The Burg Chronicles

Aabi.

I kept reading the book until he called my name from the kitchen. I got up instantly and reached the dinner table. There was fried chicken with masala rice waiting for me. The aroma of the freshly prepared food was filling the room. I closed my eyes to feel it completely.

”Nice smell, ” I complimented.

”Sit down and eat. ”

Why did he always keep ordering me? He could have requested me, but no.

I put the book aside on the table and took the first bite.

”Mmm… The food is good too, just like its smell. ”

”Not just like the person who made it? ” he smiled while taking his first bite as well.

”Ahm… I want to know about everything, I have waited a lot. ”

”Aabi! Eat your dinner first. ”

”No! You keep avoiding me since morning. I want to know it now ”

I put my fork down on the table with force and stood up. I couldn control the anger in me now but the connection between us forced me to calm down.

”You
e not ready to know everything. ”

”Oh! Really? Try me. ”

”Calm down, please. I will tell you, just have your dinner. ”

I sat down like I was bowing down to his every command. I started eating without looking at him for once while he kept staring at me.

”You are not just a normal human. You are a dreamer, ” he announced.

”What is a dreamer? ”, I asked bafflingly.

”Dreamers… are one of the three cliques, living in the Burg. They can see and meet people in their dreams but those dreams… are the real ones. ”

”What are the others? Where is this place? Burg? What are you? ”

”Aren you more curious about knowing yourself? ”

”I know that already, what you have told me but… yes! I want to know more. ”

He got up from the chair and walked toward the window. It was raining outside. I couldn see his face so I got near him to talk.

”You have a light implanted in your chest. You can see other dreamers and humans when you sleep. Your soul left your body to seek comfort. It is unsatisfied. Thats why you try to save others… to do good to others so you can seek comfort and satisfaction. ”

”I still don feel good. I just feel… calm around you. ”

I didn know why I said that. The truth slipped through my tongue.

”I don know the reason for that. Maybe, you find comfort with people like you. ”

”Are you a dreamer, too? ”

”Umm… No. Im a visioner. You can digest all of this in one conversation. There is a whole new world for people like us. ”

”I want to know. What is a visioner? ” I resisted.

I got curious and scared but I wanted to know more. He put his hands on the window grill as the wind started pouring the raindrops on them.

”I am both a seeker and a dreamer. Seekers are the ones who can seek peoples past by just feeling their pulse. I can seek and dream plus I have the gift of foresight. ”

”Thats amazing!! ” I said impulsively.

”Aabi! It seems fascinating but… it is not worth it. I lost my mom. I have been living far away from my home for twenty years… because of this. ”

His voice got dull. He looked up and his eyes were filled with white tears.

”Your eyes… ”

”I am sorry. ” He looked away. ”Don worry! Our tears are white. ”

”Mines are not. They are transparent like a normal human. ”

”I don know enough about you yet, Aabi. I don even know from whom you got the light. ”

”Its okay! You already told me a lot. ”

I was roaming in the darkness. My father helped me to find the light but you showed me that light was within me. You found me, Skyler. You calmed me.

I held his hand in mine. He looked at me. I wiped the tears from his face and smiled. He put his head on our entwined hands and kept crying.

”Let me cry… I haven cried in twenty years because of these tears. My eyes turn white for hours subsequently. ”

I didn say anything. He cried for hours as the rain poured down.

…..

I slept in his bed as he slept on the couch in the living room. Surprisingly, my soul didn leave my body to wander in the dream world. Maybe, it found satisfaction with him. I was still in bed as I heard the voice of a stranger talking to Skyler. I went out and saw a girl standing there. She was wearing a black frock, reaching her knees with black shiny shoes. The black leather jacket was completing her whole look but all drenched in water. Her skin was dusk-colored but her eyes… were darker grey.

”Oh! So you have a girl in your bedroom, ” the girl said with curiosity.

”Shut up! She is my patient. She has a sleeping disorder so I brought her here to study her case, ” Skyler said.

”Aabi! Lets go inside. Rocio! Stay here. ”

He couldn let me say a word, held my hand, and pulled me to the room. He shut the door with a bang.

”Who is she? Why did you bring me here? Is there any problem? ”, I asked.

”I know you have questions but…please… I request you to leave. I am sorry for not asking you for breakfast. Don worry! Lunch is on me. Meet me at the diner near the hospital around 2 oclock. Okay? ” he kept talking while holding my face between his palms.

”Okay. ”

That was all I said. I put the book in my bag, wore the scarf around my neck, and left the room.

”Here she is! Hello Sweetheart! How are you? I am… ”

”No time for introductions. She is leaving, ” Skyler cut her off.

”Goodbye, ” I said and left for home.

…..

Skyler.

Rocio arrived here today. I wanted to hug her but she jumped on me. She was always that excited but I got anxious because of the presence of Aabi. I didn want Rocio to see her. That was only because I didn know all about Aabi so I couldn trust anyone who lived in Burg… not even my sister.

”How are you, Lil sister? How is everyone back home? ”

”Everyone is good, brother. I wanted to see you, ” Rocio said.

”You are always welcome here, ” I forced a smile. Not because I was unhappy. I was concerned.

”I am here to give you good news! ”

”Well! Lets talk outside. ”

”Why? ” she interrogated.

