Chapter 31 - A Nightmare

In the hustle of moving around things and setting up room,Shi Ai was drained of energy and soon fell asleep.What she had forgotten was that she always found it difficult to sleep in a new place.The same thing happened that night.The difficulty was not in falling asleep but what happened after.

Late in the night,the sound of someone thrashing around could be heard in Shi Ai's bedroom.Caught in the throws of a nightmare,she lived the reality of her dreams.A young girl looked to be standing there alone.She was telling Shi Xiao,be smart and forget your name.Forget everything.Alright?Remember do not come back ever!"

Another girl who was a bit younger shouted,"Jie Jie,please come with me.I am scared.Please come with me."The girl kept pulling but was pushed away by the other girl.And soon the one called Jie jie was gone,while the little girl kept crying."

Shi Ai woke up with a jerk!It was that dream again!She had not had this dream for a while now.Shi Ai tried to make sense of the nightmare but she never seemed to remember the faces of the girls.She had now woken up with a cry of Jie jie.Shi Ai was confused for a moment before she realized that she was in a new place.She consoled herself that it was why probably the nightmare had occured.Getting down from her bed,she tried to make her way downstairs to get some water and got the fright of her life when her room door suddenly opened!She sat back down immediately only to see Zhang Min who turned on the light.

He looked at her intensely but she immediately schooled her features to normal and asked him softly,"Why are you here in the middle of the night?Why are you not sleeping?And don't you know how to knock?"

Zhang Min said nothing but bringing his other hand forward,passed her a bottle of water and asked."Little cousin did you have a nightmare?"

Shi Ai who had been about to drink some water thirstily,paused mid sip and stared at Zhang Min.After a moment,she said,"No.I just woke up thirsty.I was about to down to bring some water."

Zhang Min looked at the bed which looked as if it had been in a war and the way the blanket was kicked aside and knew she was lying.But he decided to give her face and said,"Hmm,alright,I thought there was some noise in your room so I came to check.Next time I will knock.I really am not used to that.And now good night."

With that Zhang Min turned around to leave the room but again stopped at the door and asked,"Little cousin,I am playing computer games.Do you want to join in?They are fun!"

Shi Ai thought for a moment and then agreed and said,"You will have to teach me then.I will be there in a minute."

Zhang Min nodded and went out,leaving Shi Ai sitting there.She could have followed him immediately but she wasn't sure her legs would support her.Auntie Wu had told her that she used to have these nightmares when she had first come into the orphanage but they had gradually disappeared.Then they had come here for tretment and again she had started having those nightmares.It had taken some time for them to go away.And then once gain when they had moved into the house,those nightmares had haunted her.So she could trust atleast one thing.Whenever she changed the place she lived at,she would be haunted with similar nightmares of two girls.One telling her to go away and the other one crying for her.Finally,Shi Ai closed her eyes and then taking out her diary,wrote down this new discovery in it.She had taken to writing down her nightmares so that she could piece together the truth behind her nightmares.

In the other room,Zhang Min sat staring at the screen.He had been playing games when suddenly his screen had turned blank and then a message had popped on his screen,"New places tend to make people uncomfortable.A bottle of water and some company helps."

He had wondered what it could mean when suddenly Shi Ai's shout had caught his attention.The message now made sense and he turned back to read it but it was already gone as if it was a dream.Running down,he brought a bottle of water and just barged into Shi Ai's room..