Chapter 37
I went to bed, hardly able to sleep after what Gabriel and I stayed up talking about. A thousand years ago? He told me that they have been alive with your mother and that I, too, was immortal.
Yes, immortal. That's what he said.
"But I thought I could die," I had whispered when he told me of this. I was thinking of the frost bite that should've killed me. Maybe that's why it didn't. Maybe it was just meant to cause pain… I grimaced and I could see that Gabriel had thought about that too.
"They can't kill you Raina, that's the worst part."
I looked at him, entirely puzzled. "But how could that be.."
"You must understand. They don't want you dead Raina. Your father doesn't want you dead. He just wants you to know what it's like to suffer."
We sat in silence for a while. I couldn't stand thinking about this. My father wanted me dead….he always wanted me dead. He wanted Cal dead too, but why was no one talking about him? How could he just drift past their sight? Was there something there that I didn't know? Something seen that I didn't see?
We had both gone to sleep, and I lay there trying to stay half awake so as not to dream. However, I could only manage it for so long and I finally drifted into dreams.
Fortunately this started off, well it started off as a dream and not a nightmare. The first I'd had a very long while.
I wasn't sure where I was. It was cool outside, and the air was surrounded in mist. There was, well there was no ground beneath my feet but I wasn't falling. I was…drifting somehow. Able to wander, step by step through the cloudy layout.
There were whispers among the air. All of them, I wasn't able to make out very well. It was simple whispers. Two or three words, repeated through the atmosphere, drifting through the wind.
"Hello?" I called out. "H-hello?"
No one answered at first. I simply took a step forward. I held my breath, trying not to imagine how high it was and inched through, cloud after cloud sailing past me.
"Hello?" I called again. "Is anyone there?" What was I even doing here? "I can wake up any minute now." I said, more to myself than anyone else.
"Raina," a voice called out. It was as smooth as the mist around me. I still couldn't see anything. I wandered towards it.
"Who's there?" I asked, searching for a form.
"Coooommme heeerrrre," I heard. That voice. I felt like I'd heard it somewhere before, sometime….but I couldn't place it. I walked towards the voice. The wind around me seemed to pull me towards it and before I knew it, it was almost gliding me along. I had no choice. I was going to meet whoever was within the cloud.
Slowly, the clouds parted to reveal a lady. She was beautiful, entirely in whites and light blue silks. The way she looked at me, I felt she knew me, but who…
"Raina," she said, a smiled forming her lips. It lingered there, her arms opened wide to embrace me as she came over, light as a feather. Her embrace, however, felt real. Who was she?
I didn't speak, just stood there, not sure whether to react or not. She didn't seem to mind.
"It's been so long," she said. Her eyes were full of knowing like I was some long lost puppy she'd had in her arms.
I decided to play along as if I knew. "Yes, it has hasn't it?"
"Come" she said, pulling my hand along as she walked. "Sit down with me. We've much to speak of."
"Yes," I replied again. I smiled sweetly and followed her.
Only a dream.
She led me over to sit on a cloud that did not disperse or move at all. It was dreadfully comfy. She sat across from me and placed her hands across her dress. "Where have you been, my love?" She asked.
"Away," I replied.
"So long," she said. "So long you've been gone."
"Yes," I replied.
"I was waiting you know. All of these years."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be away so long."
She had a painful expression for a moment, remembering all of those years of longing. She didn't speak a while, then she opened her mouth to try to say something.
"How is Cal?" she asked. She really wanted to know. "Is he all right?"
"Yes," I said, swallowing, trying to hide the doubt in my throat. "He's doing well."
"Good," she replied. "Good."
The silence didn't seem out of place. I simply observed that she was watching me, enjoying my presence, the simple fact that I was there and with her. She was happy.
Suddenly, however, there was a thunderous rage upon the clouds above us. She glanced up in terror and then looked at me. "You must go now," she said, glancing up at the angry storm imerging. It had already begun to poor.
I nodded.
"You know how to put an end to this, Raina. I can only hold out for so long."
"What do you want me to do?" I asked, aware that the rain was becoming a downpour.
Beyond the pouring showers, I could barely hear her voice. "Find Cal! Tell him that you both much reach me. Help me. My children…"
And then I was sucked back through the time zone that was no longer a dream. Back into a reality of pain that I burdened from Cal. I whimpered through the night.