CHAPTER 3
Eyes That Ease And Burn

Instantly following the first of many petrifying experiences, sickening despairs in which I've always met an agonizing and hopelessly dire end, I found myself upright in my bed, reality somewhat graciously greeting me; informing me that what I'd experienced was fictitious. It was a pity this cordial reassurance was weighed down by my undying dread. Sweat dripped from my furrowed brows while my chest heaved sporadically; miserably, my splutters proved virtually ineffective in satisfying my fearful hunger for oxygen. No amount of air seemed to ease my erratic breathing and, of course, when my friends cried out my name, their tones heavy with panic and concern, and when they pleaded I inform them of the source behind my panic, I failed to share with them lies of a delightful and stupendously tame dream. In fact, I involuntarily avoided any and all conversation regarding my dream until morning. I simply yearned to dismiss that which couldn't be; not for the life of me. When my mind had thankfully ripped me from that nightmare, this was what I'd said to my pleading friends.


My pitiful whimpers resounded throughout the shadow-ridden cabin as I stumbled from my bunk bed and my sweaty feet soon met the wooden floor, smooth and cool beneath them. My breathing was irregular, only hastened when a faint glow beyond the glass of the sliding door met the corner of my teary eye. I screamed as a vague image of the merciless silhouette from my nightmare flashed through my mind, and I quickly stumbled away from the door, into a campmate behind me that I paid no mind to identify.

With a trembling index finger, I gestured weakly to the sliding door, my eyes weighed down by sombre trepidation. "What was that?" I cried as my free hand flew to my mouth, muffling the words that followed the action. "What the hell was that! Somebody just check!" I whimpered as my knees began to sway merciless, struggling to bear the petrifying emotions that seized me within their almost impenetrable grasps. "I swear, just someone please check the frickin' door!"

As Lillian raced to comply with my pitiful cries, the unidentified person that stood in clear alarm behind me spun me to face her. "What the heck is wrong, Kelsi?" Jazz, I realized, cried with wide hazel eyes that flashed with the same tone of alarm as that of a foreboding siren. "You're a freaking wreck!"

I abruptly jerked my head from side to side. "No! No!" I insisted with a streak of insistent assurance everyone immediately knew to doubt. "I-I'm—" I paused to force down the hot bile churning in my constricted throat, my quick and heavy breaths drying the saliva within my mouth as my world hastily began to spin. "I-I'm totally fi-fine, you guys!" I asserted with pleading, insistent nods of my head. "Just a...simple nigh-nightmare!"

I knew I was lying, just as I knew I was presently succumbing to an emptying mind, any and all thoughts being smeared by a sickening feeling of hopelessness. My body began to tremble without mercy as I instinctively clutched my pounding skull. "I...Guys, I don't..." I never seized the opportunity to complete my panic-laden words, a repulsive feeling akin to the concluding sensation in that of my dream ruthlessly engulfing my teary sight.


Yes, I passed out. That, in actual fact, is the reason I was unable to share with my friends words regarding my dream until morning. I was out until around five o'clock in the morning, my friends unfortunately ordered by teachers to return to their beds; the teachers, however, knew my friends would only gossip for an hour or two about the exciting ordeal I had caused, which would unsurprisingly branch to other conversations amongst them. There was no way they would return to their slumbering for at least an hour. Unsettlingly, there was a situation I deem significant, which is where I found myself following my awakening in Camp Adair's rather basic medical centre.


With eyes weighed down by troubled rest, flashes of venomous lavender eyes and wicked roars of laughter profuse in my dreams, I struggled to pry my heavy eyes apart. I was met by a blurred vision and a headache that brought forth an agonized groan from my lips. As I levelled myself into a sitting position on a soft surface I discerned as a mattress by its texture beneath my hands, I gazed directly before me with wide, yet unseeing eyes. Panicked by my jumbled vision, I awaited the colours to assemble into a clear image with unsteady breaths.

