Chamber Of Forever by Belinda De Roselyn

 Chapter 2:  Haunted

      Squall was amazed at what he saw. How could such a beauty be so real, yet so fake at the same time? He lingered over those thoughts as eternal silence filled the room.

“Squall?” asked Quistis

“Yea?” Squall asked.

“This is Rinoa.” said Quistis.

“Neat. I have to leave.” Squall jerked himself up and ran out the building. Quistis sighed, as everyone stared down at the floor, in interest. Irvine chased after him.

Rinoa stood without expression on her face as she watched Irvine follow behind Squall.
The silence made everyone so uncomfortable. Finally, the doctors broke the silence, “Miss Trepe, if you would, please come in the back room? We need to just discuss private matters.” said Dr. Grey.

“Yes, of course.” said Quistis.

The friends watched as Quistis left with the Doctors, guiding Rinoa down the hall.

“Squall, wait!” yelled Irvine. All Squall did was ignore him. “Squall, come back! I have to talk to you!” said Irvine.

“What?” Squall asked, irritated.

“What was that? So now you just storm out of places for no good reason?” Irvine asked, tensely.

“Whatever.” said Squall turning his back.

Irvine pulled him back. But Squall punched him, hard in the stomach. This pulled Irvine away, so Squall could rush to his car, without looking back.

It didn’t surprise Irvine when Squall did that. Squall has always been stubborn like that. Never in Irvine’s years of knowing Squall had Squall actually opened up to anyone. Since there was no point in chasing  Squall, Irvine crawled back slowly.

Selphie rushed by Irvine’s side when she saw him barely moving.

“Are you okay?” Selphie asked, caringly.

Irvine shot a smirk at Laguna, He’s quite a toughie.”

Later that night, Quistis was in her room reviewing all the events that happened that night. The reunion, the life of Rinoa, everything. As Quistis thoroughly brushed her hair, a beautiful woman stared back at her. Long blonde hair, blue eyes, and porcelain skin. At least, that’s what most men saw. Most men really thought that she was just all looks and no brain. She guessed that’s why she never dated. Laguna was really the only person who saw past it all. Of course, she couldn’t date him. It would be too weird.
As she waltzed over to her bed, she sunk into her warm comforter. Slowly, Quistis nodded off to sleep. Sleeping was probably the best thing for her right now. Her vision grew blurry as she lied in bed, staring at the wall. Within a few minutes, she was soundly sleeping.

Quistis… you poor girl. You thought the nightmares would end. They won’t though. Can you feel it? Running through your veins? Even though she has awakened, your soul cries for release. Isn’t it ironic? You have tried so hard… Only to reach a dead end.

You think I want to hurt you, Quistis? All I want Is for you to remember… Just remember. Can you even remember what it was like? The first time you placed eyes on me. I was nothing to everyone. Except you, of course. But you, Quistis, believed in me.  Even when I was frowned upon. You protected me against harm. I know you wish for me to leave. But how can I? Your soul is my survival.

I live inside you. If you truly want me gone, you must search for the Eye of Inspiration. So, if you believe me, look. If you dare…

As Quistis awoke from her nightmare, a bitter laugh is heard. She turned on her lamp, shaking with the only emotion known to her… Fear.
As she stood up, she begged for air. Why was it so complicated for her to sleep to a good dream? Why hasn’t she been able to sleep a full night’s night in a year?

All these sudden questions raced through her head as she dragged herself out of her room for a drink of water. She was living in a fantasy world. At least, that’s how it felt.

As she sat at her kitchen table, staring outside, she saw that it was almost dawn.

“Almost morning. Are you scared?” asked a haunting voice.

Quistis turned around and turned unbelievably pale. There was no one there. She was completely dumbfounded. It was haunting. She knew she had heard a voice. But where had it come from?

Suddenly, there was a sound and flash of lightning that startled her. She jumped ten feet in the air. Literally, she jumped ten feet in the air. How was it possible for there to be such a dreary second, when the sky was obviously just clear.

There was a sudden knock on her door.  It made her jump high.

She crawled off her chair, shaking in fear.  It was horrible for her. The fear that spread down her back to the very bottom of her spine as the mere image  of a pale ghost spread through her mind.  It made her shiver as she made her way towards the door. Quistis  could feel each muscle in her body tightening within each second.
Before she could open the door, a voice was heard. A gentle voice. And as odd as she felt, the voice was actually calming her. She made her way into her bedroom. The feeling of comfort filled her. A gentle rush of serenity and joy rushed through her body.  Quistis found it hard for herself to resist the pull.

As she peeked in the direction of her bed, she saw a rocking chair and a woman with long blonde curls and pale skin sitting in it. And Quistis trembled in fear. The woman looked up at Quistis, and smiled. Then she looked back down.

“Hello, Love,” said the woman.

