‘Did your parents ever tell you what the Dysfunctionals were all about?'
I shook my head. Even if they had, I probably didn't listen or believe them.
‘When your siblings found their soulmates, did they seem happy to you?'
He was talking in riddles. Asking questions, instead of giving answers. He leant back in his seat, leaving the blood spotted tissue on the table between us. The swelling of his lip satisfied me before the reason why I had done it hit home.
‘I'm not into playing games. Just tell me why you killed Sophie.' My throat threatened to close for the first time since I had left her.
‘If you want the quick answer, it's because I believe she was your twin flame. My man took it upon himself to eradicate the threat.'
Nick wasn't that old. The lines around his eyes told me that he was about forty odd. The leathery look of his skin said that he spent a lot of time outdoors. What drove him to do what he did? We were all product of our parent's creation. Did Nick have parents? Of course he would have parents. He would have grown up as we had. A sort of normal life.
Who was I kidding? Our parents had told us that we were special when we were young. They had said that we were going to change the world. So why had I almost done something that went against all their teaching when I had turned into a man?
‘I want the long answer. The real answer. The truth.'
My emotions were locked away. Everyone else ceased to exist in that moment. I needed to know the answers that I had been searching for.
‘I can show you,' Nick said, glancing behind me.
I heard the movement of feet. A small bag appeared on the table. Nick's man nodded once before leaving the room.
‘You like substance, Taurus. You take it to hide who you are. The dark part of you that begs to be heard.'
The sound of the zip filled the room when he pulled the bag open. Packets fell onto the table. White powder baggies littered the surface, begging for me to reach out and slide one away from its friends. Nick wanted to give me drugs?
‘Life is an illusion. We see what we want to see, not the truth. We think that what's in front of us, is the whole of it. The truth of everything. It's not the case. I know you don't believe that, Taurus.'
I chuckled as I wrapped my fingers around the edge of the table. ‘There is nothing to prove what my parents say is right. A twin flame is a soul that splits into two and comes to earth in different bodies? Sometimes it's destiny to meet your twin flame so that you can heal the human condition and fall madly in love. Nah, I don't think so.'
We shared a mutual laugh. I grew quiet when he pushed a baggie towards me.
‘This will show you the truth.'
The truth. No one really knew the truth. Not one hundred per cent. Religious people claimed to know the truth. I just laughed at them. Spiritual people were a bit more open but still not right. Atheists. Men and women like me. We were the closest to reality. We didn't live in a fantasy land where we believed in things that couldn't be seen.
///
‘This drug will take you on a ride unlike any you've ever been on.' Nick flicked open one of the packets and stuck his finger into the white powder.
‘How do I know you're not trying to kill me?'
It could be anything. Anthrax. Poison. Did I care? Not really. If I was going to die, it might as well be from a drug overdose.
‘Well, you know that I can't kill you.'
‘No, I don't. I think that's just a ploy to make us feel safe. We're just human, of course you can kill us.' My fingers reached out for the packet without my consent.
Sophie was gone. What did I have left to live for anyway? It wasn't like my life was an amazing mass of excitement.
‘How can you believe that when you can bend trees?'
The one flaw in my reasoning was our powers. Pisces could breathe underwater. Aries and Leo could create fire. Cancer turned into water. Every single one of my siblings had a power and I had seen them all.
‘Let's do this,' I said, ignoring his question.
The white powder called to me more than trying to prove him wrong. I would do that later.
He gestured towards the drugs, so I opened the bag that was on the table in front of me. The powder poured onto the surface of the table.
‘Use this.' Nick handed me a credit card and a rolled up bank note.
I glanced at the name on the card. It was a random name I hadn't heard before. Cutting the powder, I formed a line. When I looked at Nick, I saw that he was doing the same.
‘You take drugs?'
His smile was crooked. ‘I need to come with you. To show you what you want to see.'
My hand froze. It gripped the rolled note, ready to be used.
