Chapter 12: The Nightmare.

Ludovic's POV

"Motheeer!" I growled awake, my eyes glowing. It was a nightmare. A horrible one.

in the terrifying nightmare, I found myself in a dark ward with a bright white light blazing down on a still figure on a hospital bed. The ward was deserted and silent, except for the rhythmic beeping of the heart rate monitor and my thumping heart.

Afraid of what I may find, I picked my steps to see who it was. The repulsive sight that stared me back in the face rendered me weak and powerless. I feel helplessly to the tiled floor beside the bed weeping uncontrollably like a child. It was my mother.

A part of her face was dripping with fat worms and maggots. The once beautiful long wavy hair on her head which I inherited had all turned white and tousled. Her limbs had thinned out to the point of revealing her skeletal frame. I could see her rib cage heaving slowly up and down beneath her hospital robe.

"My sweet baby boy." She turned to face me, but I was too ashamed to look her in the face. I bowed my head in shame, clenching my hands on my laps.

"I tried mother... I tried to find her." I snivelled, leaving my head bowed.

She raised her hand and placed it on my head, combing through each follicle as if it was going to be her last. I took her fidgeting hand in mine and kissed it intently. I couldn't restrain myself from holding her anymore; she was all I had left.

"I know. I know you've tried all you could." She managed a weak smile on her damaged face. A few maggots fell out from the pores on her cheeks when she smiled that I couldn't bring myself to look at her broken smile. I tore my gaze away from her the second time and cried into my palm.

She had become a fragment of her former self.

I brought her bony hand to my lips and planted a long kiss on it. "I swear to you with my life, I'll get you the healer."

"Let me go, my child." She whispered.

"No! Never!" My body tensed, a wave of strength surging through every tissue in me.

Immediately, the environment changed to an unknown part of the woods. A whirling wind like a tornado swept her from the bed, and lifted her into the air. I held unto her hands to bring her back to me, but the force was too powerful to contend with.

"You must let me go, my child. My time has come." A lone tear dropped from her eyes and fell on my forehead. I didn't understand the force that propelled the tear, but I noticed that I became weak to maintain my grip on her. I fell back to the floor on my back. Helpless. Again.

"Motheeer! I yelled into the emptiness, my eyes glowing, and my claws barred.

"Ludovic." A familiar voice echoed my name from the empty ends of the woods. My ears stood on end to trace the direction of the voice, but it seemed the voice was coming from everywhere at the same time.

"Ludovic." The voice called again. This time, it sounded worried, and loving like mother's.

I felt a hand clasped softly around my shoulder, but it was too dark for me to see who it belonged to. My super sight for reasons best known to it failed me to decipher who it was. I found myself rooted to the spot, unable to run or do anything to defend myself in case the voice decided to attack me.

I saw a movement in the shadows approach me. The shadows swallowed each other till they formed a coherent human figure. The silhouette of the figure belonged to someone I knew so well like tying the laces of my Oxfords.

"Amber?" What could she be doing strolling in the dark woods at that howling hour of the night? She could fall into the teeth of a hungry rogue.

She approached me with concerned written all over her face. "Wake up, Ludovic!"

I forced my eyes open and found myself in the room of the motel. Amber was sitted beside me by the edge of the bed. Her eyes carried the motherly love I see in them everyday for the past seven years. I had come to be grateful for her after my mother fell ill.

"The same dream?" She smiled into my sweaty face, a note of worry padded her voice.

I shook my head in affirmation and held it in my hands, too lost to utter any statement. It was always the same dream every night, and to say the least, I was beginning to get scared. I couldn't shake off the possibility of losing my mother, it I did not find the fixer.

When I realized I had found the fixer, I turned my head swiftly to the other end of the bed, forgetting for a moment that Amber was in the room with me. It was empty. My heart jumped a mile at the thought of her running away.

"Where's Iris?!" I asked, returning my gaze to Amber with my eyes bulging.

"She's not here." Amber replied. The worry in her deep blue eyes deepened.

I had worked so hard to find her. I can not lose her now.

"What do you mean she's not here?" I was afraid now.

"Take it easy, boy. It was just a one night stand. The 'fraidy' girl must be ashamed that she lost her maidenhead to a complete stranger."

"How did you know that?" I threw her a puzzled look.

She turned her gaze to the other end of he bed and gave me the 'see-for-yourself' look. I followed the gaze and saw a pool of dried blood on the blanket.

"Fuck." I slanted my head backward and swept my hand over it in exhaustion. "I need to find her."

It was when I wanted to get out of the bed I realized I was naked. I gave the room a quick survey for my cloths and shoes, but the room was bereft of them. Her champagne gown still lay unblinking at the entrance of the bathroom.

She was the sweetest girl I had ever met in my life. Not even Cathleen could measure up to her.

"She must have taken your dress." Amber said the words for me.

"I can see that." I pulled the sheets to my chest in embarrassment.

Amber rose up to accord me my space, but ended up making a joke out of it. "Wait... What are you covering, young man? Is there anything you're hiding from me I haven't sucked or blown off to orgasm before?" She dramatized.

"Amber!" I feigned irritation to make her stop. "That's gross."

"What. I'm still smooth and curvy to get me a cock if I need one." She twirled in front of me, pouting her lips with her eyes closed and her head tilted sideway.

"Jesus, Amber. I need some privacy." I threw her a pillow, forcing her out of the room.

"All right, all right. I just want you to be happy. I don't like it whenever you wear that sad face. It doesn't suit that cute face of yours." She dropped her shoulders. She was indeed worked-worried for me.

After mother, she was the next best thing that had happened to me.

"Thank you, Amber. I can't thank you enough, " I said, smiling sheepishly.

"Awww." She gasped. "Can I come touch those fluffy cheeks of yours."

"Never." I cupped my face with my hands to protect my cheeks from being mutilated by her fingers again.

"It appears you don't have fresh clothes to wear out of here. So, here's the deal," she glowed, "your cheeks for fresh clothes."

"What?!" I gasped in surprise. Way to go to strike a deal.

She winked at me, a grin playing at the edge of her lips. "Chose wisely, baby boy."

"Have you settled for blackmailing now?"

"A woman's got to do what a woman's got do." She shrugged, biting at her fingernails.

"Fine. Just this onc_" She didn't let me finish my statement before she spirited to my corner with her hands spreading my cheeks wide.

Her laughter that morning was everything I needed to get back on my feet.

"I'm coming for you, Iris." I swore. "I'm gonna find you."