Ch.1 The dream
"Help me… please…"
The ballroom was so dark, only a few tall candelabras and the flickering tiny flames of half melted candles scattered about the large space offered any illumination… Rick squinted his eyes as he attempted to fight off the woozy disoriented sensations assailing him, he didn't know where he was or how he got here…
Eerily beautiful music seemed to fill the air as elegantly garbed dancers from days very long past whirled about the dance floor with an otherworldly grace, he almost felt nauseated watching them in his dizzy state…
"Help me…"
That voice again…
Rick's dark brown eyes scanned the poorly lit room for the source, until ultimately… his gaze felt drawn to one girl in particular, she was a beautiful brunette that couldn't be any older than seventeen or eighteen years old… but she stuck out apart from everyone else, her dress was a bright pastel mint green with a baby pink sash at the empire waist and tiny pink roses adorning the bell jar sleeves… everyone else wore dark and gothic hues of black, dark red and gray, elaborately decorated masks too… hers was the only face uncovered, a face that looked thoroughly frightened as she was whirled about the dance floor, clearly against her will, yet somehow not have the strength to resist…
"Ethan… help me, please...I'm so afraid, Ethan…"
Her voice was faint and almost sounded muffled, like he was hearing it from under water…
He was about to call out to her…
Klang! Klang! Klang! Klang!
The sound of thunderous cymbals clashing together had twenty one year old Rick Lewis sitting straight up in bed, his breath coming up in ragged pants as sweat dripped down his face in thick rivlets… he looked over at his loud ass phone sitting on the bedside table as soon as he registered he was in his own room and picked up the device, turning off the ten AM alarm he'd set.
"That dream again…" He groaned, propping his elbows onto his knees before resting his forehead into his palms "Always the same… everything the same… and that girl… I have never seen that girl anywhere before in my life… why is she so frightened?"
He about jumped out of his skin then as his bedroom door abruptly opened to reveal his older brother Peter standing in the doorway, he looked excited about something "Rick! I got something you're really going to like! Get dressed and come on downstairs, I'll take you out to breakfast and we can talk about it!"
Peter was already heading back out the door before Rick could say anything, the obvious sound of his retreating footsteps echoing off the stairs as he descended… Rick sighed and turned to throw his legs over the edge of the bed, maybe he could tell Peter about the weird dream? His brother was all into history and weird stuff, so maybe he might not think he was completely quakers for dwelling on it as much as he was.
He looked up at the pristine white paint of his bedroom and couldn't help but feel his mind wander a little as he thought again about the girl he kept seeing, that beautiful girl so obviously in great distress… he couldn't understand why, but his heart ached when he recalled the terror on her lovely face...
"I must be losing my mind, it was just a stupid dream" Rick sighed as he hopped off the bed and made his way towards his dresser for some fresh clothes.