After a few moments of silence, save for my rushed breathing, my gaze was finally met by a room shrouded in darkness, although rays of moonlight penetrated through closed curtains and illuminated this space well enough that I could recognize it. Yesterday, on the first day of camp, I had come here with Lillian to get some aspirin for her toothache. She'd had her braces tightened the day before. This was Camp Adair's medical centre.

My first thought involved remembering my reason for being here; my second was, Surely I'm not alone here. I glanced at the area where I recalled the door being. I perceived a dim light easing its way beneath it and realized someone must've been in the small waiting room beyond the door, which basically consisted of the nurse's desk and a pair of leather couches fit for two.

I hastily left the warmth of the bed, noting I still wore my black pyjamas with yellow moons that I'd retired to bed in last night, before all these terrors had come into play. The creak of the wooden floorboards beneath my feet made me a little uneasy, but I figured if I rushed for the wooden door that separated me from the soothing light beyond it, I would be rid of the creaky floorboards and find myself relieved at being with whoever was within the other room, instead of all alone. Loneliness was presently something I dreaded with a blazing passion.

Quickly, my fingers encased the doorknob and gripped it tightly, then immediately swung it open. It was then that I was met by the same lavender eyes that would be forever chiselled into my frightened memory, and my horrified scream was suddenly muffled by a dark-skinned hand. "Oh my God, let me go!" I failed to plead through the warm hand that covered my mouth.

My ears were met by a surprisingly gentle murmur. A tone I hadn't expected. "Shh. Kelsi, I hold no intention of harming you." I had been fighting back in panic, determination and horror my fuel, but his smooth words caused me to halt in these actions.

He seemed convinced that I would remain silent, I assumed, because after a moment's silence hung low about the illuminated room, Marik slowly, carefully released me. I raised a brow at his intended gentleness; it was as if by suddenly ripping his hand from my mouth, he believed my lips would somehow be pulled along for the ride. I shook my head a little in an attempt to dismiss that strange thought. "Marik, what-what are you doing here?" I cried in disbelief. "And what's the time?"

Marik glanced at the gold analogue watch adorning his wrist. "It's about a quarter past five," he stated with a simple blink of his eyes.

Only? I thought in disbelief. It seemed like I'd been suffering those same painful images within my dreams for a lifetime and more. "You didn't answer my first question," I retorted bluntly, eyeing him with suspicious orbs that stung every time I blinked. I knew I must've been a sorry sight, especially by the sympathetic gleam within Marik's lavender eyes. Wait— "La-Lavender!" I suddenly burst, my finger flying to point at his entrancing eyes. "Y-Your eyes a-are lavender!"

Marik quirked a brow at this. "Yes," he murmured, his gaze suddenly glazed by a wall of suspicion and aloofness combined. "And what point are you seeking to prove?" His tone seemed to challenge me as his eyes suddenly narrowed dangerously, dominatingly. Boy, was he bipolar!

"Last time I checked, lavender wasn't the most common of eye colours," I found myself hissing through clenched teeth, my fists balled at my sides as they shook in a mixture of fear and irritation. "In fact," I spat, "I wouldn't be surprised if you were the only one in this whole camp with such eyes!"

I was taken aback when Marik suddenly raised an extended hand and I immediately discerned his painful intentions. I stumbled backwards a few steps, while Marik's arm froze. He had been about to backhand me, I was`sure, but I was also flabbergasted, staring with wide eyes as his tanned face hardened, his lip curving into a straight line that reflected an emotion akin to intolerance. "I've learnt all I came here for," he murmured in a soft, cryptic tone that found me shuddering in unease. "Now I've no further need to converse with you." His eyes narrowed a little further, harshness predatorily smothering the gentle warmth that had previously danced within those purple depths only minutes ago. With his final words, Marik spun on his heel as his hands dove into his pant's pockets, and he suavely strode for the door. "Perhaps I'll see you again, Kelsi."