Bellavarn's eyes opened. Paralyzed.

"Help!"

A shrill scream tore through his eardrums, echoing off the walls. Bellavarn was scared stiff. A cry? In a Duke's house?

"Help! Someone please, help!"

Again it was there. He wasn't dreaming. It was real and someone was in trouble. But why couldn't he move?

Bellavarn remained utterly still while his mind geared into overdrive.

Someone is out there. Alarm. I need to call an alarm. Alert someone, anyone. That girl could be in trouble! She could be dead by now. Move. Damn it. Move!

He lurched up, gasping. Throwing off the covers he raced out the doors. Searching left and right.

Empty.

Silent.

Just once more. Scream again. Let me know you are alive.

No calls. No alarms. No shouts.

Cold winter silence.

Not a single person to be seen.

"Where are you?"

He ran around barefoot through the corridors, searching madly. His footsteps were the only echo in the entire mansion.

"The guards. Someone should be on watch."

Bellavarn sprinted for the guard quarters. Someone had to have heard the cry. If no one responded, it could only mean the cry wasn't heard, or... there was no one to answer.

Rounding a corner, he lost his footing and tumbled into a wall. The thud made him lose his breath for a second, but he was up even faster. Running.

Why does the blasted mansion have to be so large?

"Where is everyone."

Rounding a final corner, he saw a pair of guards moving down a corridor. One held a lantern while the other looked around. Approaching swiftly, he noticed they weren't Kerv and Henry but another pair of guards employed by his father. They finally noticed him.

"Young master, is everything alright? You're feet are bare."

He didn't feel his scrapped soles and didn't care.

"A scream. I heard someone scream. A woman."

The pair looked at each other in confusion.

"Who? We didn't hear anything."

"It was loud enough to wake me, and she sounded terrified. Mother? Send someone to check on my mother. Please."

Bellavarn eyes were darting everywhere, searching for some sign of an intruder. Adrenaline laced his pleading words and made his heart hammer.

"Korel, go wake the guards. Take a few and check on the Duchess. Young Master Bellavarn, can you take me to where you heard the scream."

"I-I can try. I heard it from my room. It sounded like it came in this direction though. I might have passed it."

Korel jogged off while the other guard, Taren, gave him an appraising look. Bellavarn was obviously shaken. Whatever he heard, he believed it. This was the first time such a thing happened, so it wasn't like the young lord was crying wolf. Taren had no reason to doubt.

"Let's retrace your steps; maybe you missed something. Stay behind me, alright?"

"I understand, but we need to hurry."

Taren in tow, Bellavarn hurried back down the corridor.

=

Soon, everyone was awake whether they needed to be or not. The guards brought out hounds who started barking when the search began. Two more guards accompanied Bellavarn as they searched the inner garden courtyard. Bellavarn was searching in a bush when he heard his mother's voice.

"Bellavarn, why are you crouching in a shrub?"

"Mother! You're safe."

He ran and hugged his mother, nearly barreling her over.

"I was afraid it was you who screamed."

Being woken up in the dead of night wasn't enough to make the Duchess stammer. Having her son embrace her so desperately seemed to have done the trick.

"What- I, Bellavarn. I am fine. What is all this about?"

"Son?"

Duke Braster stood next to his wife. Bellavarn had completely missed his presence. Finally registering their confused looks, he gave them the best answer he could.

"I woke to a cry for 'Help'. At first, I was petrified, but then I heard it again more clearly. I ran out of my room searching for the voice but couldn't find anyone. The first people I ran into were Taren and Korel on the other side of the mansion. They didn't seem to hear anything, no one did... but I told them about the scream and to check on Mother. I've been searching this area since it sounded like it came from here."

Bellavarn paused uncertainly whenever he got odd looks. There wasn't much else to add since they hadn't found anything yet. His mother held his arm, asking him for clarification.

"Did you recognize the voice?"

Bellavarn shook his head.

"Mm, no. I didn't recognize it. It was feminine. She sounded scared like she was being chased."

"What did she say exactly, Bellavarn."

His father asked.

"She screamed 'Help'. My eyes opened wide and I didn't move, thinking I imagined it. But then it came again a few moments later. 'Help. Someone please, help' was what I heard. Clear as day."

"Was the voice young or old? It could have been Misses Vale banging around the kitchen."

Bellavarn shook his head again.

"No, at least it shouldn't be. It was a younger woman. Not a child, but not old either. It was shrill."

Braster used a hand to rest his chin while Bellavarn fidgeted nervously. Trisha's gaze bounced between the two of them and around at all the guards searching the garden. The moon was supposed to be out, but the cloud cover cast everything in darkness.

"Are you sure you weren't dreaming, Bellavarn?"

Bellavarn blinked. His mother looked increasingly worried. Bellavarn wanted to comfort her by lying, but he couldn't. Not when someone might be in danger.

"No. I wasn't dreaming. My eyes were wide open. I heard the voice twice."

"Are absolutely positive?"

"Yes, Mother, I am."

Trisha removed her hand from her son's arm and inched closer to Braster for comfort. Braster patted her back while the guards continued their search in the background.

