Chapter 5

• LYRA
• I don’t know how long I lay on the floor but I do know that when it started to get so cold I knew I had to stand up. Sluggishly, I dragged myself off the floor and stumbled all the way to the bed. The super soft mattress embraced me, submerging me in its tender insides. I turned over and closed my eyes.
• Day would soon break, i could feel it. I needed as much sleep as I could for tomorrow. I may be suspended but I had to chase the evidence from Jason’s case so, it wasn’t going to be all in-door and ice cream for me when day breaks.
• I snuggled into the bed sheets and shut my eyes. I drifted off to sleep but after a while, I felt a hand tapping my arm harder and harder.
• A faint voice called out to me. “Lyra, Lyra wake up!”
• I tried to open my eyes but I couldn’t. I was paralysed, and it was as though a heavy pressure pressed down on my spirit and was forcing it out, into an abyss.
• The voice kept calling. The hand kept shaking me, vigorously until finally; I snapped out of it.
• “Ehhhhhh.”
• I shot up from the bed, forcing oxygen into my lungs like I was suffocating. My body was drenched in cold sweat and I was shaking. Those hands circled me and pulled me a warm embrace. The strong scent of lavender and roses filled my nose and saturated the room. My savoir held me tight, whispering to me as I shuddered in his embrace.
• “It’s alright. It’s just a dream. You are going to be okay.”
• Tonight, everything in me was freezing from pain and fear. Lying on this bed was like sleeping with ghosts but his presence set the room ablaze and let the heat in. I was still frightened but I wasn’t cold.
• We stayed like that, for god knows how long before I mustered the strength to look my savoir in the eyes. For some reason, this otherworldly peace he gave me made me wonder if he was real.
• I wiggled a bit, feeling his hold loosen so I could raise my head. I looked up and my gaze met his deep blue eyes, staring down at me. They were misty and cold but they weren’t scary, instead they were mesmerizing.
• “Professor Lucien.” I murmured, almost out of breath. “What are you doing... here?”
• I felt his hands pull away, hesitantly. There was guilt in his eyes. I just couldn’t comprehend why he felt he was doing something wrong.
• “You were shaking, on the bed. It must have been a bad dream. I had to help.” He voice was barely audible. He was careful not to break the beautiful silence he knew I loved.
• “How did you come in?”
• “Spare key.” He showed it to me. I stared at them with my half-open eyes.
• “I’ve been coming here every June 12, since my son died. I would lie awake on that bed and even then, I had nightmarish day dreams.” He chuckled a little, hoping to lighten the mood. I didn’t smile.
• He cleared his throat, continuing. “I didn’t know that someone has gotten the dorm room. I sincerely apologize for barging in.”
• “You should get going-” I said, quietly lifting myself off the bed and walking to the door. I gestured to the exit. “Before anyone starts getting funny ideas.”
• “Lyra let me stay. Let me watch over you while you sleep, just like when you were a kid.”
• “Do I look like a kid, professor? I’m a full grown woman. You can’t watch me sleep. No one will see it as familia love.” I spelled out. He just never seem to get how much I hated it that he saw me as a kid; I never that.
• “Okay, but let me find you another place to crash tonight. You can’t stay here. The way you twisted and stretched your-self on the bed, trying to wake up; my blood still curls when I think about it. “
• He paused and took a long look into my eyes, perhaps he was searching for something that would tell him that I wanted to do what he said.
• “I can’t leave you here. I won’t.”
• A sharp exhale escaped my lips, I was annoyed.
• “Then I will force you out. You know there is something you don’t understand.” I drew closer. He was sitting on the bed. His face was up to the length of my abdomen when I stood near him.
• “Your care and your feelings; I don’t give a fuck about them,” I said clearly and calmly. “Please take them with you and leave or else I will kick you out.”
• He didn’t respond, he just kept our eyes locked, breathing slowly. Perhaps he wanted to look beyond my tough exterior, to see what I really meant through my eyes but I wasn’t that little girl from back then who it worked on so well. I had gotten so good at hiding what I felt inside. How he made me feel inside.
• “Lyra-”
• “Go already. It’s still dark.”
• He lowered his head, gripped the bed sheets and let out a sigh of defeat.
• Slowly he rose to his feet. He was a towering height of 6’4. He made me feel like a dwarf each time I stood close to him.
• He dipped a hand into his pocket and stuck out a card. He extended it to me.
• “If I need to call, I know which school brochure to find your number.”
• “This isn’t my work card. It’s my personal line. Call me. It doesn’t matter what it is. I will come, I will help you. I will make everything better.”
• I scoffed. “Kinda like you did for Jason.”
• “Lyra-”
• “Never mind, just go.”
• His eyes held a pained look in them when I mentioned Jason. They still had the same look even after he forced the card into my hand. I practically threw him out because of it, shutting the door behind him.
• Hot air escaped my lugs as I slid to the floor. My heart was beating so fast all of a sudden and I couldn’t make it stop.
• “Tsk.” I clicked my tongue. If only he could just stay away from me. If only
• he understood how much Jason means to me. If only he knew how he made me feel.