Chapter 28: Nightmare
A strong man was sitting on a chair at the end of the room. Basta walked across the floor, with no control over his feet. It was as if his legs didn't need permission from his mind to go forward. The man sitting on the chair stood up, standing at a sturdy 5'8. Basta felt the hairs on his arms stand on end, and suddenly his throat went numb. He clenched his fists and jaw, to the point where they hurt.
"Landa" he hissed under his breath. The brunette man made a little half smile, and tipped his masculine chin in Basta's direction. Basta's jade green eyes narrowed, and he clenched his jaw even harder, grinding his teeth. It hurt terribly bad to clench his cheeks like that, but squaring his chin helped him to feel more masculine. Landa raised an arm and Basta's eyes popped out of their squint. Landa had a loaded Luger pistol pointed in his direction. Basta's gaze turned to Landa's other arm. Knelt beside him, was Suzanne. The girl's coppery hair fell before her eyes, but she briefly raised her face to give Basta a long hard gaze. He felt his stomach get hot, and an ache ran through his body. She looked very sad, and so helpless. She needed him to protect her... Basta squared his jaw, clenching it even tighter, and the ache made him nauseous but he didn't care. He walked towards Landa and the loaded gun, unafraid. "You let go of her" he hissed in a poisonous tone, narrowing his eyes at the handsome man seated in the chair. Landa just smiled, his lips closed, and looked up at Basta with beautiful blue eyes.
"Make me" said Landa, in a light, teasing tone. This infuriated Basta. He took a step forward, and just as he was about to rip the man from the chair by his collar, Landa turned the Luger and shot Basta in the side of the head. Basta collapsed on his knees, crying out in pain...
Basta's eyes shot open, and for a moment he was very confused as to what had happened. He looked around, only to find himself in the hotel room, with Anna. She was sleeping peacefully on her side, facing the opposite direction from Basta. He sighed, and put a hand to his throbbing, aching ear. He cringed in disgust when he realised his entire outer lobe was crusty. He grumbled and swung his legs out of bed. He began walking to the bathroom, but suddenly swayed on his feet. The room seemed to be moving, and he found it hard to keep his balance- and his stomach contents. The pharmacist had said it was Vertigo, and it should be expected. Basta sighed and after regaining his balance, made his way to the bathroom. He flicked on the orange light, and gazed at himself in the mirror. He looked miserable and tired. He turned his face to examine his ear. He cringed in disgust. The entire pinna was encrusted with dried blood and some orange fluid. He nearly hurled in disgust as he used his index finger to flake away the dried substance. Chips of dried blood collected in the sink, and once most of the flakes were off, Basta used a damp cloth to clean away the rest. He rinsed off the porcelain, then returned to bed. When he put his head on the pillow, Basta couldn't help but yelp in surprise. The pillow case was crusty! His yell awoke Anna, who moaned softly as she stretched.
"What's wrong, Lieben?" She asked, peering at him in the darkness.
"My pillow- it's covered in blood." Basta felt tired and helpless.
"You were murmuring in your sleep" she said softly, her voice wakening.
"I had a bad dream" said Basta as he fetched a towel from the bathroom. He draped it over his pillow before lying down again. Anna made a tisk tisk sound with her tongue, then propped her head up onto her hand.
"Tell me about it" she said, her hair draping over her hand. Basta sighed and stared up at the ceiling.
"It was about Landa" he said, absentmindedly massaging his earlobe. "He had Suzanne by his side."
"Suzanne?" Asked Anna, confused.
"One of the little girls I lived with for a month" he said.
"Right" said Anna, remembering.
"It was silly. He shot me in the head and I woke up with this bloody earache." Basta huffed a sigh. Anna murmured contemplatively for a moment, then slid out from the sheets. Basta was confused, until he felt her weight on his body. He couldn't help but moan pleasurably and let a smile come across his face. Anna kissed his bottom lip, and moaned his name very softly, in a seductive tone. Basta's smile widened and he grazed Anna's cheek with his hand. Anna slid down from his lips until her face was level with his crotch. Basta smiled hugely, to the point where it almost hurt his ear. When Anna snapped open the button on his pants and undid the zipper, he leaned his head far back in the pillow, smiling, before watching Anna go down on him. Shamelessly, he groaned in satisfaction and laced his fingers in her hair, resting the palm on his hand on the back of her head. He resisted every urge he had to push her down on him further. "Oh, Anna!" He murmured, gripping her hair tighter in his fist. It took everything he had from forcing her to take him all the way in. After about five minutes, hands shaking, Basta gently pulled Anna's head away from his crotch, and panted and struggled to control himself.
-X-
Basta awoke with the grey morning light, and found himself pacing the rough carpet in the hotel room. Anna was showering, so aside from the muted sound of water, and the thipping sound of Basta padding across the carpet, the hotel room was abnormally quiet. He found his mind wandering back to Switzerland, to the girls that he had spent a tender stage of his life with. He couldn't believe it... he actually... missed them. That statement alone was worthy of a gasp, and it irked Basta that he had let himself get so attached. The sound of running water stopped, but Basta continued to pace. He had money in his pocket, and wanted so badly to give it to Julie. The bathroom door opened, and Anna walked out, wearing a small silk robe and her hair up in a towel. Basta licked his lips and stopped pacing, and tried not to stare at her wet legs.
"Are you OK, Lieben?" She asked, casting him a peculiar glance. Basta nodded. In truth he didn't feel alright... he felt irritated and distracted. But he didn't want to get on Anna's bad side. So he kept his feelings to himself and plopped down onto the bed.
"You seem distracted" she said, and Basta rolled his eyes. "You know, Lieben, I have an idea" she said, sitting next to him on the bed. He could smell her soap and shampoo and his skin crawled... she smelled so delicious he would have liked to pin her on her back and kiss all over her damp body. But he refrained. "I think it would be a good idea for you to mail the rent money to that lady."
"That is a good idea" he murmured.
"The mail system today is a lot better than it was back in your day" said Anna with a smile. "It should arrive shortly, and I'm sure she'll appreciate the gesture." Basta nodded and smiled. Anna is so brilliant he thought as he sat up to plant a kiss on her lips.
Basta spent the rest of his afternoon composing a brief letter to Julie (with of course Anna's help with the spelling of most of the words). Basta enclosed the rent money in the envelope, and slipped in a few candies from the hotel's front desk, as well. He followed Anna to the post office, where she bought a stamp and asked the man behind the desk to stamp Prioritéon the front. Then Basta watched as it was tossed into a bin.
"Danke, Anna" he said shyly. Anna smiled hugely at him, obviously impressed by his use of German. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek before looping her arm through his. They walked hip to hip back to the hotel, each smiling broadly to themselves.
A/N:
Goodness, I am so sorry for the much delayed update! How long has it been, anyways? I know this is a rather scrawny chapter, without much subject in it, but the chapters that will follow this one will take a drastic change...
As a Canadian, I actually do fit under many of the Canadian Stereotypes.
I DO speak French
I DO love beer
I HAVE used my outdoor balcony as a freezer (I'm not lying, people)
I DO say 'Eh'
I DID have an igloo in my back yard
And most importantly... I FREAKING LOVE HOCKEY. So my life, as of late, has been composed of me being a good little math student, spending hours and hours banging my head into my text book and sobbing over a graphing calculator, but when I'm not doing that, I'm watching hockey and cheering like a freaking maniac. With my team in a desperate rush to pick up a playoff spot (with, uhm, SIX FREAKIN' GAMES REMAINING!) you can't honestly expect me to be writing at a desperate time like this.
So anyways, here's the chapter, my apologies for it's patheticness.