”Umm.. cos… I am going for a… walk. ”

I wanted to take Rocio out. In the meantime, Aabi came out of my room. I rushed her out of the house so Rocio couldn know that she is a dreamer but not a born one. I trusted my sister always but she was silly and talkative. She could tell anyone in the Burg. Maybe, dad or even Johan.

….

”Who was she? Your girlfriend? Don tell me that she is your wife, ” Rocio interrogated in one go as soon as Aabi left. She was sitting on the living room table, placing his hands on her sides. She was moving her legs in the air, she always loved to swing them.

”Uff! Slow down! As I told you, SHE IS MY PATIENT… ” I emphasized my words.

”Okay! I want to meet her. ”

”Leave her! Aren you here to meet me? So talk to me about us. Tell me about the news you were talking about, ” I tried to change her attention from her.

”I am getting MARRIED!!! ” she announced with joy as she hopped from the table.

”What? ” I was startled. I got near and held her from the side of her shoulders.

”What is this response, bro? ” she felt disappointed.

”I am sorry. I am in shock. Who is he? What did Johan say about that? And… Father?

”Johan is unaffected as always. He doesn care about anyone except father. And… I choose Raph to be my husband, ” she shied.

”Raph? Is that even a name? ” I laughed to tease her. I was trying my best to be her older brother. The one who always made her laugh and teased her.

”RAPHAEL… I call him Raph. ”

She freed herself from my arms cage and hit me on my shoulder for making fun of her husband-to-bes name.

”Raphael… He is the son of fathers greatest ally. Isn he? ”

I recalled the time when I was a kid and Mr. Turpin used to come home to meet dad. Raphael, his son. I couldn remember a lot about him as he was only a kid back then.

”Yes! Mr.Turpins son. ”

”Rocio! Look… I don want to seek you to know everything. Just look me in the eye and answer me. Are you happy? Do you want it? ”

I held her hand and looked into her eyes. They went white grey as well as mine.

I am happy. I love him.

She told me by just looking into my eyes without saying a word. That was one of the tricks our mother taught us about. When we got connected to someone, we could talk to each other through our eyes. I forced a smile but I felt uneasiness as something was going to happen.

”So when is the wedding due? ”

”Next week! I am here to take you with me as per fathers order. ” She started roaming around and inspecting every little thing.

”Father sent you here? ”

”No, I told him that I was leaving for you. He asked me to bring you back home. He misses you. ”

It was a weird statement as father didn miss me in that long period of separation. He never came to see me because he couldn leave his beloved throne. Why would he miss me now?

”I will be at the wedding but don expect any more than this. ”

She came near me and looked into my eyes.

”Bro! Please bring your girlfriend too. ”

”She is not my girlfriend and she is a human. I can bring her to the Burg. ”

”You are going to tell her the truth eventually, as you love her. ”

”I don . ” I looked away.

”I can feel you, bro. ”

I didn say anything. I couldn deny the fact that I loved her since our first talk. I started feeling contentment with her presence.

”I will ask her. ”

”She will say yes as she can say no to you. ”

I realized that Rocio said the truth without any knowledge of our relationship. Aabi had been agreeing to everything I had said and I didn even notice this fact. Why? Why was it happening? What thing was connecting me to her? It could not be a mere attraction. It was something powerful, holding us together.

….

Skyler.

I left Rocio at home and drove to the hospital. I instructed her to stay at home and not to seek anyone as she was only a seeker. She was not bestowed with the mothers gene of being a dreamer but she got the seeking pair from the father. She was an ordinary seeker with the extraordinary power of a healer. We all are bestowed with an individual ”POWER OF ETERNITY ”. Johan and I could see the visions of happenings in the near future. Thus, we were named visioners. Rocio had the greatest ability to make concoctions to heal anything that was broken, even the heart. We were three extraordinary siblings in the BURG. No one has this Power of eternities. All because of our mother. Father? He was only a seeker and always would be.

I waved to Noor while opening the door of my office. I took my coat off and hung it around my chair. I was about to sit when Noor came in.

”Hello! Doctor. How have you been? ”

”Hi, Noor. I am all good. So how many patients for today? ” I asked as I sat down.

”Only 10 appointments are scheduled for today, ” she informed the patients.

”Very well! I will leave around two for lunch. You can give yourself a little time to breathe in comfortably. ” I smiled.

”Sure. Thank you, doctor. ”

As she left, I opened the laptop to check the mails and recorded data of appointments. I started pressuring my mind to think about the life I had, not the one I was having here.

I could have lived a happy life there with my siblings and father. They would have loved me and I could be a part of my family, not that Dr. Skyler who checks peoples pulse to seek their darkest secrets and helps them overcome them. If I lived there, how could I meet Aabi? Life was not that simple. Everything happened for a reason. My reason for leaving everything behind was to meet my love, my satisfaction. My other part of the soul.

But now, I would leave this human world with Aabi. I would live in Burg and make her trust me. The right place for her and… for me, was not here. Rocio was right. I had to tell her the truth and convinced her to come with me. Master couldn hold me back here anymore. Twenty Years! Thats such a long period of living in solitude with no family to hold on to, no father to pat your shoulder, no brother to share your worries with, no sister to hug you every day… And no mother to guide you at every point. Now was the time to have everything I ever craved for. I had love, now I would have a family, too.