Natasha blinked, once, twice, three times. She was trying to clear her vision of the blinding white light, but had been unsuccessful. She checked that she was still there, first. Yes – there was her hair, her face, her mouth, her eyes, her nose.
Suddenly, the light flashed away, into a vision of her room. Somehow she knew that, even though she could see her room, she was not awake, merely dreaming, asleep.
So why…?
Her vision slid to the left, and she jumped violently. A tall, weak-looking, handsome, dark-haired male was standing in the room. He looked exactly like he’d come out of one of her Latin books, and Natasha wondered whether she had studied too much for her Latin test before the party.
He was dressed in a white toga, the fabric slung across his chest casually, revealing the left half of his upper torso. ‘Hello,’ he said quietly, looking at Natasha with a hint of a smile on his face. He raised his hand and brushed some of his fringe away.
Instead of returning his greeting, Natasha blinked some more, and answered, “Who are you?” Her voice was just as quiet, if not quieter. She didn’t know why someone who looked like a Roman was standing in her room, but then a little voice in her head reminded her that she was having a dream, and, well, anything could happen.
‘My name is Lucius,’ the man said, gesturing to himself.
Natasha sat up. She thought she might as well play along – it wasn’t often she had a dream like this, so detailed. “Hello, Lucius. I’m Natasha.”
‘It is a pleasure to meet you, Natasha. When you asked who I was, I assume you did not just mean my name. Allow me to show you who I really am,’ Lucius offered, inclining his head.
Natasha paused. What harm could it do? Slowly, she nodded, her mouth dry.
Immediately the image of the room faded out, and the scene switched to a large, white palace. Natasha was standing on lush green grass just outside. She looked around for Lucius, but he was nowhere to be seen.
“Lucius?” she ventured timidly, not wishing to draw much attention to herself in this strange place, even if it was a dream.
‘This is the palace of Julius Caesar,’ Lucius’ voice announced. Natasha looked around wildly, as if Julius Caesar was going to step out from a bush any second. ‘This is where I was born,’ Lucius continued.
“B… born?” Natasha mumbled. “You don’t mean that… you’re…”
‘I am Julius Caesar’s son, yes. Let me show you my mother.’
The scene changed once again. Natasha was now standing in front of a very beautiful woman who was sitting on a chair. ‘This is my mother, Natasha,’ Lucius said. ‘Her name is Servilia Caepionis.’
“I recognise that name…” Natasha said quietly, trying to remember Latin class.
‘She is Brutus’ mother. She is the mother of the man who assassinated Julius Caesar,’ Lucius said, and a sadness entered his voice.
“Oh…” Natasha said quietly. She knew she had recognised that name from somewhere. “So your brother killed your father?”
‘Yes.’
“Did he know you were… his brother?” Natasha said. She didn’t mean to probe, but Lucius had wanted to show her his past, right?
‘He found out when I was twelve. Caesar never admitted that I was his son, but from my mother’s reaction when Brutus asked her, he deducted that yes, I was Brutus’ brother.’
Natasha looked around for Lucius again. “Did you live here?”
‘No. It would have been much too dangerous for me to live here. I lived here.’ The scene blurred out, and a little stone house fazed in. The castle could be seen in the distance. ‘I lived in Rome, and visited my father once a month. Walk inside the house.’
Natasha tried not to smile as she walked forward, towards the stone house. This had to be the best interactive tour of Rome she’d ever had – and she was making it all up! She stepped inside the house and a ginger-haired woman walked past her, muttering to herself. Instinctively, Natasha followed the woman into the other room, where a nine-year-old Lucius was sitting.
The woman spoke some Latin to Lucius, and Lucius replied. The voices suddenly became quieter as the older Lucius spoke over the top of them. ‘This is Flavia. She looked after me but I loved her like a mother and she cared for me like a son. We were… inseparable.’
Natasha nodded, and waited for Lucius to continue. There was a ten second pause, in which Natasha was pretty sure she heard Lucius stifling a pained sob.
