Witness: See Series (Volume 1)(38)

It was as if the real world were an illusion and moving my energy from one place to another was what my soul was meant to do. As I struggled with my thoughts, I stretched out on the couch, and Draven laid next to me. I wanted to debate this, what we were doing, how we could use this for good – to help others. I wanted to question if there really was life and death, if I was ever really safe or even in danger, but my mind was weak. Draven’s arms tightened around me, and he began to hum the lullaby he always used to put me to sleep. I fell into the addicting sound of his voice and let myself drift into a dream.

When I woke the next morning, Draven was gone. I stretched out on the couch and tried to understand what this power was. I could vividly remember Draven in the dreams I just had; it was as if we never parted throughout the night. It made me think of yesterday. I felt the same way when I woke up, like he was there in my dreams. The idea didn’t seemed too farfetched, not after last night. It was unbelievable – being able to go anywhere with a thought. I wondered where he was and raised up to find my phone. I remembered plugging it in downstairs in my old room and went to find it.

The shower in the bathroom cut off just as I landed on the bottom steps. I had no clue as to who was in there. The room was empty. Monroe’s bed was made, and all of her things were set neatly on her side of the room. She was nowhere to be seen. Madison’s side of the room couldn’t have been more opposite. Her bed was made, but it looked the same as it did last night; it was as if she laid on it but never actually slept. Her sketches were across the floor; new ones had been added, different versions of ankhs. My phone cord was stretched in the direction of her bed. I furrowed my eyebrows as I walked over to it.

There was a blue box lit up with a text from Draven that said: “Went to the school to help get it ready to play at - get you around 7?”

I was furious. Had I not proven myself? Why could I not help him move out shadows? I texted back: “I’m coming now I can handle the darkness.”

His response was almost instant: “not shadows – heavy amps.”

“what?!”

“The shadows are gone - getting equipment in here.”

I rolled my eyes. I don’t know why, but I was having a hard time trusting him; not in a bad way, but in the kind of way that made me think he wasn’t telling me everything in order to ‘keep me safe’ - which infuriated me.

I texted back: “fine.”

Then I made up my mind to find Bianca or Britain today and get to the bottom of this. I scrolled to Britain’s name, and my mouth fell open. There were over fifty texts between me and him – but he wasn’t talking to me; he was talking to Madison. They had literally talked all night long. I read every word. Madison told him it was her and not me; that I was with Draven. His responses were just as charismatic as they always were. They talked about why she didn’t like him, why he didn’t care for her at first, then they moved on to how they needed to talk about their dreams. Madison very carefully ignored his plea to talk to her.

I shook my head and texted: “Did you have fun last night? Talking to my bff?”

At that moment, Madison walked out of the bathroom, fully dressed for the day – at least I think she was. She had on yoga pants and a tank top with a hoodie over it. I shook my phone lightly in my hand as my eyes met hers. At that point, she knew I’d read the texts.

“If I wanted to hide it, I would have deleted them,” she said as she walked in the closet and started looking for her shoes.

Britain texted back at that minute: “jealous?”

My instant response was: “whatever.”

“Where are you going?” I asked Madison, assuming that she was up to something.

“We…where are we going,” she shouted from the closet.

“OK, we. Apparently, it’s a boys club at the school and we aren’t allowed there,” I said with deep disdain in my voice.

Madison came out of the closet. “Who wants to do the dirty work? Not me…besides, I thought you wanted to figure out how to go to that dream world?”

My eyes grew wide. “Like right now? Are you serious?”

She grinned. “I didn’t just talk to Britain all night. I researched meditation and dreams. We’re going to a yoga class, then lunch with my mom.”

“What? Yuck – no way.”

Madison smirked. “What - the class, or lunch with my mom?”

I made a face. I liked Madison’s mom, I really did - but she was just…different from my mom. She wasn’t a serious, hard core woman like my mom; she was more of a creative person who was always talking about the realm of the world we all chose to ignore. I mean, I knew she was right about that, but the way she talked about it made it seem too...too…just weird.

“Is your mom teaching the class?” I asked finally.

“No,” she said as she tried not to laugh. “She just wants to spend time with me. She said she feels I’m leaving soon.”

Instant jealousy absorbed me. Her mom may have been weird, but at least Madison never had to question where she stood with her mom. I couldn’t remember the last time I talked to my mom.

“Good feeling, bad feeling?” I asked as I looked down at my phone to read Britain’s latest text.

“Good in the long run,” Madison mumbled as she watched me make a face as I read: “did you not have fun in Europe with lover boy?”