldn't get enough air. I raised a hand to my chest, as if to signal to Cedric that I couldn't breathe.

"Aelia, breathe," Cedric commanded, taking hold of my hand.

I grabbed his hand and squeezed it as though he was my lifeline. I was getting lightheaded.

"Breathe. Take deep breaths. In....out...in...out...good, Aelia. Again," I heard Cedric instructed.

I had good enough sense to follow his orders. I needed to breathe.

In... out... in... out...

"Better?" Cedric asked, his eyes searching my body.

I nodded, as that was all I could do. His hand was still entwined with mine, and I gripped it tighter. My breath was getting steadier, but every few seconds I sucked in a large one.

"You're alright, you're fine," Cedric said again. I wished he'd stop saying that. I needed to focus on something else. My eyes darted around the barn. The mess of hay on the floor. The rippling water from the raindrops that kept falling.

The flashes of white and people screaming.

My breath began to race again, but I quickly sucked in a slow breath. My body was now shaking uncontrollably. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop shaking. I was losing control of my body and that thought only panicked me more.

In... out... in.... out...

"Bad dream, huh?" Cedric said, breathing a short chuckle.

I tried to smile, but I found it was hard.

"What was the dream about?" Then he paused. "Do you want to talk about it?"

I considered talking about it. Talking usually helped. But I couldn't. These were memories, and these memories felt...private. I didn't need Cedric to think he was traveling with a freak. And besides. I didn't know what was wrong with me. Point was, I wasn't telling Cedric.

I shook my head in answer. His eyes searched my face, and I could see that he was trying to comfort me in some way. His thumb stoked my hand, shooting a tingle up my arm.

"Well, my dream was about beef stew," he said, his mouth twitching upwards.

I laughed weakly, something that made me feel a little better. "No it wasn't."

His eyes widened. "Yes, I did! Can you blame me, with the amount of food that we ate last night?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

My hand twitched. Suddenly very aware of his grip on mine, I moved to slide my hand out. We let go very quickly, too quickly for my liking. He hastily put his hand down, leaning on it.

"So your dream?" I prodded.

"Oh, right. I was eating beef stew. Then a certain someone," he looked meaningfully at me, "came and took it away, eating it infront of me. I was going to take it back, not to mention slap them upside the head, but all the sudden I was stuck in a hole. It was really strange, the whole thing."