A/n: I was reading through the story and I realized that I SKIPPED A CHAPTER!!! So now all the chapters are mixed up!

BIG OOPS!

Sorry...

Oh! And a BIG thank you to Actaeon for helping me get the story to flow better and for being a great beta-reader! THANKS!!!

An Artist's Tale
Chapter 10: The Nightmare
Renee's POV

'Renee, run! Get out of the house!' My mother shouted at me. 'Don't come back in until I say!' Mommy pushed me out the door and slammed it behind me and locked it.

'Mommy?' I blinked back tears. I lay on the ground for awhile before my curious nature got the better of me and I climbed through an open window. Inside I heard loud thumps and screams coming from my parents' room. I ran down the hall and opened the door a crack. I saw both my parents exhausted; their blood stained the wooden floor and dripped from a dagger held in the hands of a man wrapped in shadows.

'Mommy, Daddy?' I whispered as I slowly opened the door.

'Renee?' My father whispered. 'Leave, he'll kill you.'

'Kill me?' I asked taking a step into the room.

'Renee…' Mommy's voice was fading. '…I'm-we're- sorry…So sorry that we couldn't protect you…'

'Yes, the girl. Finally you stand before me.' A voice like liquid and filled with evil whispered. 'It looks like you've failed to protect her…Foolish mortals.' The shadow man took a step forward. 'You've no need to live any longer since I shall mark the child as my own!' The man picked up my father and mother and stuck his hand into their chests and yanked out their beating hearts. 'Die!' He crushed both hearts in his hands.

'Sorry. So sorry…' Mommy whispered one last time before her soul slipped out of her body. Daddy reached out his hand to me one last time and then joined her.

'Mommy? Daddy?' I whispered staring at the blood covering the walls in the small bedroom.

'MOMMY! DADDY!' I shouted again as I ran to the man and woman sprawled on the floor in a pool of blood.

'NOOOOOOOO!!!!' I screamed in despair as I realized they were finally dead.

'I'll kill you!' I shouted at the shadow in the corner watching me. 'I'll kill you for what you did!!!'

'Hah! Hahahahaha' The shadow laughed at me as I cried and tried to wake my parents up. 'I'll be waiting little one…' The shadow stopped laughing and spoke in a voice that sent chills up my spine. '…Let me give you a present before I leave…'

I felt an ice cold hand placed over my heart, and I passed out as the shadow person left and the law enforcement arrived.

'I'll be waiting…'

"Renee, wake up!" I heard a voice from far away shout. What do they want? I wondered, tears still streaming from my eyes. Mommy and Daddy are dead and it's all my fault!

"Renee! Do you hear me?! Wake up!" The voice was getting closer. Something smacked my cheek and then someone shaking me roughly. What do you want? I wasn't sure if I said it out loud. Mommy and Daddy are dead. I killed them. Just go away! But the voices wouldn't go away, in fact, they got louder. I slowly opened my eyes to find Tris and Keth standing above me.

"What happened? You were screaming and crying and shouting something like 'I'll kill you!' Are you alright?" Keth asked concerned.

"A dream…It was all a dream?" I asked, rubbing the tears from my eyes. That dream, I thought I stopped having it a year after my parents were murdered. I guess I was wrong.

"I'm alright." I hiccupped and blinked back more of the tears that threatened to overflow. "I just need a few moments alone."

"No." Tris said firmly. "I don't know what your dream was about, but I do know that it was most likely about a terrifying experience from a long time ago. Do you think that I could leave my student alone for a minute when I know she just had a nightmare?" I was about to argue when Marik entered the room.

"Have you ever heard of knocking?" Tris grumbled when Niko walked up behind my brother.

"Marik? What are you doing here?" I asked curiously, struggling to keep from crying. I didn't fool Marik who knew me inside and out.

"Mister Goldeye just came to the orphanage and asked one of us to come over because you were screaming in your sleep and wouldn't wake up. We figured it was the Nightmare again so I took Elekiel's place because he's…sick." Marik said quickly and sat down on my bed.

"The Nightmare?" Keth asked with a puzzled look on his face. "Again? You mean you've had this same nightmare before?" Marik nodded, ignoring the fact that I hated when people learned of my experience three years ago.

I blocked out Marik's voice as he told Niko, Tris, and Keth about how our parents were murdered in front of my eyes. I wondered what they would think. Would they pity me? Or treat me like a demon, just like most of the villagers, because I was thought to be the one to kill them? I didn't want to be pitied or treated like a demon. I just wanted to be Renee Massey which was why I hadn't told Tris, Keth, and Niko about my hard past.

"Earth to Renee!" Marik waved a hand in front of my face. "Your teacher and her friends have been gone for awhile!"

"Huh, wha-?" I shook my head, the rest of the world coming into focus. "Oh."

"So what was the Nightmare about this time?" Marik got up and threw the heavy shutters open and sunlight streamed in along with fresh air. His green eyes sparkled in the sun and he motioned for me to join him by the window.

"The same as always." I replied blinking in the bright light. "Exactly as when it actually happened."

"Do you think the murder yesterday had anything to do about it?" Marik tousled my long gold hair, tangled and messy from sleep.

"Probably." I answered. Might have also been the fact that I was attacked by a crazy man last night as well. "Wait a minute, how'd you know about it?" Marik never was one to listen to Master Crosswire, the news crier, usually making up an excuse for the fact that he really didn't care what was going on around him.

"Oh everyone was talking about it last night at dinner." Marik waved his hand carelessly, accidentally knocking over a framed picture on the wall which landed on his head.

"Ow…" He poked his head through the canvas his face taking the place of the man painted on it. I giggled helplessly, Marik's dirty blonde hair and mischief filled green eyes contrasted sharply with the rich colors of the portrait. "Uh-oh, I don't think I can pay for breaking this."

"No need to worry, I'll fix it." I said, pulling the ripped painting off his head and laying it flat on the hard wooden floor.

"Are you sure you can fix it?" Marik asked as I closed my eyes and began to count to seven slowly as I took in a deep breath. I nodded.

"My magic's in painting, right? So I think I can fix it. If I mess up, well it's already broken so…" I broke off when I remembered what Niko had said last night.

"Something like that might be happening in Renee. And until we figure out how to fix it, she must not be allowed to use her power." –Niko

Oh so what? I thought sullenly, I'll use my magic whenever I want, they can't stop me!So with that decided I took another breath and released my magic into the painting.