"Shall we try to head back to sleep for the night? All the guards will stay up to continue the search, and I'll post some at our doors, just in case. We can reconvene for breakfast in the morning."

Bellavarn wanted to keep searching but realized he wasn't really helping anyone in his condition. Reluctantly, he followed his father's words and tried to go back to sleep.

...As if sleep were possible.

=

Breakfast the next day was quiet. Bellavarn had gotten precisely twenty minutes of sleep last night. He starved throughout the night, awake but not in the right mind to procure food. Even now, his appetite was ruined. A silver fork pushed around the scrambled eggs on his plate. He chopped it up into little bits barely larger than the prongs on his fork.

When the food grew cold on his plate, the silent breakfast was broken by Braster's voice.

"The guards were unable to find anything even as they worked into this morning. No traces of blood or knocked-over furniture; nothing was out of place. The mansion's wards didn't detect anything either."

Bellavarn looked up from his meal, horror written across his visage.

"Then the intruder managed to get away? What of the girl I heard scream?"

Braster gave his son an understanding look.

"The guards checked everywhere in and out of the mansion. There's no sign of trouble of any kind."

Bellavarn's fists clenched. What other explanation was there?

"Could... could the scream have been a distraction? A smokescreen of some kind? A ploy to get everyone out and about while a crime was carried out elsewhere."

Braster smiled at his son's creative thinking.

"That is the answer I came to as well. I am glad you are using your head."

"Are you sure it wasn't a dream?"

Bellavarn's brief smile turned sullen as his mother spoke from her side of the table. He couldn't prevent his tone from becoming defensive.

"I am sure, mother."

The Duchess glanced at Duke Braster, who sat in between them, and then back to Bellavarn.

"I know you've been having a rough time since Melody and..."

His gut twisted, and it felt like his heart had been stabbed.

"That's not it, mother. I promise. That isn't it."

There was silence from the table.

"I believed her as well, you know? She tricked all of us. And I saw you waiting in the snow all night and until the next day. I know you are still hurting. Your father and I would completely understand if you had a nightmare."

Bellavarn flinched as his mother reached for him. It was true that his heart was damaged. It was true he waited outside, in the snow, for hours until the carriage's return. When the driver told him that Melody asked to be taken straight to the border and never looked back, he still struggled to understand.

It was only a few days later, and the wounds were still bleeding. Yes, he had trouble eating. Trouble sleeping, of course. But this? This is something he would bet his life on. What type of dream was audible?

"This and that are different. Someone could be in danger or hurt, or worse!"

"I know! I am just saying that it's possible."

It hit Bellavarn in the gut as he felt bile pool in his mouth. A truth finally revealed itself. Last night. The gaze of the guards, and how slowly they searched. The way his parents questioned him. The servers whispering to each other as they entered. His father's silence while Mother spoke of Melody. It was all so clear.

"You don't believe me."

It came out as a hollow whisper.

"You don't believe me."

He repeated. Looking around the room, he saw a server look away. His parents glanced at each other wordlessly.

"You never believed me. You. The staff. The guards. You all think I am a heartbroken fool who dreams of Melody crying out for help."

"That's not true. We are just worried about you, Bellavarn."

His mother reached out again, but Bellavarn jumped away. The chair crashed to the floor.

"No, you never believed me. Not when Melody was hurt. Neither of you listened when I wanted to search for the real perpetrator. You aren't listening now, even when I know someone cried out for help. You think I've gone insane."

The silence from his mother was all he needed. His father stood from his seat, more controlled than Bellavarn, but with an identical crease in his eyebrows. Braster Sallow faced his son, his piercing blue eyes broke into Bellavarns soul, and the duke saw the crashing waves. The turmoil and despair. The hurt and mistrust. The love lost.

"I believed you about Melody. Your mother does as well. We are your parents. Trust us."

Bellavarn felt the eyes skewering him, posting signs and labels onto his skin for all to see. He couldn't remove them or touch them. For all he tried to wave his own sign, it might as well have been invisible compared to all the rest carved into his flesh.

The trembling in his arms and legs was getting too much. Fury? Heartbreak? Longing? Betrayal? It was all of those things. Bellavarn knew he wouldn't last any longer at this moment. His voice cracked, his eyes blinking rapidly.

"Permission to retire."

His father's eyes cooled with a forlorn frown. Mother looked like she wanted to speak or rush over and embrace Bellavarn.

Conflicted and Warring. A battle between sense and reason. Truth and Fact blurred.

Fictitious.

"Granted."

Bellavarn hurried away, keeping himself upright while desperately carrying the broken pieces, wondering if they were enough.

"We'll keep searching, Bellavarn. I promise."

His father's parting words threatened to scatter them.

=

Bellavarn was inconsolable. He locked himself in the study and avoided all possible interactions. His room had too many painful memories. The stares from the staff and his parents pricked painfully. So, he retreated into books. This was where he slept and ate now.

His father did continue searching. Or at least ordered the guards to continue. Nothing was ever found.

An entire month.

No evidence.

No clues.

No hints.

And not a single dream.