Nightmares

A tall young man was walking on the dark street which did not have street lamps. It was a few hours past dusk and everyone had finished the work for the day and had already been to their homes. Therefore, the streets were empty and this particular young man was walking slowly without any hurry. It was a day after the full moon and the soft moonlight fell on his tired face creating a shadow on his behind.

Even though he was exhausted from the work since the morning, his pitch-black eyes shone in the moonlight as if two from the thousands of stars had fallen from the sky. His thick black hair that fell on his shoulders together with the thick nicely shaped eyebrows added extra beauty to his dark eyes. Even in the moonlight, the light shirt he wore could not hide the well-built muscles in his chest and arms. He had strong broad shoulders and long legs giving the perfect proportion to his figure. Altogether he looked like a breathing duplicate of a masterpiece done by a fine sculpturer.

He turned to the right from the main street at a junction and walked along a small street shadowed by many trees on both sides. His home which was in the dark when he walked in was at the end of this narrow street. He opened the door and lit a candle and a warm smile appeared on his face while looking at his small and shabby but cozy home.

It had four separate rooms. The front room to where the front door opened was used as the visiting room. There was an old sofa with discolored cushions, two old chairs and a table as furniture. The ceiling had a few decayed spots and the cold floor was seen through holes in the old carpet. The house was well maintained and had a warm vibe when his mother was alive. She used to decorate the porcelain vase on the table with freshly plucked flowers that grew along the fence in the backyard early in the morning and now the empty vase just stood on the table without receiving any care.

The next room was used by this handsome owner of the house as his bedroom. There was nothing much there except his old comfortable bed, a bookshelf and a rack for clothes. His windows opened to the backyard where many wildflowers bloomed.

The opposite room was his mother's and it rarely had any use after her death. He used to keep some of her belongings there in a box. Although these were not of any monetary value, they were all he had as memories from his mother.

The next was the kitchen which opened to the backyard. This is where his time was spent mostly second to his room. He lighted the hearth to cook his meals there and used the old table and the chair to enjoy his lonely meals. He especially liked this place because he enjoyed reading his books while sitting there by the candlelight. Books were his solemn companions on lonely nights he spent for many years.

When his mother was alive, the house was well lit and the dinner was cooking by the time he came back from work. She passed away seven years ago leaving him all alone as he did not have anyone except her. He lighted the hearth and put a pan with water and added a few vegetables to make a soup. On some days he did not even bother to cook anything for dinner and went to sleep with an empty stomach.

He came back with drenched hair after having a shower and swallowed his bland soup which was made of only a few vegetables. Though it was tasteless, the hot soup warmed up his empty stomach and comforted his tired body.

That day he was later than the usual time he came home and was too tired to read after having dinner. So, he went straight to bed to find comfort in the sweet embrace of the goddess of sleep.

The room was half lit by a burning candle and the dim light was enough to see that the room was well-styled. A young woman was lying there on a bed which was a four-poster with a canopy and curtains. Her large blue eyes were blurred with tears of pain and sorrow. Her beautiful face and neck were very pale and she was entirely drenched in sweat. She was covering her mouth tightly with one of her pale white hands and was trying in vain to stop the loud sobs.

Suddenly there were two newborn babies wrapped in white clothes, crying loudly. A maid took one of the babies with shaking hands, opened a door and walked into the dark. Although her face was covered with a veil, the slight sobs said that she was crying holding the baby with shaking hands onto her bosom. All the time the crying of babies was very loud and disturbing that he covered his ears with his hands. Still, the sound was unbearable and felt like it was coming from inside his head.

Suddenly he opened his eyes and realized he was in his own room from the dim purple light of the dawn that crept through the opened window. "Ah! This dream again" he muttered placing the back of his hand on his forehead and wiping off the sweat. It was very early to get off the bed but he could not go to sleep again either. He lay on the bed and allowed numerous thoughts to haunt his mind ignoring the cold morning breeze that entered through the window and gave him chills.

This same dream of a young lady with two babies had been bothering him since he could remember. When he was young, there was a time he could not sleep at all because these mysterious nightmares had been troubling him and he was afraid to sleep. As he recalled, he used to dream of a palace that seemed to be covered with snow caught entirely in fire and the flames from the palace were following him. When he grew up gradually these dreams began to bother him less frequently.

