Ava woke with a jolt. She was drenched in sweat and tangled in her sheets. Her mind reeled from fragments of the night before. Adam's face, his hands, the pepper spray, the blinding panic. But the tears had dried. Her throat still ached from the silent sobbing hours ago. She sat upright, inhaled deeply and clenched her jaw. She would not break, not today, not ever.
She stood up and headed to the bathroom. Standing the front of the mirror, she splashed cold water on her face. She stood in front of it and stared at her reflection for a long time as the water trekked down her face to her chin before dropping to the sink. She dressed sharply in a fitted blouse and slacks and had her hair pulled back into a messy bun.
As she walked downstairs towards the kitchen, the butler greeted her with a polite nod.
"Good morning, Miss Ava."
"Good morning Bernard," she replied, offering a soft smile.
She busied herself in the kitchen as she chopped fruit and arranged plates. It was easier to focus on tasks, to let her hands move while her mind retreated. The breakfast table was soon set with care. Crisp napkins, glistening silverware, and the comforting aroma of coffee and toast.
After Ava had settled on her seat and was already on her meal, Damien entered. He was dressed casually yet his presence still carried that quiet power. He paused as he noticed her already seated.
"Good morning," he greeted as her went to take his seat.
"Morning," she replied, her voice steady.
He sat across from her and reached for his coffee. "Did you sleep well?"
She looked up to respond and the world tilted.
The air thickened, the light dimmed. She wasn't sure if it was flashbacks to that nightmare or her imagination playing her dirty but suddenly, Damien was no longer sipping his coffee. Just like in that nightmare, there was blood all over. He was slumped in his chair motionless, his eyes wide and vacant. A pool of blood spread across the tablecloth, dripping from his temple and flowing toward her plate.
Ava's fork clattered to the table as she screamed. She stumbled back and her chair fell over with a loud crash. Her chest heaved as she looked around. There was blood on the table, on the floor and it seeped toward her shoes. Her knees buckled as her breath caught.
Damien's lifeless and vacant eyes moved to look at her and she turned to run, but blood blocked every path. It soaked the floor, rising, swelling and whispering.
"Ava." She had her name. The voice was faint and distant, she couldn't tell who it was.
"Ava." She heard it again.
The next one she heard was stronger and louder this time.
"AVA."
She blinked, her vision cleared and everything vanished.
The morning sunlight poured in again. She saw Damien sitting upright, his coffee in hand. There was no blood and no corpse. Just him, watching her carefully. She was on her feet and her plate lay shattered on the floor, it's content spilt.
She was sweating profusely as her pulse pounded in her ears. It was all gone, it had gone back to how it was minutes ago. Then what was that she saw?
"Ava," Damien repeated. He stood up from his seat and walked towards her. "Are you alright?"
Ava was visibly shaken. She flinched when hiis hands touched her arms gently, then lifted her eyes to meet his gaze. His eyes were not vacant anymore. They were alert, searching, and they hold something else she couldn't decipher.
"Ava." Damien called again to get her attention.
"I... I'm alright," she whispered, though her voice betrayed her as it quaked.
Damien's brows furrowed and his eyes narrowed as they watched her. "Did you see something?"
Ava avoided his eyes and brushed his hands off her shoulders as she said, "No."
"Ava. What did you see?" Damien pressed.
"I didn't see anything," she said more firmly. "I just... I've lost my appetite."
She turned and walked briskly toward the stairs.
It was my imagination. It was my fear. It wasn't real. It was nothing. It is my mind playing dirty tricks on me, she told herself with each step. But her hands shook. Her knees threatened to give away.
Damien's eyes followed her silently as she left until she was out of sight.
The butler approached moments later. He leaned close and whispered something.
Damien nodded slowly as his eyes left Ava's already disappeared shadow, his expression unreadable. "Very well. Prepare them."
~~~~
The moment Ava entered her room, she slammed the door shut, locked it, and leaned on it before collapsing to the floor, taking a sitting position. Her breath came out heavy. She curled into herself and put her arms around her knees, hugging herself as she tried to keep herself from unraveling.
The vision hadn't just startled her, it had gripped her soul.
The blood, Damien's motionless body and his lifeless stare. It had all felt real, only Damien was just having breakfast in front of her. Should she have told him? Wouldn't he have also brushed it off as her imagination too?
Why? Why would she imagine that? Was it trauma playing tricks on her? Or was her mind cracking?
She wanted to tell someone. She almost had but the words had caught in her throat.
It wasn't because she didn't trust Damien. Well, maybe she didn't trust him at all but she didn't tell him because she wasn't sure what it means to rely on someone like him. What if he thought she was unstable? He could have dismissed it entirely but the way he had asked bothered her. It felt like he knew what she saw, like he had expected it. Ava grabbed her head, her thoughts were spiraling out of control.
The events of the night before still clung to her like a second skin. Adam's grin, the weight of his body and the feeling of helplessness. It all blurred into the vision she saw at the table.
She felt dirty. Violated. Angry.
But even more, she felt alone.
She pressed her forehead to her knees and let her breath out in slow heaves. It had to be the stress. Just stress. A side effect of fear and trauma, nothing more. It had to be.
Still, the image of Damien's vacant eyes wouldn't leave her mind. She couldn't shake the feeling that someone or something was watching.
From the shadows, from inside her mind or perhaps...
Somewhere much closer.