AEGIS ↠ EMBRY CALL [R.U]

2| DREAMS

     The loud howling wind and banging of the shutters wasn't the reason why Callas kept tossing and turning in her bed at night losing sleep. It wasn't the first time when her dreams—or nightmares—had kept her awake at night. It always seemed to be the same dream playing over and over in her mind, drowning her slowly as she was unable to wake herself up from them before the end. Ever since her father had passed she had been experiencing strange dreams about a tall, pale man with deep ochre red eyes and sharp white teeth. She knew that it was probably just her mind replaying a movie character, but she couldn't help but feel as though he was real.

     Callas turned her head to look at the clock on her bedside table, it read: 'six a.m.' in bright green letters. She let out a sigh, turning her head to look at the ceiling, wishing that her body would just let her have one good night's sleep for once. The temperature in the room dropped, Callas closed her eyes only thinking that it was her mind playing tricks on her due to her bizarre sleeping schedule. But it wasn't in her mind. She huffed as she lifted her body up onto her elbows, scanning the room. It was almost pitch black, the only light in the room was coming from her clock and the gap between her curtains.

     As she pushed the blankets off her body she shivered, wanting nothing more than to just curl back into the blankets, but she knew she had to close the window—which she never remembered having opened. Unless she sleep-walked now, but she found that somewhat hard to believe. With her arms wrapped around her body for warmth, she made her way to her window—her bedroom was facing off towards the sea of trees. She pushed the window down, hearing the latch snap back into place, locking it securely. She looked out towards the tree line, she swore she saw something move into the darkness. Callas froze in her spot, her fists tightening around the material of the curtains as her breathing hitched, getting caught in her throat.

     "It's not real," she whispered to herself, wanting nothing more than to believe in her own words.

     She quickly closed the curtains, breathing heavily as she tried to get her heart to slow down from the hammering pace, stepping away from the window still facing them. She brought her hand up to her forehead and rubbed it, it wasn't exactly what she was hoping for with her first night in her new home, now she was certain that she wasn't going to get any sleep after seeing that. A sigh left her lips as she turned back around and looked to the clock, it read: 'six thirty-two a.m.' and her eyebrows furrowed. But that couldn't have been possible, she was only at the window for two minutes. How long had she been staring outside for?

     With the shake of her head, she walked over to the light switch, flicking on the warm coloured light. If she couldn't fall back asleep now, then she might as well start unpacking her belongings into her room. She picked up one of the boxes labelled clothes, ripping the tape off the top, and opened it up. The first thing she picked up was her father's old, black flight jacket. It still smelled of tobacco, whiskey, and pine. She brought it up to her face and smiled. When she balled the material up in her hands, the sound of paper crinkling made her pause. She opened one of the pockets, inside was an old photo of all of them. She placed the jacket down on her bed, running her thumb over the small and slightly ripped photo.

     Her mother was holding her, cradling Callas against her body. Callas looked like she was only one in the photo, while four-year-old Reed was on their father's shoulders, laughing. She would have to find a frame for the picture at some point. She carefully placed it down on the bedside table, leaning it against the lamp to prop it up and picked out one of her shirts to hang up in the wardrobe, leaving her father's jacket on the bed still. By the time she had finished with all three boxes of clothes, her wardrobe was finally packed. She brushed her hair out of her face with a sigh, she never got used to the unpacking process of moving, it took a lot out of her. She broke down the boxes, flattening them out to put in the recycling later.