One night more than fifteen years ago, when he was crying frightened by these nightmares, his mother gave him a pendant to hold in hand and said that the pendant would free him from the dreams. After that day, he used to hold the pendant tightly until he fell asleep. The pendant was made with a bronze-colored metal and was oval in shape. In the middle, half of the sun and half of the moon were carved together to complete a circle. A symbol of a crown was present above the halves of the sun and the moon and the full pendant was margined by a circle of twelve stars.

Seven years ago, when his mother was ill, she told him that he must always keep the pendant with him without losing it. After her death, he put a chain into the pendant and wore it on his neck as he treasured it as something he owned from his mother.

This morning he was looking at the pendant and swooned in thoughts about his mother. She was a kind-hearted woman who loved her son very much. Although her eyes had a sorrowful look, they conveyed the love and sincerity of her heart. There were signs that she had suffered a lot in her life but always wore a smile for everyone.

The time came for him to get up and get ready to go to work. Every day had the same routine and he had almost died of boredom if he did not have the books with him to read. While getting off the bed he looked at his bookshelf and gave one of his most sincere smiles which were very rare.

He got ready and stopped just for a moment to take a glance at his image in the mirror while leaving the room. The features that could not be seen the night before due to the darkness were clear in the daylight. He had very fair skin that contrasted his black eyes and hair. He had sharp jawlines and a straight nose giving him a bold and determined look. No more words were needed, his features were perfect and looked indeed like an avatar of a god.

He ate the simple breakfast he prepared quickly and went to the door. As he had done every day for the past seven years, looked unconsciously at the empty vase on the table and sighed while going out of the door. He walked along the route which he had passed thousands of times in his life to reach the main street.

It was a busy morning as usual and the streets were getting crowded. He walked through the market which was getting noisier and replied shortly to the people who greeted him. It seemed that many people knew him but he had the same indifferent response to every one of them.

His master was already there when he went to the shop. To be exact, it was a dispensary where he was the apprentice while his master was the doctor. "Ah! Good morning Thysmin!" greeted his master cheerfully seeing his favorite and only student. So, the name of the handsome young man the readers have known for a while was Thysmin.

"Good morning master! You are early today" said Thysmin looking at his beloved teacher who was more like a father to him. In his whole life, he never had a father and he did not even know the name of his father. This kind-hearted old man whose name was Orleam treated him as his own son as he never had one of his own.

"Why do you look dull today? Not feeling well?" asked Orleam looking at Thysmin's tired eyes and seeing that he was unusually quiet. Thysmin was normally quiet but always had a positive spirit to start the day. "Ah, no master. I'm just a little tired" replied Thysmin cleaning all the equipment which were on a tray.

"Having the nightmares again?" asked the old man who knew the hardship the young man went through. "Yes. I could not sleep enough. But I'll be alright in a while" said Thysmin arranging some bottles of various medicines which were on a table.

"As always! Never cares anything other than work" said Orleam with a big smile touched with fatherly care towards Thysmin who he knew had no one to be taken care of.

Thysmin was not the type to complain about anything in his life. He just kept everything to himself and suffered alone. Even when his mother was alive, he said her very little about his worries and troubles. Orleam knew about his nightmares because once when Thysmin was young, he was ill with a high fever due to sleep deprivation because of the nightmares. So, his mother took him to Orleam to take medicine. That was when he first came to know Orleam and wanted to learn about medicine.

Orleam had a good name as a talented doctor and an honest man to start with and his fame grew along with the talents of his obedient apprentice. Thysmin was known among people for his ability to diagnose almost every ailment by checking the pulse rate of the patient.

As for the income from the dispensary, it was not much although many people came daily. The reason was that most of the time, Orleam treated patients free of charge out of pity as he could not abandon the patients who did not have enough money to pay for the medicine.

Forget the profit, most days, they hardly covered the expenses for the medicine they bought. So, the business was going low and Orleam did not have enough income to pay Thysmn well. Thysmin continued working there because of his desire to learn medicine and gratefulness to this old man who taught him everything from the first letter.

As Thysmin could not earn enough for his expenses from the work at the dispensary he went to work at a bakery in the evening after closing the dispensary. He chopped firewood there that were needed to make the fire to heat the stoves and earned a little more money which was enough to spend on his necessities. Somedays the load of firewood was large that he had to chop for extra hours to finish. That was why he was late coming home last night.

This was how his daily routine went by, the same as the day before. He was not bored because he knew that at the end of the day he could go home and read his books which took him to many wonderful places.