Morpheus. The word echoed in my mind as I was captivated by its appearance on the assignment I still clutched in my hands, my knees turned weak and I felt myself slide into the chair opposite my father as he marked furiously. Why was this word plaguing me? Surely this wasn’t a coincidence. A few moments later, I looked up from the paper I had been staring at and met my father’s hazel-brown eyes which were filled with a mixture of concern and amusement.
“What is wrong kori? Did that Ricky boy do anything or say anything bad to you? I will sort him out for you if you want.”
I could see that his mind was swirling with weird and wonderful sins Ricky could have committed to offend me.
“No Baba, nothing’s wrong. I was just curious, who is Morpheus? This student wrote his assignment on him but I’ve never heard of him mentioned in Greek history.”
My father’s eyebrow shot up in a horrified expression,
I suppose that the first clue that I had begun to fall for my dream invader was the fact that I didn’t get back to sleep after Miss Clark interrupted our romantic rendezvous. Instead I lay awake, first furious with her, then with him and then finally with myself.“Come on Callista, you’re being pathetic now! You’re jealous over a guy who only exists in your mind!”I punched my pillow a few times, just for added effect, before I resigned myself to counting sheep. Whoever made up the belief that counting sheep helps you fall asleep obviously didn’t try the stupid method. If he had then he would know that it really doesn’t help. I glared at my alarm clock which shone brightly in the darkness, almost taunting me with the knowledge that I had only two more hours to attempt to get some sleep before I’d have to wake up for school. Eventually I gave up all together and went downstairs to the lounge to channel surf. An hour later
I stayed away from the hospital for almost two weeks, living in a dreamless world of darkness and sullen sorrow until my parents started to get worried. I began to go to sleep tired and wake up even more tired, stuck in the continual cycle until, eventually, I gave up and decided to stop taking the tablets. I stared at my gaunt and pale face which looked as if I had been ill, my long brunette hair seemed to have lost all life as well and hung in a stringy mess. Somehow I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had become a mere shadow of my former self because I had stopped seeing Morpheus. I was still hurt, but Miss Clark’s entrance into my dream didn’t bother me as much as it had.I plaited my hair and made a mental note to get something to bring it to life again before I tugged on a dress I knew made me look good, covering my face with a thin layer of foundation and finishing my makeup off with eyeliner and mascara. At least the foundation made my skin look mor
I collapsed onto my bed, physically and mentally drained after my day at the hospital. My mind flickered back to the conversation I had partially participated in with Miss Clark. The truth is that I struggled to pay attention to what she was saying, it all seemed so far off and outlandish that it could only exist in a fairy tale or some form of mythology – not in real life. Morpheus couldn’t be the guy without a name, he couldn’t be trapped between the dream realm and reality and there is no way on earth I could have any ability to magically free him. Miss Clark, on the other hand, appeared to believe differently.“Callista, you have to help him.” she had begged me as we made our way back to the ward.Her voice now echoed in my mind, raw with emotion. I had merely replied that I would have to have time to gather my thoughts before. Strangely, no matter how much I tried to deny all she said to me a part of me actually believed that there co
After bandaging the bleeding gash on my thigh from Dareios’ blade, I got dressed for work. I felt bad that I had blown the restaurant off to work at the hospital yesterday so I felt that I had to make the day up, besides I didn’t really feel like seeing Miss Clark again. As I made my way down the stairs I could hear my mother laughing softly in the kitchen as my father sang an old celebration song in Greek, a view of them dancing greeted me as I entered the room. “Ha! Callista, come!” my father called out to me as he let go of one of my mother’s hands and held it out for me to grab. I couldn’t say no to him and so I joined in the madness, without even knowing what we were meant to be celebrating, dancing, singing and laughing until we were out of breath. “Stella had the baby this morning.” my mother informed me, showing me a picture of the healthy baby boy who looked just like a baby version of Mikael. I was ecstatic for my cousin and his wife, after
“Heya little sis.” my brother’s crackled through my laptop’s speaker.I sat on my bed with the laptop lying on my crossed legs, my door closed against parental intruders. Sunday afternoons were always the best part of my week. It was the only time I could relax and express whatever was in my mind to the one person in my life who would understand no matter what. While Kayla was my best friend and I trusted her with most of my secret thoughts, she didn’t always understand where I came from – our cultures and backgrounds were too far apart. Niklos, on the other hand, had to share every situation with me and therefore he knew me better than anyone else. It was just sad that I couldn’t tell him about Morpheus. That was one thing he would never understand.“Heya big bro” I replied, turning on my camera so I could blow him a kiss.He chuckled and turned on his camera, revealing – surprisingly – a spotles
