Chapter 31

“Ha!”

Silva’s eyes sprung open, her breathing heavy and body covered in a sticky, cold sweat.

“Ugh!”

Light, even the small amount that was coming through the gaps between curtains, hurt her bleary vision. It took a moment before Silva was able to check what time it was.

The phone confirmed her suspicion. It was a little before 6 am and it still too early for her to get up, but the dry mouth and pressure in bladder demanded immediate attention.

With a groan, Silva got up. She was not sure at which point sleep had overcome her, but from the sluggishness, she wagered that she had managed to keep up her meditation until it was quite late in the night. “And it’s a Sunday too… Just my luck.”

After taking care of the immediate necessities on her way back to the bed Silva stopped by the sink to wash her face. And upon seeing the reflection the single memory from the nightmare came crashing back.

“Prepare? Prepare for what?” Silva muttered.

---

[… meteorologists are still confused by this phenomena. That is not to say that there are no guesses. To tell us more here is our local expert with the newest information. Please welcome-]

“Curious, right?” Jonathan watched the morning news show with rapt interest. “And so close too.”

"Yea." Silva gave an answer automatically while eating her breakfast. She was paying attention to the TV. However, the so said expert seemed to be just grasping at straws and had nothing of value to say. "Was that warning about this?" She could not help but wonder.

After once again checking her phone she decided that it was almost time to head out. For once she was not the only one to get the dubious honour of meeting someone in her dream. Mika and Steven had suffered the same.

It was soon decided that they would meet at the park to discuss their further actions. Silva really wanted to return to the times when she could just spend time with her friends with no danger hanging over their heads. “Actually… Was there a moment when we weren’t in danger ever since meeting each other?”

“Hmm.”

“What’s wrong sweetie?”

“No, nothing. I have something to do, so I’ll be out for a while.” Silva shook her head and forced the depressing thoughts away.

“When are you introducing your ‘friends’ to me?” Jonathan suddenly asked.

Silva flinched. “Right, there was that too.” It was easy to see why her father still thought she was meeting her boyfriend. At this point, she wondered if she should just give up and invite her friends to meet her old man.

There was only one problem with that.

“Someday.”

“I hope that this ‘someday’ will be soon.”

Silva did not bother to answer as she left to find something warm to wear. Sure, she could introduce her friends to prove that they existed, but do to the unclear situation with Mika that seemed like a bad idea.

No, it was definitely a bad idea. Mika would possibly, maybe, most likely slip up and do something embarrassing. Her father definitely was not the dense type like her. He would know.

“Huh, then have I inherited it from mother?” Silva mumbled as she sorted her meagre collection of clothes. “And both of them are good looking too. No, definitely a bad idea.”

Before leaving Silva once again found herself looking at herself in the mirror. After a short moment of wavering, she returned to her room to apply light make-up. It did not escape her that it made her father even more suspicious.

As Silva headed out she checked her phone to make see if there were any new messages, but there was none. There was a lot of speculation on the net about the mysterious storm though. None of them seemed to make any sense, so after checking if there was nothing else of interest Silva started to rush to the meeting place. It would not hurt to be the first one to arrive.

Contrary to yesterday today’s sky was overcast and promised even more snow. Silva tightened her scarf and hoped that a brisk step would keep the cold away.

Today’s meeting place was decided to be Mika’s house, as her parents had left it in her care for the day. After again checking her phone it became apparent that she would be almost a half an hour early, but her legs did not seem to care as they still quickly carried her to the destination.

Rounding the corner to her destination Silva stumbled at the unexpected sight of Mika shovelling snow from the entrance to her place.

As if feeling Silva’s gaze Mika looked up and her face bloomed into a wide smile. Her face was rosy from the cold and exertion, she wore a brown wore out jacket with a blue hat on top of her head, that had moved up, not even covering her ears, and grey baggy sweat pants.

Despite all that Mika somehow managed momentary blind Silva. Her friend’s deep green eyes seemed to lock with Silva’s as Mika dropped the shovel on the side and rushed to meet her.

“You are early!” Mika exclaimed as she rushed up to Silva and leaned up to hug her.

“Uh, I-, had nothing else to do, so, um, hey!” Silva mumbled in a way that was in no way lame. Mika’s hair and the light feminine fragrance that tickled her nose did not help any.

Mika’s hug was as usual light and short and just a moment later Silva was entering her friend’s house with Mika in tow.

“Anything I can offer? Tea?” Mika chattered ceaselessly. “Maybe coffee, or m-, I mean did you have anything to eat yet?”

Silva watched Mika clearing her throat before she froze.

“No, I already ate, but a normal tea for once would be nice? Is something wrong?”

“N-, no, you can wait in my room! I’ll go and make the tea and quickly shower. I’ll be right back!”

“But shouldn’t Steven-,” Silva watched Mika quickly drop her outdoor garb and rush away leaving her alone in the hallway, “be here soon?”

Just as Silva finished her sentence there was a knock on the door. She helplessly waited for a moment, not knowing how to act and only Mika’s voice nudged her into action.

“Could you let him in, please! I am kind of busy!” Mika yelled from somewhere deeper in house and a moment later Silva heard the bathroom doors slam shut.

