Me: hey Dad

Me: how are you doing?

Me: how's Mom?

Me: is everything okay?

Me: should I start panicking because I've called you more than twenty times and you didn't answer.

I exit the messaging app to try his number again. It rings for what seems like forever and still no answer from him. I head back to the chat box to drop yet another message. He's never done this before and I'm scared.

Me: pick up your phone or I'm going to spam you with dirty diaper gif. I mean it.

I groan and scroll up to the beginning of the one sided conversation. My dad wouldn't ghost me, he loves me too much to ignore me and the last message he sent before he went dark was 'i love you' so I'm sure it has nothing to with me. Maybe I'm just worrying for nothing, he might have misplaced his phone or must be very busy with work.

Exiting the message app again, I click on my contact list and scroll until I find mom's number. I don't think I've ever called her when I'm not in trouble, but I have to do this. I click on her contact and dial her number. Her line is unreachable.

Fuck!

Me: I called Mom, you know how I hate to do that.

Me: you're probably busy with work, please call, I have some questions.

Me: love you.

I click the power button on my phone and drop it on the island. I place my elbow on the island and bury my face in my hands.

I'm so tired. I've been searching Google non stop to try to find anything I can about strange birds but I ended up with results about ravens, where I learned again that a group of ravens is called an unkindness or conspiracy, which seems fitting, since ravens are traditionally creepy. It makes great sense giving my middle name is Raven.

“Hey, Cami. What are ya doing alone?”

Is there seriously no one else in this place that can bother me? I'm in the staff's building for crying out loud and he still finds a way to get in.

“Go away, Roman.” I really need to be alone right now, and after our verbal spar earlier I'm surprised he came here.

The students and teachers are currently in the common room seeing a movie adaptation of Little Women. Apparently the school is currently working on school production of the book. Whatever, I'm glad because I need the quiet.

I hear him scoff before the scrapping sound of a stool being dragged comes. I raise my head to see him taking residence opposite me. I should have just gone to my room after making the pancakes. I wasn't feeling up to dining in the cafeteria with the rest of the school breathing down my neck like I killed their favorite pet. So I opt in for pancakes made by yours truly. The kitchen is actually pretty great.

“I mean, I could go away but no, I think I'll stay." His arrogant is just too much for me and he isn't even done talking. "Tell me about the sign you showed Mulligan.”

I should have known he was here to get information. How does he know about that anyway.

“How the fuck do you know about that? Have you been stalking me?” I won't be surprised, giving his past record of showing up at places he doesn't belong like Jessica's party.

He snorts and reaches across the island to grab and tear a piece of pancake before eating it. He gives me a thumbs up and words find ways to his throat again. “Don’t flatter yourself  I heard your conversation with her, you are not the only one with issues,” he reminds me with an amusing expression.

Right.

What’s gotten into him tonight anyways? He’s behaving weirdly, and it’s nauseating. Smiling does not look good on him.

“Good to know. What were you doing in her office?” I ask curiously because I don't trust the guy.

“I never said I was in her office. I was waiting for you to finish your session and I listened in.” He shrugs playfully.

"You listened in? God!" I mutter and drop elbows so my forearm are resting on the island. "She said the sign is nothing."

He shakes his head. “She was lying,” his jaws clenches as he strongly accuses.

“How can you tell?”

He seems to be the eyes and ears of the school.

“For one, she said your conversation would stay in the room, it never did." He informs me.

“What are you talking about?”

“If the sign meant nothing, she wouldn’t have gone straight to the Headmaster to tell him.”

So much for the conversation staying between us. She lied to me. That’s twice now. Can't even trust a guidance counselor.

“How do you even know all this?”

“There are some things called a hearing spell,” he reminds me.

Of course, there is always a magical solution to everything.

“Right more like an invasion of privacy.”

He chuckles and looks around like he’s looking for something or someone. “What are you doing alone? You shouldn’t be alone after what happened earlier.”

I roll my eyes at his sudden act of showing he cares. He made the headmaster give me a detention over it, a situation I have no control over. “I don’t know how it’s any of your concern.”

He snorts and scratches the back of his neck. “Well, Saoirse and Artemis are worried about you." He tells me.

Well I don’t think they are worried at all, because if they are, they should have tried asking how I was, but they ignored me. I didn’t expect that kind of behavior from them, then again I don’t know them like I thought I did.

“Why do you call them that, anyway?” I've noticed only Roman calls them that and they answer.

He sighs and reaches to pull the plate closer to him. “I can call my sisters whatever I like.” He replies as he looks up to see my reaction.

I blink my eyes. I think I am feeling sleepy. Is my hearing fine at all? “Your sisters?” I try not to sound surprised, well I am surprised. “Geez! No one tells me anything, you guys look nothing alike.”

I can list a hundred differences between them.

