Chapter 4
I watched Victoria drift off to sleep with the sounds of her computer whirring, a soft hum coming from it. The window was open and she could hear a breeze -- one that ruffled the leaves -- as well as some birds chirping in the distance. Low chatter of students out in the courtyard in front of the dorms floated up too, it wasn’t much but it was something and it rocked her to sleep even though her brow was clenched.
Once she was finally asleep, I decided to finally slip away as well, my own eyes closed and I became corporeal once again, transparent really, but I still hid in the small shadow of her room in case she woke up prematurely.
The chatter of the students down below brought her back to an afternoon weeks ago, when she and I were sitting out in front of the main building with the other Vortex kids. She looked happy and everyone was talking amongst themselves, laughing, interjecting with one another. I looked on from afar at what was going on. I needed to figure out when to make myself clear to her, when to strike and talk to her.
I saw past me do what Victoria normally does to me when I space out.
“Helloo, Earth to Victoria.” Past me spoke up, waving a hand before Vic’s face to snap her from her gazing.
Victoria spoke little, from what I could see, and only seemed to smile and respond.
I guess with the events of the last day she really wanted to talk about it with someone. Best not be Past Me.
I come in from behind and all but possess my Past Self, who becomes rigid upon impact and then released a shiver. I sighed internally now able to fully control my Past Self. Weird, isn’t it?
I make my Past Self stand and motion for Victoria to follow me before I walk off to a secluded place. She get’s this questioning look on her face but stands regardless, following after me, the other kids don’t notice and soon vanish as if they were never there at all.
I turn the corner and compose myself, and get in order what I want to say to her, and how I’m gonna say it. This was gonna be hard to explain, especially since it’s being done through a dream.
You got this girl. It’s like any other normal conversation with Tori. A normal, friendly conversation. ...That’s being done through dreams. I groan and hold my head. I don’t hear a pitter of feet followed with a clearing of a throat. Looking up, I see the blonde in question, arms folded.
“Any reason you called me over here?” She finally speaks.
“Yes and you can’t freak out over this. Or wake up and freak out.” Her eyes widen and brow furrows from a raised brow, mouth gaping with a ready question.
I cut her off. “It’s about Max.” Silence. “I’m… I’m no longer of the living. So I’m contacting you this way.”
“If you’re no longer of the living, why not pull a Beetlejuice and haunt me or something?”
“It’s not like that,” I sigh, “I’m more of a Bad Wolf and can’t really do anything.” I see her shift, a slight twitch of the lip.
The scenery around us soon changes based on her mental state with this new found knowledge of what happened to me after I explained it all, including my time powers which I’ve only ever told Chloe about.
“So…” Victoria begins, sitting on the newly formed bench her mind made. “You couldn’t take the constant fighting between us, Chloe and I, and felt it your fault so you decided to die in a very unorthodox way?” I nod in response. “Geez, Caulfield…” Her head leans back, hand coming to cover her eyes.
She didn’t speak for what felt like forever -- eons maybe due to Dream states and stuff -- she was probably soaking it all in, thinking it over and trying to wrap her head around it, to understand it.
Back in the real world, feet stamped by through the carpeted hallway, and in turn her mental state made faceless figures doing the same where we were in the dreamscape.
“What about the cl--”
“Classroom?” I finish her sentence. A nod and she held her breath. “You did see the chair move. Saw me, if you saw a figure that is.”
“But how. How did I see it and no one else did?” Victoria asked curiously.
I only shrugged. “It could have something to do with your past maybe? I’d need to ask Amber Rachel about that--”
“Amber Rachel!?” She all but yelled and I turned to her. “You’ve met Amber Rachel?” Another loud question.
“Yeah. She’s in the same state as I am but for different reasons. She’s still here because Chloe still has attachments to her, still has her in her mind to keep her relevant. I’m only like this due to my powers. And from you two, too, I think.”
There was a loud knock on her door, Victoria stirred, turning over and mumbled in her sleep.
“Before you wake up, I want you to know I’m always watching over you, no matter what. And before you ask, I may or may not make this a constant with you,” She smiled at the answer to her question, “Not sure on Chloe tho… Amber Rachel might do that, who knows. But don’t let Chloe know. I’ll tell her on my own time.” With a final nod from Victoria, I refrained myself from my Dream Past Self and pulled out of the dream as a whole.
Another loud knock and I became invisible once again in the real world.
“Victoria, you ok in there?” It was Taylor. She really was Victoria’s closest friend, I could tell. “You didn’t answer your texts so I got worried. Can I come in?”
Victoria opened one eye, squinting and checking her phone to see a slew of texts from Taylor within the hour. Clearing her throat she spoke up finally.
“I’m fine. I just took a nap like you told me to is all. I didn’t realize my phone went off, it was probably still muted from class.” Victoria smiled light at the concern of her friend. “Thank you for worrying about me though. It means a lot.”
“No problem, V. You’re my friend so of course I’m going to worry about you. I’ll see you later. I love you, you awesome nerd.” And with that she walked away from the door and possibly out of the hallway and the dorms leaving Victoria alone with her thoughts.
Sighing and propping up against the wall, pillow in her lap, she thought back to her dream. The only thing she said after a short while was “Max.”
I looked up from my hiding spot and smiled. She got the message and understood it all.