Quistis noticed she was holding a blanket. So she peeked in closer. There was a  baby wrapped thoroughly in she blanket. Suddenly, the woman looked back up.

“Surprise,” said the woman.

Quistis looked at her in confusion. There was a knock on the door.  The woman left the room with Quistis following her. In the doorway, a man with a SeeD uniform stood before the woman.

“Why, Jock, what a pleasant surprise,” the woman said.

“Please, Cara, don’t speak…” the man whispered, “Your husband… he’s been killed.”

A gentle tear rolled down Quistis’ cheek. Emotion stirred inside her so gently, it hurt. With horrible pain rushing through her, the tears grew. The tears and pain mixed together perfectly to cause her to be on the verge of passing out. Her tears, though, stopped when a horrifying sight crossed her. It was the sight of a woman lying on the ground.

The man… he stabbed her. But, how come there was no blood? Her emotion ran cold. So did her fingers to her toes. The woman held the baby tight though. And the tighter she held, the tighter Quistis clenched her teeth. The baby cried the whole time.

It was all happening too fast. It must be a dream, she thought.

Finally, the woman’s grip was released, and so was the baby. This made the baby only cry harder. With Quistis panicking as well.

But the oddest thing was when the image disappeared. The woman, the baby. Gone. How was it even possible?

She questioned herself the whole time. But the night was definitely NOT over. Another image appeared. It was when she was in the therapists’ office. How could she forget Ms. Andres? After all, she was Quistis’ therapist at the age of nine. When Quistis needed a friend to talk to after school, Ms. Andres was there. She needed one since her father had died when she was eight. Which gave her seven years to know him. And her mother died when Quistis was only one. She was surprised she grew up this stable.

Her foster parents kind of ‘tried’ to take the place of her real parents, but despite their nonstop efforts, they failed. Honestly, they were excellent foster parents, but they never had the touch of her true parents.

For Quistis though, it took more than a couple of years to adjust to something new, it took her whole life… She wasn’t like others, she was different.. You could see that with your first look at her. She is ALWAYS protective of herself. She is ALWAYS shying away. And most of all, she is ALWAYS a complete mess.

“Well, hello! You must be Miss Trepe,” a woman with dark curly hair with blue eyes, wearing a black dress whispered.

“Hello,” the girl said shyly.

“I am Ms. Marian Andres,” she said kindly, ”But please, call me Marian. Anyways, let’s investigate, shall we?”

The quiet girl nodded.

“Why have you come here?” asked Marian, ”Is it a home issue?”

“Actually, Ms. Andres, if I may call you that, It is more of a personal problem.” said the girl.

“Well, that’s what I’m here for.” said Marian.

“See…” the girl then stopped.

Quistis wondered why there was a sudden silence. It was too quiet. Why though? It was just too sudden to be a short-time-thing. And just too quiet for her to handle. Fear was going down her spine.

Before she knew it, there was a creak from downstairs in her basement. I knew it, she thought. What she saw, though, was a little girl with blonde hair around five. Why were the pictures out of order? It was her, true. But it wasn’t how she thought it would be. It was different. Just like her.

The girl sat in the corner, singing to herself. Her voice so light and gentle, it was amazing. You could guarantee that you could pass out, right then and there. Which is exactly what Quistis did. She passed out listening to the girl sing so beautifully. All was peaceful, even her soul.

Soon, the night passed and she still lay on the floor asleep on the cold basement ground.

Suddenly, a panicked voice was heard and loud footsteps in the hall to follow along.

“Quistis!” the voice called, “Quistis, where are you?”

She awoke with and aching body and chilled from the solid and cold ground. It was the first time she actually SLEPT during the second time, without having loss of sleep the next morning.

“In here!” she called. Her voice was small and hoarse sounding.

Laguna’s head popped in and he said, “Oh, so there you are.”

“Yep.” she agreed.

“Well, I was just gonna go with you to pick Rinoa up. But, you know, if you don’t wanna go, I guess I could leave,” he said teasingly.

“Alright, I’ll hurry.” she said.

She tried to stand herself up, but was obviously too weak. He saw how she was struggling and took swift and slick steps down the stairs. Once he arrived down there, avoiding all of her electronics and parts, he gave her a hand up.

“Thanks” she said.

“Sure.” he said kindly, “So, let’s hurry so I can flirt with that doctor.”

Quistis rolled her eyes and laughed. “Don’t worry.” she said.
“Well I have to if I wanna make sure no one takes her.” Laguna explained.

                                 Thirty Minutes Later

Quistis came out of the bathroom feeling a bit better compared to how she felt a while ago. Once she was finished dressing in her peach/pink skirt and matching blouse, she found Laguna in the living room waiting for her, while watching television.

“Ready?” she asked.

“Oh yea.” He assured her.

“Well, let’s go.” she said

They headed for the car and left, Laguna speeding past everyone, of course. But then, when they got there, it was a completely different story...