With a deep sigh, Silva decided to finish undressing first and only then open the doors. It was Steven’s own fault that he arrived that early. She walked up to the door and opened.

“Speak of the devil…” Silva trailed off and she decided to slam doors shut a moment later.

“Um, it’s cold outside, could you let me in? Please?” Aramaleo whined. “We have to talk.”

The warning the three of them had gotten suddenly made sense. Whatever the man wanted was probably not good for them.

“N-, no! You have to wait!” Silva hurried to deny his entry. Mika should be out of the shower soon and if not, then Steven should not be far. A moment later Silva changed her mind and pulled out her phone and made a call ignoring the sobbing voice outside that complained that he was treated unreasonably and harshly.

“Yes?” Steven’s voice calmed down Silva somewhat.

“Aramaleo is at Mika’s door.” Silva did not mince words.

“I’ll be there in four, no, three minutes.”

Steven hung up as Silva shoot nervous glances back where the bathroom was.

“Hello?” Aramaleo was still outside demanding Silva’s attention.

“Don’t enter until we allow, I have warned you!” Silva ordered with steel in her voice surprising herself by the firm stance she had managed to take.

“Okay, okay, I am waiting…” Aramaleo relented.

Still, Silva did catch the quiet ‘creepy girl’ part at the end. Aramaleo’s answer did little to calm Silva down. Two weeks was too short for her to forget about the man’s ability to enter anywhere he wished. There were too many unclear things about that ability and some of the possibilities were downright terrifying.

That particular discussion also had come down to Silva being their only countermeasure. Whacking someone’s head with a heavy object was not a great plan in general.

As was waiting by the door for Steven’s arrival she still had to tell Mika about the uninvited guest.

Quickly walking to the bathroom doors Silva hesitated for a moment before knocking twice before she spoke.

“Mika, it was Aramaleo at the door. He wants to talk.”

“Give me a moment.”

What followed was a nerve-wracking wait made only a little easier by muffled noises coming from behind the door, until a minute later Silva found herself looking in Mika’s eyes as the door sprang open revealing her friend standing only in a t-shirt and boy-shorts.

“Oh.” Silva tried her hardest to net her eyes wander.

“Oh.” Mika mirrored as Silva now observed her friend’s wet hair clinging to her cheeks, neck and then the little water droplets falling sliding off from the tips of the hair falling further down to…

“I-, that is… Steven will be here in a minute.” Silva managed to not look lower but still had to gulp hard.

“Shit, fuck.” Mika started to move bumping lightly into Silva as she rushed past.

Silva watched her barefooted friend run to her room. The place where Mika had brushed past her hot and the lingering scent messing with her head.

“Right, that’s a thing that happened.” Silva still looked at the place where her scantly garbed friend had run to. Now agitated for an entirely different reason Silva palmed her face with both hands and took a deep breath.

Deciding to return to the door and see if Aramaleo was still waiting Silva walked past a mirror. She paused before it. Looking at her reflection helped her. At least now Silva could think. Touching her own body she sighed and continued to the door.

The man was still there swearing under his breath making it known what he thought about the winter, cold and other things that Silva was unsure of.

“Is he still there?” Mika suddenly whispered in her ear.

The sudden sensation made Silva jolt and glare back at Mika who was sporting an innocent-looking smile. That and now she was wearing a sweater one size too big for her and Silva judged it to be safe to look lower. To her disappointment, Mika was wearing jeans. “Wait, disappointment?”

Momentarily confused Silva forgot to answer and before she could Steven had arrived.

“What are you doing here?” Steven demanded to know. “And why are you not wearing a jacket?”

“Uh, I was just-, your friend did not want to let me in,” Aramaleo complained. “And it’s not cold at our destination. Um, speaking of which, we have something to discuss.”

“Fine, Mika? Or Silva, could you let me in?”

“What about me?” Aramaleo whimpered.

“What about you?” Steven scoffed.

Mika gave an affirmative nod and Silva opened doors. Once again she was faced with the chubby man dressed into a thin-looking sweater and jeans that annoyingly looked similar to the ones Mika was wearing.

Steven meanwhile sported simple, but warm-looking black pants and coat.

“Hey, I am here!” Steven waved.

“Come in.” Mika put her hand around Silva’s shoulders to guide her away from the door-frame and let Steven in. It did not slip past Steven who raised a brow by the intimate gesture.

Overwhelmed by the sudden attention Silva slipped out of Mika’s hands to the side. This was not the time, nor place for Mika’s affections.

Silva saw Steven now shaking his head at Mika who had a rare guilty look to her. With the downcast eyes, she looked almost vulnerable.

The doors shut close after Steven and Silva hurried to speak up, least Steven gave a remark that made the situation even more embarrassing.

“Do we let him come in? It’s probably something to do with that ‘agreement’ we made.”

“Can we avoid it?” Steven shrugged. “We already knew that something like this was bound to happen.”

“It’s a bit too soon. If we had a bit more time…” Silva argued.

“No, postponing did not seem like a good idea from what he revealed to us…” Mika finally spoke up. “We can, at least, hear him out.”