Dreams Are Bad

"William! Willliaaamm!" a voice called from somewhere near the river.

Young William woke up from his light slumber, blinking the bright sunlight out of his deep, blue eyes. He stretched his arms and smiled. He had been dreaming of her again.
His one true love.
The beauty of her gentle face and her loving affection brought such happiness to him. He loved her so much. So much, that he would die for her. If only her mother would realize that, everything would be perfect.

"William? Will...oh, there you are." William looked up into the beautiful sea green eyes of his younger sister, Victoria, "What have you been up to?" she asked kneeling down by him, spreading her light yellow dress around her.

"Napping," he yawned.

"Napping?" she shook her head, "Oh, William. You do sleep far too much. I do not think it is heathly."

Her brother stood up, "Do not worry, Victoria. I do not think it is too deadly."

"Must you always take a sarcastic tone with such things?"

William helped his sister up, "Yes." She sighed and looked down at the ground. William laughed, "Oh, my poor sister. I am sorry," he hugged her comfortably, "Thank you for being so caring."

She looked up at him and smiled, "You are welcome, dear brother."

"So, why have you come looking for me?"

She broke the embrace, "Oh! Of course. I nearly forgot," she took his hand and led him down the small hill, "Theodore was calling for you. He has a message from Kate. He waits by the river's bank."

Theodore stood calmly by the river skipping pebbles across it. He turned when he heard footsteps coming near. He was greeted happily by the joyous arms of Victoria wrapping around his neck.

"I found him," she said.

Theodore smiled and gently kissed her lips, "Thank you, my love." He walked towards William, "Good day, Sir."

"Good day, Theodore. I trust you are well," he firmly shook his friend's hand.

Theodore looked at Victoria, "I am now."

William smiled, "That is good. Well, I hear you have a message for me."

"Ah, yes," Theodore reached into his top coat, "My cousin sends you this today," he pulled out a sealed letter and handed to William.

William took the letter from Theodore and carefully touched the red signet with the unicorn emblem upon it.

Victoria grabbed Theodore's hand, "Let us leave him in peace. William, I will see you back at the manor."

William looked up, "Yes. I will be home soon, sister. Good bye, Theodore and thank you." The young couple waved good bye and walked away. William sat down on the ground crushing the autumn leaves that had been falling for days. He slowly opened the letter and began to read.

My Dearest William,

I received your letter early this morning. My mother is holding another banquet tonight, but rest assured, I will await your arrival in the garden at the hour of ten.
Oh, my love how I miss you so. If only my mother would understand our feelings for each other we would not have to do this. I do not worry any longer about the matter though. For this time tomorrow you and I will be away from this place and be together at last. When we are finally married, promise me we will not deprive our children of the joys of love. They should not have to bare what we went through.
My soul is eager to greet you soon my love. Till we meet again.

Your ever devoted wife to be,
Lady Katherine of Concord

His sister. His heart leapt from his body. "Victoria!?"

Daniel jolted up in bed, breathing heavily. His body was covered in sweat. He could still hear the screaming echoing in his ears. He closed his eyes tightly trying to shut it all out. What kind of a dream was that? It was so strange, yet so real. That young girl again. Why did she call him William? And, brother? Well, it didn't matter. It was just a dream. It was over now.
Daniel looked at the clock; 4:36 am. Still dark out.
I wonder if Ben and Chris are back yet, he thought. When they had all gotten back from the city, Daniel went straight to his room and never came out again. Ben and Chris decided to go back to 6th St. They asked Daniel if he wanted to go, but he wasn't feeling well. His mind was still spinning from all that had happened in that shop. He still couldn't comprehend what had happened. One minute he was standing in a store with the woman and then suddenly he was in a luxurious room with a younger girl. Then it happened again. He was in a workshop with the girl again watching a man sculpt a statue.
A unicorn statue.
The same statue in the store.
Too much.
Too much to comprehend.
He didn't want to think about it. He laid back down and closed his eyes.

"Willlliiaaammmm!!" the scream came again.

William ran to his sister, "Victorriaa!!" He made his way up the hill hoping that whatever it was wasn't too horrorifying. When he got to the top he stopped in his tracks.

"Hello, William. So glad you could join us."

William's anger and fright grew when he saw Sir Franklin holding a knife to his sister's throat. He found Theodore being held down by two other men. William walked carefully to Sir Franklin, "Let her go. What ever it is you want I will give it to you. Just let her go."

