Dreams or Reality?

Chapter 27: In a Different Dimension

Recap: Faye finds a note on her desk that says: You have one week

CHAPTER 27: In a Different Dimension

I nearly screamed right then, more for dramatic effect then anything else, but Katrina probably would've come running because I rarely ever scream. No one is going to understand the note besides Demetri and Anna, well Grandmother probably got a similar note but she's dead. I can't show the note to anyone because they'll tell me to go to the police and the police can't do anything about it. So, instead of screaming I let out a choked sound in the back of my throat and try not to cry.

It was from Serquin. I can't really imagine it being from anyone else. It was meant to scare me, make me easy pickings. He probably doesn't know about any of my training or knowledge of this. He might, there's a chance, but it's rather slim. I looked at the note again.

You have one week

The words were still as disconcerting as they were a minute and a half ago. Caught between ripping it up until the words were illegible and hiding, I went with the latter. It would probably be a good idea to show the note to Demetri or Anna later anyways.

I grabbed a book off my shelf and was vaguely amused to see it was "A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning" because, though I didn't know it, this note was undoubtedly a bad beginning to my own personal series of unfortunate events. I think I'd first read the series when I was eight, but, maybe I had been nine. I still loved them, mystery, secrets, children and making it on your own. Seemed almost ironic now.

Right down to the creepy old guy as the villain after something the main character couldn't even use. Then again, Count Olaf may not have been evil. I'm pretty sure Serquin is. I shook my head, almost to clear my thoughts and randomly opened the book to the middle, put the note in and closed it, returning it to the shelf.

I finished packing Sam and Mel's stuff, leaving two neat bags behind, and, despite how early it was and my lack of dinner, went to bed.

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That night was a random mish-mash of terror, starting with Anna, running, wiping away the blood and screaming that transported me to the top of the cliff as I tried to stop myself from suicide and right before I could figure out what happens I caught a glimpse of brown hair obscuring a face but I knew that face belonged to the voice from the phone-call. Barely a snapshot of myself with the baby but it was enough for questions to pour forth. Then the rising hysteria I'd felt when I'd thought Katrina was dead hit me without the images and I stumbled blindly around a darkened space as the hysteria blocked out thoughts and my throat. I clawed at my throat as I tried, unsuccessfully, to free the madness and let it flow out of me.

That's when I realized I was dreaming.

I tried to change it, anything else, just not this, but to no avail, the dream stayed the same. I did my best to scream myself awake but I couldn't breathe anymore, let alone shout. I closed my eyes in an attempt to block it all out but the darkness consumed me either way. Endlessness without a break and tears slid down my cheeks. I wanted to lay down and sob but my throat was still clogged with insanity and my legs wouldn't obey me.

One week.

Oneweekoneweekoneweek

The words flashed against my closed eyelids and I tried to open them just so that the words would disperse but I couldn't.

You have one week

To be free, to be safe, to live, to... to...

Whichever one was the right answer, I couldn't tell, my brain was already muddled and it didn't matter anyway. The intent was ultimately the same. It was exactly what the note had said. I have one week left.