Chapter 5 The Third Dream

[Iz's house]

Iz lives in a palatial house. The house was three stories high and a few houses wide. It had a beautiful shade of grey walls and huge tinted glass windows that reflected sunlight away from the house, making the house cool and comfortable to live in. In front of the house, there were two brawny bodyguards standing guard. Surrounding the house, we could see other bodyguards with their trained dogs surveying around. Once, I saw either a brave or dumb trespasser trying to enter the house but was swiftly stopped by the bodyguards. I was in awe but more worried about what would happen to the trespasser since he was half the size of the bodyguard.

Once a person entered through the gate, they will see a huge fountain at the centre of a massive garden with a sophisticated-looking patio for guests to have small chats. The landscape was exquisite, accompanied by the flowery fragrance of the garden. When I first saw it, I felt I was living in a fairy tale and slapped myself and shocked Iz. I looked straight and said, "It hurts... so this is all real, huh? I thought I was reading too much manga and was hallucinating." Iz burst out loud. No matter how many times I see it, I couldn't get used to the sublime landscape.

Inside the house, the first thing I saw was a ridiculously tall living room. Iz's father decided to open up his living room and make it three stories tall. Besides that, the house has ten rooms, not including the entertainment room like the pool table, ballroom, bar, drawing room, music room, and many miscellaneous rooms. What impressed me was there wasn't a speck of dust in the house every time I visited.

As we arrived at Iz's house, I just stared at how huge the mansion was instead of entering. Iz looked at me and tilted her head sideways. "Why aren't you coming in?" Iz asked. I looked at Iz and said, "I still can't get used to how big and majestic your house is. Anyways, how did your father get the approval to build such a big house?"

"Is it? Then you won't be able to get used to one of our penthouses in Seoul. Oh, and my father has connections here and there. Getting approval is easy for him."

"Oui... And you said Seoul?" I asked. Iz nodded. "Father loves Seoul. He goes there for a holiday almost every time so he built a 100 floored building there so he can enjoy his time leisurely. I've been there before, and it's nothing like here."

'100 floored building? That man is crazy. No wonder her daughter is crazy too. Oui... What family did I get myself into?' My eyes widened, and I couldn't believe a word she said. "Why does your father need such a big place? What does he do there?" She thought for a while. "Well, each floor has a unique entertainment spot. There's a pool, karaoke, tennis court, badminton court, a cinema, a zoo, aquarium, live shows and many more which I can't remember. I was there for a week and couldn't finish exploring the whole place. I'll bring you there on our next holiday." My head started to hurt as she listed the number of things in her 'penthouse'. "He has many other houses around the world, but I can't remember how many there are in each country." Iz pondered.

"What's your father's dream? To build a kingdom for himself?" I asked sarcastically.

"He said that dream is too small for him now," Iz answered seriously. I was so stunned I couldn't utter a single word out of my mouth. This was the first time I couldn't comment back anything, and people said the word speechless wasn't in my dictionary. I coughed.

"Anyways, want to go in? Father did a minor renovation to the place." Iz jumped up and down in excitement like a kid going to an amusement park.

Iz rushed into the house and left me outside. "Minor, huh? I doubt it." I followed Iz from behind. When we entered the house, Iz turned towards me and said, "Doesn't it look nice?" I fainted standing up. Iz couldn't hear any sound from me and repeatedly called out to me. The butler and head maid aided Iz. A few minutes later, I woke up and asked Iz, "Minor? Minor? Your father renovated the entire house!" 'I wonder what's major?... Nope. On second thought, I don't want to know.'

Iz refuted and said, "No, he didn't. The living room wasn't touched."

"Hah." I was getting dizzy and placed my hand on my head. I don't remember how many times Iz's family's extravagant slapped me in the face and left me completely brainless. "Your family is dangerous for me." Iz comforted me. "At least you're all better now."

I smiled awkwardly. "When did your father renovate this place? Where did you live? I could have provided you with a space at my place."

"Oh, there's no need. It was completed in a few hours."

"What?!" I exclaimed. "Isn't that impossible? How?"

"Don't know. I didn't watch, I went out window shopping. Want me to introduce them to you when your family -"

"No thanks. It's probably too expensive." I replied instantly.

"Okay, Lil. If you say so, but if you ever change your mind, hit me up." I nodded, and Iz continued. "Now let's go to my room, and we can talk about that nightmare of yours."

"Sure." I followed behind Iz.

[Iz's bedroom]

When we reached Iz's room, she opened the door, and I saw no changes to the interior of the room. "Keeping it plain and simple," I said.

"I don't like changes much. Too much of a hassle." She said and placed her school bag next to her study table. I placed mine next to hers, where I saw an odd looking pair of earrings lying on top of her study table. 'It looks like a lock picking tool. Why does she need such a thing?' Iz grabbed my shoulder. "What's wrong?" I turned towards Iz and said. "Nothing." Iz smiled and laid on the ground. "Let's relax our backs." I laughed and replied. "Ok." I laid next to Iz.

A few minutes later, the head maid, Selene, knocked and came in with some drinks and appetizers. Selena smiled at us and said, "After you two are done with the snacks, quickly shower, and then you can do what you want, understood?" We nodded, and Selene walked out and closed the door behind her.

Iz and I quickly finished everything on the plate and cups and took turns showering. Feeling full, we lay on Iz's bed, not moving an inch. "So many things happened today, and it's only the first day of school. Aren't you tired, Iz?" I rolled around Iz's big bed. Not hearing a single sound, I turned around and found Iz sleeping peacefully with her favourite toy sheep, Mr. Oz. I giggled and tucked Iz into her bed. After that, I tucked myself in and yawned. Gently, I fell asleep, not knowing I was sucked into another dream.

I opened my eyes and was completely blinded. I could see nothing but black surroundings. I said, "Oh boy, here we go again." This wasn't my first experience. My first experience was when I was in primary, a close relative of mine died. A few days before his death, I dreamed of the same dream. A girl with long black hair covering her face with her long white dress covering her toes, standing in the middle of the infinite black surroundings. She looked a lot like those ghosts in the movies that just appeared far away, then disappeared and appeared again right in front of you to scare the heck out of you.

Unlike those in the movies, the girl stood there looking (?) at me. It reminded me of every time a person that I had an association with got injured, and my body would feel weird. For example, a sudden headache, body unbalancing on solid straight ground, seeing parts of the girl's body, and so on. If the person died, this dream would come popping in, and the scenario never changed even in the slightest. This time, my dream was different, I couldn't see the girl anywhere, so I walked around aimlessly until I could see something. After wandering around aimlessly like a fool, I spotted the girl squatting. I approached her in fear and heard her mumbling. "M-M-Ma-...Death...Run...Kill...Bloooo-". I stumbled backwards and fell. Shocked, I couldn't believe she could talk. The girl turned and pointed at me. She crouched and mumbled, but I couldn't hear her. Her voice was so soft and weak, like she was in a lot of pain.

Not knowing what to do, I reached out my hands to comfort her when suddenly she looked up at me. In a split second, I saw her big round eyes. Her eyes filled with an endless dark void, pulling me in and trapping me there forever.