Desperation
As soon as he woke up, Albert looked for his phone and tried to contact everyone. First, he called Myriam, knowing it to be futile as her phone would be possibly unavailable. It was, it didn’t even ring, there wasn’t any message, it just didn’t work. He next called Robert, who picked it up immediately.
-Hey, I was thinking about calling you, but I thought you might be asleep…
-Marla has Myriam.
-WHAT? But… how do you know?
-I was there. And then Marla got into my dream and told me that she had Myriam. She told me that I had to go find her.
-Fuck… where has she taken her?
-I don’t know, she didn’t tell. Dammit! It’s all my fault for being so stubborn. She has killed my grandmother, Mayra, and now who knows what is she going to do to Myriam!
-Albert, you can’t do anything now, both because you are away and because you are tired. We will come pick you up at the station and then we can plan what to do. Now, rest a bit. See you tomorrow.
-Don’t do anything without me.
-We won’t.
He hung up and tried hopelessly to phone Myriam again. After a few attempts, he finally gave up. He thought about trying to find her in his dreams, but that would be the first thing Marla blocked out. Instead, he decided to visit Lara, even if she had forbidden him to. Everything was the same, as usual.
-Didn’t I tell you not to come again?- his grandmother scolded him.
-I had to, Mayra died, she killed herself after Marla got inside her head day and night.
Lara put a hand over her mouth, horrified, and fell on a sofa. She started shaking her head in disbelief.
-No, no, no, my sweet baby. She looked so like me, I almost expected her to have the same powers I did. But things aren’t always as you expect them to be. She was so bright, so nice, why did she have to die?
-It’s my fault.- said Albert, sitting next to her on the sofa and taking her burned hand softly.
-Don’t you ever say that again, Albert.- she looked at him through her lidless eyes.- It’s not your fault that that girl is crazy, you did what was right, she is the one who is trying to spoil everything you love so you will become like her. You didn’t come only for this, though, did you?
Albert explained her the messages he had left Marla, both on her grass and on her skin, and the way that Myriam vanished into nowhere and how Marla had menaced him on hurting her. His grandmother comforted him the best she could.
-It’s clear that you need to find where are they hidden as soon as possible, think of places that are important to Marla, and maybe you will find them there. However, I don’t think you will be able to look at those places during your dreams, you will have to go there in person, and it is not going to be easy.
-But if I go there while awake I will have no power at all, I will be completely at her mercy.
-I don’t think you will… I’ve been reading that old dusty book, apparently, if you’re powerful enough and you get proper training, you can manipulate the world while being awake. It is clear that you are powerful enough, but you won’t have time for training so you will have to go with it.
-How am I supposed to do so? It is hard enough to stay focused while dreaming, and I can block any external stimulus I don’t want… in real life, it is going to be impossible!
-First, you need to stop thinking it is impossible. Second, Marla does it, doesn’t she? Her power cannot be much more different than yours is, after all, you power is supposed to come from hers. Wait, I will bring the book, it should help you a bit more.
She went to pick the book from her room and took it back downstairs. Albert could see how she had marked some pages with stickers. Lara sat back down next to him and opened the book to a marked page.
-See? “Some Dreamers were known to have the capacity to bend reality to their needs even if they were awake. There were few of them, not even one in every ten or twenty years, but they were the most powerful. Experts think that they became extinct as a control mechanism, as it was dangerous for one person to hold so much power.”- she skipped some paragraphs.-“Although it is unknown how they managed to unleash their power while awake, all the theories concur. These Dreamers were able to achieve the same concentration state they attained during the phase previous to the dream, without the need to close their eyes and fall asleep. This limited their action to their surroundings, but it also made them much less vulnerable.”
Albert looked at his grandmother, expecting her to tell him that it was a joke. But she didn’t, he took the book and read it all himself. It was crystal clear. Could he actually do it, though? Lara took the book from his hands and left it on the tea table, next she took his hands in hers and squeezed them.
-You can do it, I know, if there’s anyone in the world who can do it, it’s you.
He gave her a crooked insecure smile, but he believed her.
No comments:
Post a Comment