-CHAPTER 23-

After Adir told us about his past, things kind of returned back to normal. (Well, not normal, but I began training again.) By the time Adir had finished talking, it was late, so we didn’t really follow up much. It felt a lot like we had just forgotten about Adir and Mother, but we hadn’t. I now woke up frequently from the shattering tears of my young mother. I would toss and turn, terrified on my own of uncle’s blood.

“Save me–” I would mutter unconsciously.

“From what?” Naomi would ask.

“From that!” I would say.

“From what?”

“From the future.”

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“Stronger!” Adir shouted.

I dedicated myself even more to the craft of training with the sword.

“Maybe,” I thought, “I can stop it from happening to them.”

“I said stronger!” Adir shouted even louder.

I steadied, and swung. Focusing hard, I swung. Right to left, I swung. “Good. Why weren’t you doing that before?”

“I–” I stuttered, regaining my breath. “I think there’s something wrong with me.”

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“Something wrong? What do ya’ mean kid? Ye’re training, getting strong enough to finally leave, and now ye’re chickening out? Or, is it me?”

“It’s not you, Adir.” I dismissed quickly.

“Then what is it?”

“I have a recurring dream.”

“Well, I ain’t Joseph, but I might be able to help ya’ out. Go ahead, tell me.”

“In the dream, I’m standing alone in the desert. There’s no one around me, except for another me. It’s like looking into a mirror. Slowly, I approach myself. He was real. 3d, and just like me.

Quickly, the other me draws a knife. I unsheath my sword as well.

The other me lips, ‘I’ll stand right here. Now give me your best swing.’

I pull my sword back for an attack, but suddenly my sword becomes heavier, and it tears my muscles. I break down, and begin to cry, all while the other me laughs.”

“Go home.” Adir demanded.

“What?” I asked, “I have no home, there’s nowhere to return to.”

“I don’t care, just don’t be here kid.”

“What do you mean? You can’t just drop me like that! Are you the one chickening out?”

“Whatever I do is of no concern to you kid. There’s nothin’ I can do for ya’, now that ye’re bein’ haunted by a demon.”

“A demon?”

“Yeah, that’s right kid, a demon. And ya’ better figure the sh*t out if ya’ ever want to see me again.”

Adir forced me out of his shop, and I returned to the hotel at noon.

I lied down for a while, drifting from one thought to another, until I fell asleep.

I laid on the soft sand of the desert, thoughts collecting in my head.

“I can not leave this dream,

until I defeat the demon!”