Dreams Outgrow Rooms Built From Other Peoples Fears by Niro Mason 214

214 Christmas Eve 

[Music: When it’s Cold I’d Like To Die By Moby] 

The kiss was quick and intense, as if we were both starving for each other, and the hunger was equivalent to a lion gnawing on meat. 

I opened my eyes, and Ares was busy feasting on my mouth with all he had. I clenched his coat tightly, trying to calm the roar in my veins. 

I kneeled him in the balls, hard enough to make him grunt and crouch in pain. 

“You’re wasting my time.” I slipped away, pressing the button. 

“C–Catherine!” 

Before he could get to me, the doors slid shut. I moved, my eyes screaming bloodlust as I navigated the hall. 

I made my way to the nurse at the desk. 

“Catherine King. I’m here to see my father–in–law. Is he in his room right now?” 

“Oh, Mrs. King.” 

I forced a smile. 

“No, he’s not. He’s at the private lounge.” 

“Is he alone?” 

“Yes. He said no visitors.” 

“He made an exception for me. I called him.” 

“Oh, that’s alright.” 

“Thank you.” 

I walked, heading straight for the lounge. The nurse was right. Elias really wanted to be alone; there was no bodyguard or anything. No one. 

It was dark already, and the lights must be faulty or something because they were turned off. The highlight of the place was Midnight City coming to life, and the Christmas lights splashed everywhere. 

It was Christmas Eve. 

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214 Christmas Eve 

I made a turn towards the corridor and found Elias confined to a wheelchair and hooked to an oxygen tank, watching the view from the floor–to–ceiling windows. 

Setting my eyes on him right now, the burn in my chest intensified, as undiluted rage 

swallowed me whole. 

When he heard me coming, his wheelchair turned automatically. 

“I thought I made myself clear that I don’t want any disturbance?” he spoke in a strained voice, as if breathing his way through the word. 

When I stepped into the light, he saw me. 

“Catherine?” he asked. “Ah… the wife finally makes her visit.” 

I dipped my hand in my bag and pulled out the gun, pointing it right at him with both hands. I tried to keep from trembling, but I couldn’t, and it only made me seem like an emotional little girl trying to face her demon. 

Elias doesn’t flinch or seem alarmed, and it scared me more than my own damn mind. 

“Care to explain why you would point a gun at your own Father–in–law?” he asked, calmly. “How about you put that down and we talk about whatever got you like this. You’re my son’s wife and family, or else one points a gun at me and lives to tell the tale.” 

“T–Talk?” I said as rage sliced through me, my eyes burning. “You took everything away from me. There’s no talk.” 

Elias blinked, confused. “What are you-” 

“Hannah and Vincent Walker.” I used my dad’s last name. “You ordered a hit on Hannah, eighteen years ago, and you got them both killed. You made a mother and father childless, and you made a little girl an orphan.” 

There was a long silence. I couldn’t read him, while I was an emotional mess. 

“You’re gonna have to be more specific than that, Catherine.” 

“W–What?” 

“I have killed more people than I can remember” 

I heaved, my pulse humming so loud I grew temporarily deaf, I didn’t even hear my name being called, and Ares was suddenly in my line of vision. 

“Step away,” I said, pointing the gun at him. 

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214 Christmas Eve‘ 

“No…” 

I finally met his eyes; they weren’t cold or impassive, they were gentle. 

“He killed my parents…” I said. “That monster behind you caused the accident that crushed them to death!” 

“The moment she pulls that trigger, she won’t leave this building alive.” 

“Shut the fuck up. You don’t get to say a damn word!” Ares barked, not breaking his gaze, holding them as if he knew the moment he looked away, I would damn everything. 

“H–He took my parents…” I couldn’t help it as I broke. “He took them, Ares. He took 

them!” 

Ares tried to come close, but my finger found the trigger, and he stopped. 

I looked at Elias, who didn’t even act as if he was in distress; he was probably relaxed at the fact that his son was acting as a body shield. 

“Catherine, look at me. Look at me, baby.” 

I did. Ares was still trying to come close, even though I had my finger dangerously 

close to the trigger. I wasn’t even sure he thought about that or anything else at the 

moment. 

His attention was only on me. 

“The moment you pull that trigger, there’s no going back from this. I know. Baby, that changes everything.” 

I sobbed, my grip becoming more unstable. 

“I won’t let you do that to yourself. You wanna take a life, then let me pull the trigger.” 

I shook my head. “Look at him…” I seethed. “He doesn’t even give a shit! He doesn’t even remember he did it. How would killing him change me? I wouldn’t even feel a thing for that monster!” 

“No.” 

I snapped my gaze to Ares, and he seemed to be standing on business. 

“Move.” 

He doesn’t. 

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214 Christmas Eve 

“My son will protect me no matter what, because he knows what happens if you kill me,” Elias stated. 

And I lost it. I pulled the trigger. 

I had moved my gun, but somehow Ares‘ chest caught it, and my nightmare came to life. 

The haze over my mind and body dispersed as the gun fell out of my grip. 

“NO!” I screamed when Ares dropped to his knees. 

I rushed to him, knelt as I pressed my hand on his chest, but the blood was oozing so much that I didn’t know what to do. 

“Why did you move?!” I yelled at him, adding another hand, and they got smeared. 

Oh God. What have I done? 

“N–No…” I sobbed. “No, please, no.” 

Ares cupped my cheek and kissed me but he didn’t get the chance to go further before he collapsed onto the floor. 

I stared at my bloody hands, trembling. A sharp ringing seized my ears as my vision blurred. I shrieked. 3 

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