“Excuse me? I’m what?”I was certain that I hadn’t heard her correctly. How could I be betrothed to an immortal god without even knowing it? And who on earth made the betrothal? Surely one of my parents would have to agree to the engagement for us to be betrothed and somehow I couldn’t imagine my mother making that deal with Hypnos.“You’re betrothed. Have been since before you were born.” she smiled sympathetically and patted my hand which gripped the blanket on her bed.“How?” my voice shook.“I’m not actually sure. To be honest, I only found out myself when I barged into your dream unannounced. I think that’s something you’ll have to bring up with Morpheus.”“Oh, I’ll bring it up with him.” I said through clenched teeth.Miss Clark laughed and squeezed my hand.“Go gently on him. The poor boy has had it rough lately.&rd
I woke up to the sound of birds chirping in the tree outside my window and the sun streaming through my window, a perfect way to wake up if I may say so. Morpheus hadn’t come to me again, but this time I didn’t bother to call for him. If I truly needed him then he would come, I was sure of that. Besides, I didn’t really want to see him after what had happened with Ricky the previous night. I sort of felt as if I was cheating on him with Ricky, even though Morpheus and I weren’t together and nothing even happened with Ricky. Ricky had left soon after dinner with no more awkward incidents between us and he even gave me the weird side-hug he seemed to always give as if everything was normal.I looked at my bedside clock and swore. I was late! I yanked on a pair of jeans and the first shirt I laid my hands on while brushing my teeth, hoping to save time by not eating breakfast. Barely catching my father in time to catch a lift to school, I did my makeup in
The doors to the haunted house were guarded by Miss Matthews and Miss Carlson, both armed with vicious looking swords which they crossed until we had paid the entrance fee. They were both dressed as geishas and looked as if they had stepped straight out of a Chinese action movie, apart from the fact that they weren’t Chinese that is.“Have fun.” Miss Matthews giggled as we passed, closing the door behind us with a resounding thud.Her giggle was distorted by the closed door, transforming it into a sinister chortle – as if she knew the secrets of the house which we had yet to come across. The path was lit with small lights which had been hung up on the ceiling to resemble stars. Potted palms encroached and added to the aura which made us feel as if the house had been abandoned and the garden had begun to suffocate the mansion. So far, no creepy beasts had jumped out of the trees so we assumed that they’d saved the best for later. We crept f
“Remind me why I let you drive?” Nik asked me with a queasy look on his face as he climbed out of the car and shut the door firmly behind him.“I’m not that bad!” I retorted, locking the car and heading toward the restaurant’s front doors.My brother snorted in disbelief and shook his head in wonder, still looking slightly green. The restaurant was rather full, even though it was the middle of the afternoon. Most of the patrons were teenage girls who had heard that a plethora of hot guys could be found inside the Aphrodite’s Haven. As we walked in the girls at the nearest table turned our way and chatted excitedly in hushed voices. I wasn’t deaf and knew immediately that they were drooling over my poor brother, even in his green state of affairs.“Am I glad to see you guys here!” Ricky muttered to us as we headed to the bar which he manned. “This place is a nightmare!”
A noise across the hall drew our attention to the two figures who stumbled in, one aiding the other to walk across the marble flooring. I clutched Morpheus’ hand and drew him closer to me, realising who the intruders were. Lyssia glared at me but fact that she was clinging to her brother for support seemed to sap all of the threat from her gaze. Warrick didn’t even meet my gaze – in fact he almost appeared worried. Perhaps he was more scared of Hypnos than I had thought.The sound of the giant oak doors opening reverberated through the empty hallway, instantly directing our attention to Hypnos who motioned for Morpheus. I glanced briefly at Morpheus before we stepped passed his father into the darkened room.“Lyssia and Warrick, you will join us.” Hypnos ordered, a frozen edge to his voice.The siblings did as they were told, ashen faced and slightly trembling. Immediately I became suspicious.The room had been lit with thous