‘When Brutus found out I was his brother,” Lucius continued, as if no pause had come between the words ‘inseparable’ and ‘when’, ‘we moved. I was only twelve. I lived here.’
The scene changed to a little stone house in a forest. ‘It was a beautiful place,’ Lucius continued sadly, ‘it was a shame to leave it.’
Natasha furrowed her brow. “What happened?” she inquired.
‘To answer that question, I must bring us forward four years.’ The scenery began to change around her, people moved in fast motion around the house, and Natasha could see Lucius every so often, growing older and older. Plants grew, and died, until finally, when Natasha was feeling quite dizzy, the time movement stopped.
‘March 29th, 44BC. Welcome to the day of my death, Natasha.’
Natasha swallowed, and suddenly jumped as four men snuck right past her, without noticing her. One man even walked right through her, which made Natasha shiver.
Lucius spoke only two words, but it was enough. ‘Follow them.’
Natasha swallowed again, but did as he asked, following the four men. They strode right into the house and into a room where both Lucius and Flavia were sitting. Lucius jumped up, and Flavia let out a scream.
The scene stopped moving. “Lucius?” Natasha asked timidly.
Another Lucius appeared beside the frozen Lucius, who had stepped forward to protect Flavia. ‘I don’t think you need to see anymore,’ he said sadly. He moved across to one of the men, and put a hand on his shoulder. The man did not feel it. ‘Brutus. Brutus my brother came to our stone house and murdered us in cold blood, just fourteen days after he assassinated my father.’
Lucius smiled, and gave Natasha a sombre wave. ‘I’ll see you in the morning.’
-
Natasha was woken by the incessant ringing of her mobile phone. “Whassat?” she mumbled, rolling over in her bed. She hung her right arm down the side of the bed and gripped her jeans, pulling them towards her. She fished the phone out of the pocket.
“Hello?” she said, sleepily. She was greeted by the sound of her friend, Winter’s, voice. “Winter!” she exclaimed, sitting upright. “Hi!”
Winter said something into the phone, “Uh, this is gonna sound crazy and you’re not going to believe it…”
“What?” Natasha said. The dream she had had last night was still vivid. She stood up and pulled the cord next to her window. The curtains flew open, and the first thing she saw was Lucius’ face looking through the window.
‘Boo.’
Natasha screamed and dropped the phone. She ran to the opposite side of the room, dropped on all fours, and crouched behind the bed, whimpering.
Lucius, meanwhile, had crawled underneath the bed and was now lying on his stomach, propped up on his elbows, underneath her bed, looking at her. Natasha had not noticed. She looked cautiously over the bed and saw no one, but ducked back down anyway.
She saw him again, screeched, and slid hastily backwards. Lucius crawled forward and sat up, on his knees. ‘Don’t be like that,’ he said, somewhat sombrely, ‘I don’t bite.’
“Natasha?” a voice called through the door, and someone knocked. “Natasha, are you all right?”
Natasha paused and stood up, running towards the door and wrenching it open. “Mum!” she said, and stepped back. Her mother came in and looked around the room.
“You were screaming, are you okay?” her mother, Joanne, asked, concerned.
“Can’t you… can’t… can’t you see…” Natasha blurted out, gesturing towards Lucius, who stood up, smiled, and waved at Joanne.
‘She can’t,’ he said calmly. ‘She’s going to think you’re crazy.’
“You’re crazy!” Joanne said softly, and laughed. “Breakfast is on the table, when you want it, Natasha. Get dressed first, though.” And with that, she left. Natasha looked down at her nightdress slightly moodily.
Lucius’ smile widened and he pointed at the phone. ‘You dropped that.’ He had no clue what it was, but he thought it would be best if Natasha retrieved it.
Dully, Natasha padded over to it and picked it up, putting the phone to her ear. She decided not to mention Lucius as she said quietly, “I’m sorry, my mum came in. What’s going to sound crazy?”
|| Set // WIS < 33 ||
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