" Morning, sweetie. Get up."
But I couldn't move.
His gaze burned.
His weight pinned me down.
I was left here, lying.
Pretending to face the ceiling instead of looking in his eyes.
He was invisible to everyone else, but I sensed him as if he was real.
-In my dream, so had it been.-
I didn't need to meet his gaze. It burned and it was a deep descent in an unknown abyss.
If I fell inside, it would have been the end of me.
I would have been his.
He would have been mine.
And this time, no escape.
"Dear? Wake up, you have to leave in an hour…"
Tap, Tap.
"Coming, mom." I called softly.
Then I balled my fists.
And spat it out.
"Move. I don't have anything I can give you"
He didn't listen. His fingers ran through my hair, combing them.
"You owe me." he replied, with a smirk.
"You don't even know me."
"Do I? I come from you. I am part of you." He looked at me. "Don't you know yourself?" he asked.
He sounded funny. Ironic.
And dangerous. I could see the mischievous glint behind his eyes.
That playfullness wasn't real.
He couldn't wait to dig his nails, bare his teeth and cause pain. Pain and loss and fights. Sorrow. Despair.
I shut my eyes. Tired.
"I don't need games."
"But it's all a game, you know. We dance until one of us becomes strong enough. Then you pick up the pen…"
And break in the middle of innocent's lives.
Be the cause of injures.
Like I can actually cut flesh with words.
I could do enough damage on my own. He could be deadly.
And was happy to be that way.
We both knew.
"If you don't let me out I'll eat you bit by bit." he murmured, and he meant it.
I could imagine the effects. Sleepless nights. Dreams becoming nightmares and addiction, reaching obsession.
"You'll kill someone if I write about you." I moaned.
"Maybe." He smiled, catching my wrist. "Wanna see?"
He didn't wait my answer. Just made me press my fingers against his torax. His chest was cold as frozen iron.
Pictures filled my mind. One moment I was there, under the warm sheets, the other I was thrown in a world of chains and glass and darkness.
I saw.
A train going underground.
Lives taken and caged.
Wills broken by chains.
A false deity made by scraps of metals and corrupted dreams.
Love divided by barbed wire.
Blood.
Loss.
Tears.
I cringed.
" You'll destroy them." I whispered, shutting the visions out of my mind. "Everyone. You'll tear those people to pieces!"
I saw horror.
And pain.
And the desire to lay down, and just let it go. Until it was all over.
He kept silent for a couple of moments, then smiled softly. Gentleness flowed in his features.
"Watch better."
Again, my hand found the pulsing rhythm of his core.
I saw struggles.
I saw memories of loved ones, left at home.
The will to fight and get out.
Battles for freedom.
Love.
So much.
And even if someone couldn't make it…no one forgot about them.
"Sweetie, come on, it's getting late."
And mom was getting nervous.
And I was getting nowhere.
"Let me get up." I plead.
"Not before you give me an answer."
I bit my lips. Closed my eyes.
The story whirled and fluttered in my mind, whispering promising words.
" In despair they'll find hope. Love. They'll learn."
"Learn what?"
The smile changed into a smirk. Again.
"Wouldn't you like to know…"
"Anna. I'm coming in."
"Deal."
I felt myself bad the moment I spelt that word.
The Muse smiled, leaning forward. I felt his lips brushing my ear.
"Deal." He repeated. "Myself in exchange of ink and life and words."
The next moment he wasn't there anymore.
Just vanished. Into thin air.
Into me.
I sat up. I felt like the air had been squeezed outside of me.
Mom came in like a thunderstorm, but that didn't shook me.
"I kept calling you! Why didn't you-"
Silence.
"Is everything alright?"
I nodded.
"Bad dreams."
And a story, I added mentally. I could feel it twirling and rolling inside me. The need to grab a piece of paper stung me. I pushed it aside.
I had just opened the proverbial Pandoran Box. Breaking the deal wasn't possible.
All I could do was surrender, start writing.
And wait for hope to show up, at the end of the nightmarish circus the Muse had freed...