In all the movies I’ve ever seen about war, the actors and actresses always look so dangerously glamorous, dressed in their metal armour which glints in the sunlight as they ride on white horses and cut off the enemies’ heads with a quick flick of the wrist. I suppose that was the reason why I was so taken aback when we gathered together at the base of the Citadel’s steps and was forced to really experience it all. I had never realised that fear had a scent until that moment. Even though I knew I couldn’t die, I was terrified for the novices which had been yanked from the inner sanctuary and were now being controlled by Zara – mindless clones that had no control of their own bodies. Those who had worked their way out of the novice ranks and were trusted enough to control their own minds wore their facial expressions like masks, barely covering the bubbling mixture of exhilaration and fear which simmered just below the surface of their composure.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked trying to look as innocently bewildered as I could possibly manage, hoping to lull my captor into a false sense of security before I attacked.I had been trained to fight nightmares, after all. I guess my only downfall would be that my captor knew all the moves I could possibly throw at him. Warrick smiled sweetly at me as he tied the knots around my wrists.“Do you really need to ask? I’m the only surviving son of Icelus and therefore heir to the entire of the Dreamlands. The only thing standing between me and my destiny is Morpheus.”The voice of reason was small behind the madness of greed and I struggled to gather my thoughts. My gaze wandered over to where Ricky sat beside me, his eyes staring ahead blankly as if he were in a daze. There was no way on this earth we could work together to escape... he was just too far gone. I was all on my own there.“Don’t even think about it
Daniel Peterson smiled at me over the glass of brandy he swished around, letting the amber liquid slide up the sides of the glass until it nearly spilled over.“How are you?” he asked, a casual air about him.I smiled stiffly, trying to swallow my nerves as he watched my every move as if I were on display at some famous museum.“I’m well, thank you.” I relied as civilly as I could muster, my gaze unconsciously darting to where my friends stood on the opposite side of the room.Wasn’t this man meant to be in prison? I mean, a few months behind bars isn’t nearly enough for what he had done to Kayla. I knew Ricky had said that he got a light sentence but that was just ridiculous!“Ah, I see Kayla and Robert are here. And Violet and her punk boyfriend played really well tonight. Please commend them for me.”As if I would. I nodded and began to tear myself away from him, hoping to put as much
“So, there’s this competition happening at some club tomorrow night where bands get to battle it out for the ultimate prize and Josh and I were thinking of signing the band up.” Vi announced, lying on my bed and throwing my stress ball at the ceiling.I dipped the brush into my favourite blue nail polish and slowly stroke the thick liquid onto my fingernail.“Sounds like a good plan.”“One problem – there’s already a band with our name signed up and we can’t duplicate names.”I looked at my friend who was about to put a hole in my ceiling with that blasted stress ball, confusion written all over my face.“Are you seriously telling me that another band has called themselves ‘Bleeding Roadkill’?” I said, my voice severely tainted with astonishment – hell, it was bad enough that they called themselves that horrid name.“Yeah! Can you believe it?&rdqu
“Do you have to hang around like this?” I glared at Warrick as he sat at the table closest to the bar, sipping his refill coffee and reading the paper as I worked my shift at the restaurant.He glanced at me quickly, setting the cup down on the table.“Morpheus said guard you, so here I am. If you have a problem with it, take it up with him.” he muttered over the top of the paper.Arrogant ass.“Oh I will.” I muttered under my breath, wiping a spot from the counter furiously.I had been treated like a prisoner for three days and already I was sick of it. It even made me think of regretting my killing the beast nightmare... but then I remember what he was about to do and suddenly it seemed worth it. Even if I was chained to Warrick’s side for the rest of my life it would be worth it.“Woah there kiddo, what did the counter ever do to you?” my brother asked, snatching the cloth from my gras
It hurt.“Oh gods, this is it. This is how I die.” I thought to myself as my body fell to the ground.I couldn’t feel anything apart from the pain which sliced through me with the strength of all of the weapons housed in the Citadel. Lyssia’s laughter rung in my ears as she stood over my body, her head thrown back in mirth. The crowd seemed to have taken a few steps backward, although they clearly couldn’t pull themselves away from the spectacle the nightmare had brought with her.“I guessss Morpheusss’ love wasssn’t undying.” she hissed, turning her back and walking away from me, leaving me to death as she tracked down her next victim – the second man in chains.His wife started sobbing again, clutching his hand with all her might as if it would save him. He turned deathly pale once again, his eyes darting to where I lay. I guess I must have been quite a sight, covered in blood and dying, becaus
I turned and smiled at Zara, trying as hard as I could not to portray that I was not quite myself. My hands shook slightly but she didn’t seem to notice as she came to my side.“Morpheus came home.” she grinned, her dark eyes sparkling.“I worry about that, Zara. He’s still vulnerable.” I admitted, forcing my face to express my fear.She laughed at me and took my slightly trembling hand in hers, looping it through the crook in her arm and urging me silently to walk with her.“How is Cassia?” I asked, knowing full well that what the child had done could have resulted in her execution by Icelus.Zara’s entire body tensed and she looked away.“She is well.”I knew without a shadow of a doubt that the woman was lying. Something terrible had happened - I was sure of it. I felt the blood drain from my face and I stopped in my tracks, forcing Zara to halt as well.&ldqu