“If I could eat, I wouldn't be like this!” Amias cries. “I want to eat. I smell the things you guys make and I want to eat. But the cleansing potion…it's ruined me…” He becomes quiet as he leans against the bed again.
Erasmus leans in closer to him, setting the soup down on the night stand. “Amias. You're dangerously skinny. Too much longer, and it's gonna be too late.”
“I'm aware,” Amias whispers.
“If you let these voices take over, you're going to die.”
“I know, but I can't fight any longer.”
Erasmus sniffles, knotting my stomach. He doesn't cry. I've never seen it, and neither has anyone else I'm sure. It only hammers down how serious this is.
“Look baby brother!” Erasmus weeps and stands from the bed. “I don't want you to die. And I certainly don't want to tell Mother that her baby dove is dying!” His hands start to tremble. “ I don't want to tell her to say her last goodbyes to you. I don’t want her to ask you what colors for the funeral. I don't want her to weep every night blaming herself for letting you get cleansed like she has already. I don't want this pain either, but what about Mother?”
Amias' shiny eyes shift. He doesn't say a word. He only stares at him.
Erasmus storms away and slams the door. His weeps are heard from outside.
I can't stop my lip from throbbing. Erasmus was more confident than anyone when it came to Amias’ condition. He started off moving with him away from his soulmate, optimistic that he could save Amias from starving and also help him kill Ignatia.
But that confidence is dead.
I look over to Amias. “You'll never find Ignatia in time.”
He nods his head, his body juddering. “I-I know.”
I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to swallow the burn in my throat and hold in the tears. I don't want to lose Amias and the more I see these things, the more I think Amias was right before. It's painful to think for the last month, I haven't even needed to stop him from killing Ignatia. I worried during the first month when he was at full strength, but he has grown too weak now.
I wish he was how he was before. I wish he'd be able to yell at me about dreamscreechers. I wish we could debate about it. Maybe we could've challenged each other on the idea.
Maybe if I had before, I could've saved him from this.
???
I feel so stupid just for looking into this.
I’m sitting down on the hotel’s cement steps outside at night. Palm trees stand on either side of the stairs, planted under the tall pastel pink hotel behind me. Not too far in front of me is the beach, the waves of the ocean lapping over shore. The salty ocean breeze helps to make my cream tank top and black shorts less sticky from the heat.
At first, I came here to take my mind off Amias, but after continuously scrolling on my phone, I ended up searching through articles about dreamscreechers possibly having a good side. I feel dumb. It's like trying to find evidence that Estrella's star isn't real.
I keep scrolling. Everything is about dreamscreechers being horrible, with absolutely no nuance.
Would the Amara kingdom even allow such an article to exist?
I almost feel like Amara's trying to hide something. Maybe Amias had caught onto something that Amara didn't want people to discover.
But now, she cleansed him. She cleansed him in a way that would get him to crumble without her having to even look his way.
I turn off my phone and stare at the beach. What am I doing? I've already seen how dreamscreechers behaved! They're evil. They love to shred people apart.
Why does it seem wrong to believe that now?
“Someone’s getting a little curious.”
I snap my head up to meet dark eyes. Her skin looks a few shades lighter than mine, with dark dreads and blonde tips.
I cock a brow up. “Huh?”
“Dreamscreechers.” She shrugs. “I couldn't help but notice the word dreamscreecher on your phone.”
