Mias and Elle - Chapter 17

The next several days passed by without pause, rushing by with such speed and enthusiasm that Elle felt as though the very sun and moon were under a spell  bent on making her peaceful time anything but – considering the nights. The nights lingered with such terrible purpose that she yearned for the long absent presence of Mias for comfort and distraction from the haunting experiences once sleep overcame her.

So many nights filled with the frightening disembodied voice that had tormented her on her first sleeps inside of Mias' walls that she had become completely unaware that she was on her eighth night after a day without seeing hide or hair of her debonair captor. It was all so frightening that Elle had not even paid much heed to the fact that she could now understand the words that formed in the darkness of her dreams.

The voice had been taunting and teasing her with warnings that the worst was yet to come, and that there was nothing that Mias could do to keep her safe, and the mention of him in her dreams made her long for his embrace. Where was Mias to reassure her that is was all just a dream, that there was nothing to fear, and to kiss her into a sleep of sweet dreams? Not even a sound was heard to give hint of his presence so that she could seek the comfort from him that her nightmares made her so strongly seek out. She was too the point of tearing the furniture apart so that she could find him and he could be her knight in shining armour and banish the evils from the night. She felt as though her mind was beginning to wear.

Elle would fight the weight of her eyelids until it became too intense for her to overcome and she fell into the darkness where the torment would commence.


Not safe, Mirelle Blom. Matter of time. He will find you. Sselpleh…

"I don't care." Elle pressed her forehead against her knees and fought hard to keep back the tears. She was tired of it all. "Leave me alone."

He cannot escape himself. Sselpleh… You will be found.

"I don't care!" Her voice strained as she cried out for Mias, the tears welling in her eyes. It felt too real.

<Efas ton. Mirelle Blom, is found. Emoh og tsum. Must.</i>

"Why are you doing this to me?! MIAS!"

Must go home. Efas ton.

"SHUT UP!"

"Such a pity. The poor dear."

"She is a woman now, she can handle it."

"Still, it was such a terrible loss. This must be hard for her…"

Elle lifted her head to the vaguely familiar voices and sounds. Though unsure what she was expecting, what she did see had to be quite far from her wildest of guesses. It made her heart sink, and then her stomach churn violently.

It was herself; though one may have been hard-pressed to find the resemblance between Elle and the vision crouched on the hill, clutching at the black urn with red eyes, tear stained cheeks and an expression aged with the weight of loss and pain. The real Elle closed her eyes and wished for the darkness to overtake her dream world and for the voice to return. How could this possibly be happening? This was not a memory that she was fond of, and had been happy to have pushed it to the darkest, untouched corners of her mind. Saying goodbye once is hard enough, but to have to say it a second time, then re-live that all over again was beyond cruel.

"No, stop it. Why are you doing this?" She was not sure if she was directing the question to the voice or to herself, but she did feel that it needed asking, even if she did not receive a response. "Mias!" There was a hope that if she called out hard enough in her dream that her physical body would sound the alarm and bring Mias running to her side and end this nightmare.

The air changed again, and as much as she did not want to, there was a pull so strong inside of her mind that urged her to look – she had to. And she was surprised to see something that she really could not remember happening, though the surroundings were so familiar that she could almost call that spot home.

She could see herself sitting on a park bench, enveloped in a light glow from a streetlamp that she was seated directly under, obviously to illuminate the pages on the book that she was not entirely engrossed in, but rather using as a shield to people watch. There were couples everywhere, touching and cooing like love-struck doves that desperately needed to take their sickening activities indoors. The real Elle watched with a look of disgust, but could not help noticing that this "flash-back Elle" seemed to be peering over her book with envy as she noted all of the handsome men with their equally handsome ladies. Had this actually happened, like the previous vision? Why could she not remember this?

And then, without notice, there was an all too familiar face looming over her doppelganger. Elle could not speak – neither of them could. There was no way that this happened; she would have remembered it, wouldn't she? She became distracted, unable to stop staring at the face she had been longing to see for days staring into the eyes of the wrong Elle.

"Mias!" She called out to him, but nothing in the performance before her was disturbed by her presence, why should her shouting make any difference either?

"Taken." She heard Mias' heavenly voice breathe out in a delectable tone before placing a careful kiss on dream-Elle's lips. She could not believe it – she was jealous of herself! It felt as though she was watching him kiss an entirely different person, which was just as infuriating as not being able to remember this alleged first encounter with him.

The darkness swallowed the surroundings slowly before it reached kissing Mias and dream-Elle. It felt as though something incredibly important was slipping through her fingers, and it only intensified her feelings of loneliness and fear.

"Mias, no…" Tears trickled down her cheeks, "Don't leave me."


"Elle."

"Where are you?" Her voice cracked and her eyes tried to search the darkness. "Mias."

"Open your eyes."

Very soft light filtered in to Elle's vision through heavy lashes carefully until her eyes finally came to focus on something that she was not sure she should even trust as being real. Her eyes she may not have been able to trust, but when she felt the touch of fingers glide across her cheek through a light line of tears, she knew that it had to be over.

