Dream Story: The Return

     It started as a normal day. I was dusting around my mother's room. For a moment I paused and looked at a photo she had kept on the dresser. It was of me with her and my father. He was reluctant to be in it to keep his secret hidden, but Mom convinced him otherwise.
     Hearing a noise downstairs, I stopped my cleaning and went to investigate. I got to the top of the stairs when I picked up a familiar scent. It reminded me of this boy, Nhaleet, who stayed with me a few months. But it wasn't his scent. He left three weeks ago. So who was it? I was halfway down the stairs when I heard a beep by the back door. There was a sound like thunder, the house shook, and there was fire. I was thrown down the stairs as there was more blasts. Pieces of the house flew through the air and were consumed with flame. I heard a thunderous crack and looked up. A large section of the ceiling was falling in. I rushed to my feet and tried to get out. There was another thunderous crack as I reached for the doorknob, and everything went black.

     I coughed. My head was pounding. All I could smell was smoke, and it hurt to breathe. I lay on my back, a partially burnt wooden beam across my chest. With a groan I pushed it off. I coughed some more as I sat up and looked around. My home... my mother's house... it was destroyed. I pulled myself out of the debris and began to walk out of it. I will find who did this. I need to know why.
     I paused when I saw the photo, sticking up from under a piece of wood. I picked it up. The top right corner had been burned, obscuring the image of my father. I slipped it into my pocket and made my way to a tree near what was left of the house. I sat down and felt something warm trickle down my head. I touched the area and looked at the red liquid now on my fingers. So my head was bleeding, and it's possible I had a few cracked or broken ribs. Fan-freaking-tastic. I looked up at the sky to predict the time. The sun was setting, which meant it was around seven o'clock. I leaned against the tree and closed my eyes. I needed a moment before I headed to the hospital. It wasn't long before I heard someone approaching, and I smelled that familiar scent again.
     "Well well, what do we have here?" I know that voice. I looked up.
     "Sanchez." I growled. "You're the one behind this?" He knelt by my feet. Probably to stay away from my teeth.
     "I knew you were hard to kill, but this..." He adjusted the dark grey gloves he was wearing. "This is impressive. Normally people don't survive being caught between five bombs."
     "What do you want?" I demanded.
     "What makes you think I want something?"
     "Because after what went down before, you wouldn't have come back unless you wanted something from me. Either that or you just wanted to see my corps." Sanchez grinned.
     "Smart man." He stood. "You see, the lab decided to give me a second chance, and if I fail them this time, I'll be terminated. So I'm only going to ask once." He pulled out an expensive-looking pistol. "Where's the boy?"
     "He's gone. If he was here, you probably would have killed him when you blew the house like an idiot." I gave him a smart-ass grin. This guy wasn't the brightest at times. I expected him to scowl at me, but instead he chuckled.
     "Still cracking jokes at the face of death, are we?" He suddenly stepped forward and pinned me against the tree with his foot. "We'll see how funny you are after I put a bullet in your skull." I snarled at him.
     "Not today." I curled my tail around his ankle and yanked his foot out from underneath him. He flopped onto his back and I forced myself to my feet. I moved my tail from his ankle to his wrist, forcing him to point the weapon away from me. I clamped my foot onto his chest. After he recovered from the stun of the fall, Sanchez grinned.
     "You're one sly snake."
     "Do you remember what I told you after our scuffle last time?" Fear washed over the man's face. He tried to hide it.
     "Oh, you were serious about that? I thought it was an empty threat." I leaned closer to his face.
     "Dead serious." I snatched his gun from his hand and pointed it at his head. He closed his eyes, waiting for me to shoot. But I didn't pull the trigger. I didn't really want to kill him, even if he did nearly kill me twice. Part of me wanted to see his blood spill, but it was the part I kept locked away. I lowered the gun, and at the same time Sanchez opened his eyes.
     "What's the matter? Too weak to take a life?" I hissed and placed my claws at his throat.
     "It's not that I'm too weak to take it. It's that I'm strong enough to hold back the beast that wants to." I chucked the firearm as hard as I could, and it disappeared into a tree. I grabbed Sanchez by the collar and picked him up. This was probably a bad idea, given I already felt exhausted and he could easily escape. I teleported us to a forest close to some town a few miles away that I haven't been to before. I nearly fell from the fatigue, but I kept a firm grip on Sanchez. I placed the palm of my hand on his forehead.
     "What the hell are you doing?"
     "Something my father taught me." It was a spell, a spell that makes people forget certain things, anything you want them to forget. In this case, I wanted him to forget my location, the town, and Nhaleet. But not me. Just so he remembered I was not to be trifled with. I released him afterwards. He stumbled back with his hand on his head.
     "Ugh... what did you do to me?" I didn't answer. I just turned and began to walk away. "Wait..." I stopped. "Why can't I remember who I was hunting?" I could detect the panic in his voice. "Who was I going after? What did you do?" I looked over my shoulder.
     "I want you to remember this moment, and the way it could have gone." I turned my head back and teleported myself away, to the edge of Rejection. I managed to walk a few feet before someone noticed me. They asked me questions, but I didn't catch any of them. I was too exhausted. After going a couple more feet I passed out.