Franklin laughed slightly, "Oh, William, I really don't think you will give me what I want. You see the only thing I want is the one thing you will never let go of."

"What is that?"

"Katherine."

William's eyes grew narrow and cold, "You can't have her," he said as calmly as possible.

"She doesn't deserve you."

"You can not have her!" he yelled coming closer to Franklin.

"Oh, no?" Franklin gripped the knife closer to Victoria's throat, "You might want to think carefully about that."

Victoria let out a smile cry, but managed to speak, "Don't listen...to him, William...ugh...it's your only chance...to be...with her."

William couldn't think straight. Franklin was a dangerous and serious man. He had to choose. His sister...or his love?

Franklin was growing impatient, "Quickly, William, or I choose for you."

William felt helpless and Franklin could see the distress in his eyes. He smiled, "You don't really love her, William. You only love her money, her power. She is the Queen's niece and the next Duchess of Concord. You are only the son of a nobleman. You have not even been knighted yet. You may be respected by the court but you will never be good enough for her." William's anger began to grow. "Admit it, boy. You don't really love Katherine."

"I do love her! I love her more than life itself and nothing, NOTHING, you say or do would ever change that!" he shouted.

"Fine!" Franklin boasted, "Then your sister dies."

"Noooo!!" Theodore and William both yelled.

Theodore was able to free himself from the grasp of Franklin's men and lunged at him. He grabbed the knife and pulled it away from Victoria's throat. She fell to the ground holding her neck and gasping for air. William ran to her and helped her up.

Theodore and Franklin continued to struggle leaving the other two men confused and bewildered. Obviously, this was not part of the plan.

"Release him!" a booming voice suddenly called out.
A broad, distiguished looking middle-aged man came trotting towards them on a beautiful chestnut colored horse, followed by three other men.

"Father!" Victoria cryed out.

Sir Franklin stopped his assault and quickly stood up, "Ah, Sir Richard. A lovely day isn't it?"

Richard jumped off his horse, "Don't bother, Sir Franklin. I've told you before to stay off my property and I once more find you harrassing my children and their friends."

"I was only saying hello..."

"Guards! Kindly escort these men off my estate. I will take this matter to the prince later."

"Yes, master," the three men said and began to lead the three gentlemen away.

"I'm sure we can come to a quite arrangment, Richard," Franklin tried to plea, "I promise I will not trespass again."

"That is what you said the last time, Sir. Now, I will do what I should have done in the first place. Guards, proceed on."

Sir Franklin turned to leave, but stopped next to William, "This isn't over, boy. We will meet again and I will have Katherine."

William lowered his voice, "Not even over my dead body." The guard pushed Franklin away and they were gone.

Victoria sighed and ran towards Richard, "Oh, Father! Thank God you arrived when you did. I was so frightened."

Sir Richard held his daughter tightly in his arms, "I would never let anything happen to my little girl," he kissed her forehead gently, "Theodore, take her back to the manor and get cleaned up. Josephine will assist you."

Theodore nodded, "Yes, Sir," and ushered Victoria back to the mansion.

When they were gone Richard looked at his son with deep concern in his eyes, "It was about Katherine, wasn't it?" William hesitated then nodded slowly. His father sighed deeply, "Son, I realize how much you love this girl. Lord knows, I would do the same thing for your mother, God rest her soul. But, you are endangering the life of your sister, and I don't know how much longer I can protect her."

"Father, I...," William began.

Richard held up his hand, "William, I am an old man. You and Victoria are all I have left."

Richard looked at the ground and thought carefully. William watched his father closely trying to determine what he was thinking. Richard finally looked up at his son, "If you truly love this girl and you truly care about your sister, then there is only one thing I must ask of you."

William held his breathe fearful of what his father was going to say.

"Tonight, when you go to take Katherine away, I want you to take your sister with you where ever you go."

William opened his eyes, shocked, "What? How did you...? I mean...."

"William, please. This is my home. You think I don't know what goes on in my own house?"

William smiled, "Of course, but...are you sure Father? Would you not rather Victoria stayed with you?"

"I would rather she be safe. I know you will protect her."

William nodded, "As you wish, Father"

"Now, I am guessing Sir Franklin will be at the Duchess' banquet tonight so I'm sending you with four guards and my best carriage."

"Father, you really don't have to."

"I know, but I want you and Victoria to be safe and happy. This is the least I can do to ensure that."

"Thank you, Father," William said hugging him gratefully.

"You are welcome, my son. Now, let us go get your wife to be."

*Knock, Knock.*

"Daniel!"