"Mias?!"

"You were looking for me?"

Without a thought, Elle launched herself into Mias' unready embrace, nearly sending them both tumbling on to the hard floor. She could hear the alarm in his rapid exhale of breath, but was grateful for the warmth from his chest pressing against her moist cheeks. But after the initial excitement faded, she remembered the absence that had been the cause of all of her dismay.

"You bastard!"

Mias frowned at her in a silly manner and blinked, "As though I weren't confused enough." It was his attempt at a joke that he quickly regretted once he noticed that though she, too, had been joking, there was something that was seriously bothering her. It was not even the fact that he could simply feel inside that there was something wrong because on the outside he could feel that she was physically shaking as she sniffled into the ruffles of his shirt. "Elle?"

"I haven't gotten a wink of sleep since you disappeared."

"Well, you seemed fast asleep while I struggled to wake you from your dreams."

Elle readjusted her face against Mias and sighed. "Not dreams… I've had the most terrible nightmares night after night! This voice that said such awful things about me, and you, and… What time is it? Where the hell have you been?"

Mias frowned and wrapped an arm around her, running his fingers through her hair anxiously. "Forgive me, pet. I was… taking care of some business around the manor. As for the time, it is still three hours before dawn."

"But I couldn't find you anywhere."

"Private manors. All is well now, and I have no plans to leave your side ever again."

The comfort that she felt from those words was even better than she could have hoped after longing for it day after day. There was something so warm and exciting about his embrace that she wanted to squeeze him like a child executes a death-grip on a teddy bear after a bad dream. The analogy made her giggle as she thought of him as a big black teddy bear with an impossibly self-assured expression sewn on its face.

"To be honest, I am just pleased to see you so enthused to see me. Perhaps I should take that back and take another leave of absence, perhaps long-"

"Shut up." Elle smacked Mias' arm playfully, "Don't you dare."

Mias laughed, "Have you finally warmed up to me then?"

"I just… Don't feel safe when you are gone."

Elle had to admit, the comfort that she had been feeling in his arms quickly faded when she saw the grim expression on his face as he looked out through the windows into the openness, as though something was out there that he truly felt was a threat. She wanted to think that it was just his way of playing as being a brave knight protecting her from whatever dangers lay beyond, but the lack of any sign of a grin on his lips made it all seem very grave.

"It was just a dream, my pet."

Elle was sure that not even Mias was convinced by the words that came out of his mouth, but she had a strong feelings that there was no point in trying to pry because he was obviously not in the mood, considering his blatant avoidance of the subject. She was hoping that when she would hear him say those words that it would make everything so much better, not worse. A lot of good he was doing at comforting her.

"I guess." She sighed at first, but when Mias kissed her on the forehead she could not help but smile. "I'll admit, I missed you."

"I know you did, my pet." He grinned at her playful frown and pulled her into his lap, "What?"

"You didn't miss me?" This was an answer she honestly wanted, but knew full well that she was not going to get a straight answer.

Mias teased her with a kiss at the corner of her mouth, "Why don't you make me see how much I missed you?"

Elle wrapped a hand around Mias' head, gently curling her fingers into his thick hair and gave him the passionate kiss that had been building up over the past several days. It was something she felt that they both deserved, and a release that she really needed. The time that had passed felt like so much longer than the reality of how much time had passed, and there was this strange feeling that she had time to make up for.

Mias broke the kiss and stroked her face, "I missed you."

Elle smiled so broadly that she felt as though her cheeks were pushing Mias' hands away. But she could not say anything, though her jaw was twitching as though there were words trying to get out. Her eyes felt warm with the threat of tears, but for the first time since Mias had left, they were because she was happy. It felt good, until she realised the anxiety in her jaw was because she needed to yawn.

"I think I should let you go back to sleep, my pet."

As much as she wanted to object, the nagging ache from a lack of sleep was starting to become more and more obvious as her blinks became slower and slower as she stared into Mias' face, drinking him in. At this point she knew that she could not deny anything that he said, so long as it did not imply any physical exertion of any kind. "If you think that's best."

"I do." Mias laid Elle down and pulled the covers up to her shoulder and got up to dim the lights.

Elle immediately felt empty inside as soon as Mias was no longer within her range of vision in the dark, which was already making her nervous how much it reminded her of the nightmares. She wanted to jump out from under the covers and go running blindly into the dark in hoped that she would run in to him. Before Elle could put her sleep-deprived plan in to action, the covers lifted on their own and a weight settled next to her on the mattress.

"Goodnight, my pet."

She was relieved, but confused. "What are you doing?"

"I will be staying with you. To kee- to make you feel safe. Now go to sleep."

"But you have never done it before…"

Elle felt a pleasant shiver rock over her body as Mias' arms wrapped around her and pulled her in against his chest. Her mind was reeling, which was only expending the very last of the reserves of her energy. It was dizzying how excited her body was at his touch, and she doubted that she would have been able to calm herself. But when Mias brushed the hair from her face and kissed her cheek, she melted back into him with a content sigh.

"Pleasant dreams."

"Thank you…"

And that was exactly what she had.