FRED

CHAPTER VIII

There he was. I had Frederick in front of me with his hand out stretching, waiting to be shook by mine.

What the hell? The beautiful boy of my dream was Frederick? Stupidly, ever since Molly told me about his existence, I pictured him as a fat old man, full of gray sacs and a face full of bitterness. The description of a ruthless killer made me think that just seeing him I would want to get away and run away from him, not wanting to take him home and love him. I never imagined that the blissful Frederick was perfection made man. Although after all, everything had logic, how could I not realize it before? Obviously it was going to be him who broke into my room in the middle of the night.

Among so many thoughts I didn't even realize that I didn't shake his hand, and I wouldn't. He noticed that and winced.

"I've left you speechless, right?" he spoke self-centeredly as i began to slowly circle around me. 

Even though I wasn't afraid of him, my hands and legs were shaking and my breathing was a little heather than normal. This man was too intimidating, I felt like he was going to devour me in any moment and leave no trace of my presence there. My feelings were shocked by confusion. He was definitely the most perfect man I'd ever seen, his beauty was surreal and his eyes had a lovely glow, but on the side, he was a bloodthirsty killer.

"Why am I here?" I asked him through hesitation without being able to hold his gaze. I've never felt so tiny in front of anyone.

"Well, I thought I heard you telling Nathan you wanted to meet me. So here I am. I'm all yours," he replied wrily as he raised his arms pretending to give himself to me.

God, this man had a very heavy mood.

"But why don't you look me in the eye? Is it that you're intimidated by my look?" he asked me approaching and then taking my chin with his hand and forcing me to look him in the face. I had to, and I found myself again with those bright blue eyes.

I couldn't do anything, it was like if he had me under his power when we made eye contact, his eyes bewitched me and considering that history says he sold his soul to a sorcerer, it would make a lot of sense.

"I just wanted to see you so I could know why do you want me. What do I have in particular? Why don't you stop stalking me?"

I finally took courage and looked him straight in the eye. He seemed surprised.

"I am not the one who has chosen you. You wanted to enter this world of magic by yourself and I hope you understand that I cannot allow that you go there walking around in the world of humans knowing the existence of Mitoja. You're putting us at risk," he explained.

What are you talking about? Me? Expose you? I didn't even know what the hell Mitoja was until you started bothering me with your magic tricks".

"You knew it because you traveled here when you were five, only you didn't know the name of the city. You knew it was a totally different world from yours, you knew it was inhabited by other non-human creatures," he defended himself crossed with his arms, "Anyway, you're one week away from your 21-year-old birthday, which means you'll unlock your childhood memories."

Unlock? Childhood memories? Now what the hell were he talking about?

"What do you mean?" 

"My magic tricks, as you have called them are much more powerful than what you can even imagine. I don't know, maybe you could be living a life that's not yours and you don't remember anything because you're... bewitched."

He said the latter by taking a prolonged pause. The tone of his voice remained mocking and provocative. I was absolutely sure Frederick was looking to provoke me. Maybe he just wanted to get me upset, and he was making it.

"I won't play your game, Frederick".

"You're right, and honestly this conversation is already boring me so why don't we meet here tomorrow and continue with this conversation? Oh, true, I forgot, it's not like you can decide, you'll still be here because every time you sleep you come to Mitoja. Well, then would you like if I do another magic trick? Look, 1, 2, 3 and you're gone."

He spoke so quickly that I couldn't even process what he was saying. What the hell? I woke up suddenly when I felt some hands draging me. In seconds I was already in my room and my alarm clock was ringing.

Damn Frederick, that's all I could think about.