Page 7 of In Between Darkness
The black hair that’s so dark it’s almost blue. The inky coloured veins, like lightning strikes etched into his arm. He still wears the blindfold. He is so close I can almost touch him. My hand feels compelled to stroke his face. I reach out, but he grabs my arm and lifts his blindfold. Our eyes meet.
“Who are you?” his deep voice bellows.
I open my mouth to respond, but suddenly I am pulled from him and into the darkness again.
I sit up abruptly and let go of the breath that I didn’t know I was holding. A large exhale escapes my mouth. I look around. It’s still dark, but I’m in my dorm room again. The clock reads four fifteen am. Don’t tell me that it was just a dream. It felt so real. Why was he in my dream? Those sleeping pills must have really gone to my head. I quickly roll over as something urges meto take a peek out the window. I freeze. Is that him? I grab my telescope. There he is. Staring right back at me. His eyes boring through me.
The blindfolded one. Like he knew I was there.
I quickly shut the curtain and pull the covers over my head. Maybe this is still a dream.
‘Ding Ding’
First bell chimes. It is time to get up. The clock reads six a.m. Tallying on my fingers, I work out, “one, two, three, four hours sleep.” Not one of my best nights, I think to myself. I gaze over at Nala as I rub the sleep out of my eyes. She’s still sound asleep. Now I know why she wanted an early riser for a roommate.
First meal is in one hour. I had best wake her up.
I approach her timidly and gently give her a shake. “Nala, it’s time to get up,” I whisper.
“Hmmm,” she hums quietly. “What time is it?” Her eyes are still shut as she rolls over to face me.
“It’s six a.m., first bell just rang. I don’t know how you didn’t hear it.” I giggle as she rubs her eyes and looks over at me. Her face is confused and still half asleep.
“I told you I was bad,” she mumbles, throwing a pillow in my direction. “Time to get up, I guess.”
“Hey!” I remark, catching the pillow and tossing it back to her. “That would be a good idea. Remember, today is the start of trial week; we might get to see taming.” The last sentence came out as more of a song.
“Shit!” she exclaims. “Why didn’t you start with that!” She practically jumps out of bed as excitement rushes over her. “I’m up, I’m up!” I knew that would do the trick.
“You get in the shower. I’m going to sort my clothes out,” I say whilst looking through my side of the wardrobe. My black shirt. Where was it? I could have sworn I’d hung it up.
“You sure?” she asks, her clothes already in her hands and waiting by the shower door.
“Yes, get in before I change my mind,” I joke, and she scurries in. My attention reverts to locating my missing shirt.
“You’re the best!”
“I know,” I laugh, crouching down by my bed to see if the shirt had been forgotten at the bottom of my suitcase.
As I unzip the red bag, memories of last night flood over me. That dream. I keep seeing his face looking back at me. The blindfolded one. My hands tremble, and my face flushes hot. His eyes were empty, like daggers into my soul, so why do I want to see them again? I need to find out more. The way he looked at me like he’d seen me before.
Could he see me?
“You alright there?” Nala questions as she walks out of the bathroom, drying her hair with her towel and breaking me from my thoughts.
“Yeah, I am fine, just thinking about what lessons I am going to take,” I lie and grab the shirt from the bottom of my suitcase and head to the shower.
The hot steam soothes my face as the water trickles down my breasts and pools at the bottom of my feet. Every time I shut my eyes, I see him. I throw my head back, and the water weighs down my hair. I run my fingers through it. It falls nicely when it is wet. All the way down to my waist. My natural curls take inches off when it’s dry though, so it rests just below my breasts. I shouldn’t still be thinking of him. I have bigger things to think about, like which lessons I am going to choose. I grab my sponge and squeeze my strawberry hibiscus shower gel onto it. I rubthe sponge in circular motions, trying to wash off the thought of him. I stare down at the puddle at my feet. The water is dark and murky.
Why?
I lift my foot, and the sole is black with dirt, as if I had been walking barefoot all night.
Chapter Four
I sit at first meal, trying to break from my thoughts. Nala is sitting across from me. She is very excited for today, so much so that she hasn’t stopped talking since we left our room. I look at her, her mouth moves with each word, but I don’t hear her. All I can think about is the blindfolded one. I have more questions than answers. I think about the gravel, my toes crunching between it. It felt so real. But that was just a dream, right?
“How much do you know about the Moonkind?” I blurt out, interrupting Nala from her babbling.