*KNOCK, KNOCK.*

"Daniel!"

*THUMP. THUMP*

Daniel shot up in bed again, looking around frantically, making sure he was where he was supposed to be. Realizing he was still in the hotel room, he closed his eyes and begin to shake. What's happening to me? What's going on? He rocked back and forth on the bed remembering every little detail of the dream as if it had actually happened. Why is this happening to me?

*THUMP, THUMP.*

"Daniel! Open the door!"

His eyes sprung open, remembering what woke him up in the first place. He got up off the bed and threw some pants on. He walked over to the door and opened it, "What?" he asked tiredly.

Ben stood at the door. His eyes wide with frustration and astonishment, "What? I've been knocking on this door for the past five fucking minutes and all you can say is 'What'?"

Daniel shrugged his shoulders, "Sorry?"

Ben shook his head and sighed, "Whatever. Anyways, are you okay?"

"Yeah, it's just that I didn't hear you knocking and I..." He paused.

"You...what?"

"I was having a weird dream."

"Oh, weird as in cool or weird as in not so cool?"

"Hard to say," Daniel rubbed his face.

"Well, anyways, Chris and I are going down for breakfest. Wanna come?"

"Yeah, let me just take a shower and I'll be down in a few."

Later on, the three boys sat quitely at the table sipping their glasses of juice and coffee. They were surrounded by the clanking of silverware and dishes. Mild conversations coming from every direction.

Ben looked up at Daniel and noticed that he was off in his own little world. He drummed his fingers against the table cloth, quitely humming to himself. Ben could barely make it out, but it kind of sounded like "Miss You Love". He thought carefully, then chimed in, "So, Daniel, wanna talk about that dream?" No answer.

Chris looked at Ben, "Should we take that as a 'no'?"

Ben shrugged then looked back at Daniel, "Hey, dumbass," he grabbed his friend's shoulder, "Daniel?"

Daniel shot a surprised look at Ben, "Hmm, what? What's wrong?"

"Are you okay?" Chris asked, "You seem a little gone today. Did you already take your medication?"

"No. I'm fine. I was just thinking about that dream I had. You know the weird one. I just can't seem to shake it."

"You want to talk about it?" Ben asked.

"Not really. Maybe some other time."

Just then Watson walked up to them, "There you guys are. I'm glad you're up. Listen, I have to go to a meeting downtown, so I'll probably have to meet you guys at the venue. Can you handle that?"

"Bob Popular's right?" asked Ben.

"Yeah, at five o'clock."

"No, problem."

"Great! If you guys need to get anything done before then, do it in the next three hours or so. Daniel, do you have the set list ready?"

"Almost," he said as he yawned.

"Well, be sure it's done before five," he looked at his watch, "Okay, I'm late. I'll see you guys tonight," and with that he walked away.

Ben looked at his watch, "So, is there anything we want to take care of before tonight?"

"I need some extra plectrums," Daniel said taking a sip of his orange juice.

"Yeah, me too," said Chris.

"Okay, let's go then."

Chris and their driver, Joseph, were in the front talking about some American football game that was on the night before. Ben and Daniel were silent in the back.

Ben looked at Daniel, who was in a daze again, "Daniel?"

He turned his face slowly to Ben, "What?"

"What's with you, man? You've been pretty distant ever since we left that shop yesterday. I know something happened over there. I mean, something did happen, right?"

"No. Actually, well...no, it's just that. Damnit. You wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

Daniel looked at his friend. He put his head back against the seat and turned his head toward the window. He looked back at Ben, who could see that Daniel's eyes were now glassy and tired. He sighed, "There's...there's this girl..."

"Girl? This is about a girl?" Ben asked in utter amazement.

"Will you let me finish. Yes, it's about a girl. But, Ben, she wasn't just any girl. She was the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. I mean, I haven't been able to stop thinking about her."

"Wait a minute," Ben stopped him, "When did you meet this girl?"

"That's the thing. I...I never met her."

"What?"

"I only saw her. Yesterday, at the restuarant. She was sitting at a table near us just...just sitting there, writing something. I couldn't take my eyes off of her. She was just...God, Ben, I can't even begin to describe how she made me feel."

Ben looked at his friend in awe. He didn't know what to say. He had never seen Daniel this way before. Not even with Adalita. Could he be falling in love? It was a very human thing to do, but Daniel Johns, and with someone he's never even met and will more than likely never see again. Ben knew that even for a emotionally stable person, this was a dangerous mental path.

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