He gets up from the stool taking my pancakes and juice with him. “Go to bed Cami, you look like you need to sleep.”

Fair enough. He just told me he is the brother of the creepy twins, which makes sense because he is always around them.

He is right about one thing, though. I need to sleep. I can’t figure it out all at once. And thanks to Roman, I’m going to bed hungry.

***

I enter the building. Somehow this building feels familiar, like I have been here before. Maybe I’m seeing things again. I appear inside a large room, there is a man and a woman inside. The man is chained to a pole, and the woman is laying on the floor, blood dripping from both their bodies.

I hear a small whimper, I almost didn’t hear it because it's so faint. I look in front of me to see a baby wrapped in a black cloak, sleeping peacefully.

This isn’t right.

I look around and notice the man and the woman aren’t there, leaving me with the baby.

“What the-?”

I see a man, I can’t see his face because of the cloak. He tightens his grip on his cane and nods.

I look behind me to see another man dressed similarly without the cane. He raises his hand and suddenly fire appears.

I look around me again and realize that both men are gone, so is the baby. Leaving me alone.

I turn to the exit and run towards the door. I try the doorknob, but it won’t bulge. I notice the fire is spreading. I bang on the door loudly.

“Let me out of here, somebody, please help me?!” I scream in pain and pure agony.

I turn so that my back will rest against the door and slide down. I wrap my hand around my leg and pull it against my chest. And hear a cough, I look in front of a woman clutching a bundle like her life depends on it; I know the bundle is a baby.

I feel the heat on my feet. There is nothing I can do to save them or myself. I raise my head up and scream.

“Camille!” A voice pulls me out of my nightmare.

I thrash on the bed and push away the body beside me. The body is muscular because I can still feel his hands around me, keeping me from hurting myself or  him.

“Shh, hush now, it’s just a dream,” Roman’s voice pulls me back.

Fuck! Another one.

I let out a relief sigh. I’m out of danger, I’m safe now.

“It didn’t feel like a dream,” I say some moments after I've gone through the exhale inhale process and realize I'm not dreaming anyone. One might think I've gotten used to it by now but each time feels different.

I look around me. “What are you doing on my bed? How did you get inside my room?”

He remove himself from my bed, creating a distance between us, which is most appreciated.

“After your little show earlier today, I knew something like this would happen, so I stuck around.”

"You just happened to be around when I started screaming. I locked my door, how the fuck did you get in?"

He shrugs. "You should know by now that nothing can stop from getting what I want, not even a lock."

"That wasn't my question, Roman. How did you get in my room?"

He rolls his eyes and answers, "always do dramatic. I picked your locked."

“Whatever my head’s burning and the last thing I need to be seeing right now is your face, so get out!"

He frowns, not moving from his spot. "Not even a thank you for saving your life."

"You didn't save shit. I would have woken up eventually." I growl, I swear this guy is getting on my nerves. Testing ever patient I have.

“Yeah you would have but the school would have been destroyed," he responds and doesn't give me a chance to speak before asking, "what was it about anyway?”  He asks, moving closer to the bed.

I feel compel to tell him because I'm so confused at the moment and the timing sucks. I have all this thing going on with me with my parents not getting back to me and the power outback, I just need a break from keeping the dream a secret.

“I can’t even explain it because it’s not clear to me, but in the end a woman and her child were burned alive, and I couldn’t do anything. I felt really powerless."

“But it was just a dream." He says as he sits on the bed.

I shake my head. “It didn’t feel like a dream,” I try to convince myself that it’s a dream, but it felt real just like the rest of my dream. “I can't even explain what it's about."

Roman sighs and pushes his curls away from his face. “There must be some kind pattern to your dreams.”

The only pattern I know is the fire.

“I don’t know except every time it always ends up with me getting burned alive in different scenarios,” I tell him.

He nods in understanding and his expression shows that he cares. That’s a first, maybe Roman cares about me. “And that’s when you scream and use your powers without knowing.”

I need to see a dream doctor or a dream therapist... If there's one.

“I am pyrophobic, I have had fear of fire for as long as I can remember but this is totally different, I’m not afraid of getting burned. I mean, I have heard my fair share of burns in the kitchen, but in my dream, it’s fucking terrifying.”

I can’t explain how scary my dreams are.

“Maybe-” I interrupt what he’s going to say.

“Maybe I'm crazy, I just...”

Don’t know what to do. Nothing makes sense anymore.

"Oh you're definitely crazy but sometimes crazy is good." He says.

"Now you just want to make me feel better." I counter.

He chuckles. "Did it work? Are you feeling better?"

I sigh and reply. "Not really but thank you for trying."

“Well I tried."

"You did and you can get out now."

He chuckles and stands up. "You can at least try to be nice."

I scoff. "Me, nice? Oh hell no."

"Good night, Cami. I hope you feel better tomorrow."

Me too.