‘No. Show me the truth. Not just what I want to see.'
Nick nodded once. ‘You're more intelligent than they give you credit for.'
‘Just do it,' I snapped.
He bent to his line and sniffed it up in one go. I flicked my cap off, letting it land on the floor. Bending to the table, I put the rolled note up my nose and inhaled the white powder into my nostril. The sting caused tears to come to my eyes. Blood started to pound with my heartbeat throughout my body. It didn't feel good like the times before. Why didn't it feel good?
‘I told you, this isn't a normal drug. Just relax and we'll soon be on our way.' Nick's voice sounded distant. As if he was somewhere far away.
My eyes rolled into the back of my head. I couldn't keep control of them as I tried to focus. Ribs vibrated as my heart thrust itself against them continuously. Bang, bang, bang.
‘Here we go,' Nick said in a loud whisper.
The sound of a chair hitting the floor filtered through the hum of the organs in my body. I was cradled in soft arms. I relaxed into them, waiting for the answers to come.
Chapter Thirteen
‘It feels light, doesn't it?'
The warmth that surrounded me was unlike anything I had ever allowed myself to feel. The earth spun in front of us as we sat on the cool surface of the moon.
‘How are we here?'
The bright blue and green colours of the earth's surface caught my eye. I couldn't look away from the beautiful world. There was no air up there, but I wasn't breathing.
‘Don't think. There's no need to think.'
He was right. I didn't have the urge to question everything.
‘This is where we come from.'
‘The moon?'
I couldn't see him. I could hear him, but I couldn't see him.
‘Don't try to see, just know.'
I wasn't a body. Neither was he. The flow of feeling was stronger than I had ever felt in my life. It was good. It was a calm, nice feeling. There was nothing other than the feeling.
‘It's time to show you,' Nick's voice said.
‘How do-'
A sucking sensation pulled at me. My body landed in a heap. My face was pressed against cool dewy grass.
Opening my eyes, I focused on the tree in front of me. The sound of a fire crackling nearby made me lift my head.
‘Father, do you have any berries?' a young girl called as a tall man came into the clearing.
The wooden hut behind her was built solidly. A suckling pig roasted on a fire in front of it.
‘I have a few,' her father replied, throwing his roughly made bag on the ground. ‘Why do you have to be so picky about eating the pig?'
His rasping words were said lightly. The young girl threw her arms around his broad shoulders and squeezed him tight.
Pushing into a sit, I looked down at myself. My hands were meaty and my thighs were rock solid. If I had thought I was fit in 2015, I was well beyond it wherever I was now. It was a good dream. Very realistic.
///
‘Nicklaus, you're awake!' the young girl called, coming over to me.
Her dress touched my knee as she stood over me. She rubbed a hand over my hair affectionately. ‘Not long now. Only three days until the ceremony.'
My chest exploded with an emotion I had never felt before. The corners of my lips lifted into my cheeks as she bent to kiss my forehead. Something wasn't right. The emotion didn't feel like my own.
‘All right, that's enough. You'll have to restrain yourself,' her father called from the fire.
The scent of cooking meat made my stomach gurgle noisily.
‘Someone's ready for their dinner,' my beloved laughed. ‘Don't give me that look with those grey eyes!'
I watched her. Every move she made was precious. Every word that came out of her mouth, I wanted to hear. I was besotted. Grey eyes? She said that I had grey eyes.
‘Nicklaus, come eat!' my future father in law called.
Stretching my whole body, I stood and joined him by the fire. The warmth flicked over my face as I accepted the torn off pork leg.
I was Nick in a past life. I was seeing his memories from his soul's point of view. That would explain why I felt so different.
‘You've not said a word since you awoke. Are you well?'
My beloved came to stand by me. All I could do was smile. Her sweet smell wafted around me as she stroked my cheek. Soon, she would be mine.
‘There is an errand I need you to run before the ceremony,' the man said before ripping meat from the pig's bone with his teeth.