We Faced a Goddess

The Monday after the sleepover I went to Keres’ house in the morning so that we could walk to school together. When I got to the door Ambrus was already waiting with it open. He told me Keres was very sick and asked if I could pick up her school work so she could see what she missed. I was fine with getting her work and everything. I was just super worried about her all day. At lunch, I called her to check on her but the phone went straight to voicemail.

After school, I raced home. I wanted to see if Keres was alright. She was on my mind all day. I could hardly concentrate. When I reached the house, the car wasn’t in the driveway. I figured Ambrus had to go to work so I ran up to my room and ran across the rickety board to Keres’ window. I knocked a few times before there was an answer.

“Bonnibelle?” Keres asked while opening the window.

“Hey, sorry,” I said while climbing in, “I was super worried about you.”

“I’m fine. It’s just a bug.” She assured me. Knowing it was something small eased me a bit, but I was still concerned.

“Can I help with anything?” I asked.

“Come sit with me,” Keres said while taking my hand. She led me to her bed and we sat down. “I keep having this vision…”

“What about?” I asked with genuine concern. If a vision was making her this sick it had to be serious.

“It’s this masquerade thing…” She said as she trailed off. Was it the same masquerade that I saw the night I passed out? “Usually a masquerade party is a girl’s dream. However, this feels more like a nightmare. I know it’s Halloween at the time because I see pumpkins and skeletons and bats… it’s either Halloween or my soul. Anyways, I was heading for an exit, everyone has a mask on of course so I didn’t know who they were and I was just in this state of panic as if…”

“As if you’re looking for someone?”

“Yes, how did you know?” Keres asked.

“I’ve seen it too.” I confessed. “The night that I passed out I saw it before I woke up. I mean I didn’t catch as much as you did. I just felt the sense of panic. I didn’t know who or what I was looking for but I was in a rush.”

“We have to be careful, Bon.” Did she call me Bon? “It could be something minor but it could very well be something terrible. There’s some things that I’ve seen in the past and things my dad has told me about. I don’t want to panic you on the off chance it’s nothing, but if it’s something of what I think it could be well…” Keres trailed off again. She was extremely vague but I was worried. If it was something big I wanted to be there for her. She seemed to have gone through a lot on her own.

“Whatever it is, I’m here for you. I’m right across the plank okay.” I hugged Keres. She squeezed me. Neither of us moved for a long time. Despite previous hugs, it wasn’t awkward at all.

Eventually I had to leave. Keres still wasn’t feeling well and I had some school work to finish. A light rain rolled in as I finished the few pages of work I had. Hearing it hit the roof was very calming. At some point I fell asleep at my desk.

I had a dream about the masquerade. No, not a dream; a vision. I was running in a gown through the crowd. I knew I was calling out a name but I couldn’t hear anything. There was no music. There was no chatter. It was silent. The people were scattering. I found my way to a door and ended up on a balcony. People in costumes ran up and down the street. It was Halloween night. I tried to see a landmark or street sign so I could remember it, but I couldn’t before I woke up. I fell out of my desk chair…

Having given up on basically everything because of the severe headache that the vision gave me I just stayed on the floor and pulled the covers off of my bed. The rain outside hadn’t stopped so I went back to sleep rather easily.

By the time my alarm went off I had a migraine. The blaring sound was unbearable. I managed to climb onto my bed so I could reach across it and slam my hand down on the alarm clock. Then there was the knock on my window. The noise of it hurt enough to bring tears to my eyes. I grabbed my phone and turned the brightness all the way down so I could send a text to Aunt Paige and then one to Keres.

I got migraines often but I really hadn’t had any since the move. The fact that this was a vision headache on top of a migraine just made me want to melt my brain. After getting a text back from Keres and Aunt Paige and turned my phone on mute and put it on my desk. The sunlight kept finding ways to get into my room so I just dragged my blankets and pillows into my closet and closed the door. I had complete darkness and silence. Finally, I could go back to sleep… again.