Before Falling Asleep

Before Falling Asleep

Prologue

Every nightmare is a dream that's lost its way.

-- Anonymous

With the faint lights of countless silver stars, the polished dark-blue of the immeasurable sky became more visible. The bright moonlight shone into the world from what seemed like heaven. Filtering through a small window and the azure silky drape hanging from it, the light beam settled on a small bed, shining on the figure sitting in it. She leaned on the wall, firmly holding a soft white pillow in her embrace.

The small room was full of white and blue; pallid like her immaculate pale skin, cerulean as her limpid eyes. The young woman watched the blurry moon through the curtain, her favorite decoration in her little bedroom. As if it was a fuse of the past, memories were gushing out all of a sudden from some tiny forgotten corner of her mind.

"I don't know what to say!" Her face lit up as she stared at the piece of cloth in her hands, eyes sparkling, speechless with joy.

"You don't have to say anything." He turned her around so they were both facing the rosy clouds the sun had left in the sky, squeezing her shoulders lightly with his arm around them. He planted a gentle kiss in her hair, catching the heart-lifting scent within. "I just wanted to see that smile on your face; it says everything I want to hear."

She bent her knees toward her chest, lowering her head to rest her chin on top of the pillow she was holding, and squeezing it with all her might. Allowing a light sigh to escape from her lips, she pressed her eyes tightly shut.

"I knew this would come back to me some day..." she whispered softly, as a tear rolled down her right cheek. Then, she inhaled deeply, straightening her body to lie on the bed, eventually drifting into a sleep filled with dreams of the past, the past that never went anywhere...

***

Chapter 1 - Surprise!

Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.

-- Isaac Asimov

"Malfoy! Pick up the damn phone!" the-kind-of-shouting-that-could-be-heard-daily-at-mental-hospitals shot out from the bedside table next to the king-sized bed.

The person on the mattress rolled over, without opening his eyes, dragging a pillow along, intending to cover his head.

"Leave the pillow alone!" came the voice, as if watching him closely. "If you don't get your butt over here in five minutes, you can kiss your beloved job goodbye!" With a single click, the other person hung up, leaving the delightful little message on the answering machine.

Softly groaning, he turned to lie on his back, fighting to open his eyes. He had never been exactly what you would call a 'morning person'. It was now 8:47 in the morning already, and he was still in bed. The bright, joyful sunshine could be seen from the little gaps in between his blind covering the window, causing every inch of skin it warmed to tingle pleasantly.

Yet, he did have to go to work in the morning. Not that his job started late, he just had always had the habit of being late. And he made sure that none of the meetings would start before 10 o'clock in the morning, so that he would be safe to stay in bed just a bit longer. In fact, he didn't have any meetings scheduled for today at all.

He stretched lazily and turned, throwing his legs over the side of the bed, slowly sliding into his midnight blue, furry slippers. He then walked straight to the bathroom, taking a quick shower to wake him up. As the hot water hit his pale skin, a new day had officially begun.

He was putting on the light gray sweater he had just grabbed when the phone rang again. "Oh joy," he mumbled. Pacing from the closet after the phone rang the fourth time, he finally picked it up.

"Draco Malfoy," he spoke into the receiver professionally.

One second, two seconds, five seconds had passed, and still, there was no response.

"Hello?" he said. After another long pause, he eventually hung up.

That was the third silent call that week, and it was getting rather annoying. He had decided that they were from the same person, but the question was who was that person? As his mind wandered in his own little detective world, he put on a pair of blue, baggy jeans and white sneakers, and then grabbed an orange from the fridge, finally leaving for work.

***

Draco Malfoy walked into a typical office building with a sign that said "No Boundaries - so you can fly without wings" on the outside. He smiled inwardly as he passed by all the formally dressed, oh-so-busy white-collars rushing around in the building. He got into an elevator, and pressed the white button that said "2" on it.

Stupid Americans, he thought, think they are superior do they? But can they afford some decent stairs? 'Course not!

With that thought in mind, he stepped out of the elevator, only to discover himself merely five inches away from an orange haired man with an irate looking face.

"Oh, thanks for the wake up call again, Morris," he stated coolly.

"Why, I wasn't expecting you so early, Malfoy. It's only," he paused to look at the watch on his right wrist, "fifty eight past nine, not time for lunch yet!" The red-head seemed to be about to explode anytime, like always.

"Yeah, I made sure that I'd be here before lunch time. I wouldn't want to miss my only break now, would I?" With a smirk, Malfoy turned the corner and disappeared into his office.

Steve Morris, the reason Draco Malfoy didn't need an alarm clock at home, stared idly at the wooden door with a silver plate that had dark green letters, reading "D. Malfoy", the way the owner had wanted it. Morris had something that he wanted to tell Malfoy, something very important, but what was it? Ah! The light bulb in his head went off. Oh well, he'll find out soon enough.

"Morris!" Screaming, the blonde stormed out of his office.

Um, that was quick. Morris laughed mentally to himself.

"Morris! You wouldn't happen to have any idea about the flowers and coffee in my office, would you?!" The words were barely forced out between Malfoy's tightly clenched teeth. It was obvious that he was trying very hard to keep himself from biting the red head in front of him off its body.

"Well...um..." For the first time, Steven Morris seemed to be having trouble finding the right words. Morris was not dense - he was far from it. But this was the first time he had seen the blond lose his temper. Draco Malfoy had always been able to keep his emotions in control for the five years they had known each other; but now, his face - if possible, seemed even paler than usual. What's going on? Did I miss something? I thought I told her nothing weird is allowed -- but what does he have against flowers and coffee? This certainly is bizarre, and I'd better be careful.

"Well? So tell me, what's going on here." The color in Malfoy's face was slowly returning.

"Actually, I was going to tell you anyway, but it was too bad you had to be late again." Seeing no difference on Malfoy's face, Morris continued nervously. "To cut a long story short, a young lady came in for an interview a couple of weeks ago, and apparently, she has an MBA, and is perfect for the position of secretary. So, now she is yours!" he finished with a small smile.

"What do you mean she's mine?"

"What I mean is that she is now your secretary."

"Without my knowledge?"

"You know now."

"How come I heard nothing of the interview? And when have I ever told you that I needed a secretary? Are you suggesting that I am not doing well enough on my own?" his words shot out like bullets, aimed at Morris.

"No, all I'm saying is, you seemed like you could use a little help, an--"

"What do you mean I could 'use a little help'? Do you want me to remind you of why you had to fire all the single women and homosexual young men in this company? Why, when you had to choose between ridding one fourth of the company or me, you kept me? And mind you, someone with an MBA should be my boss, not my secretary!" Draco's face was now turning slightly pink.

"It's not my fault that you're so goddamn attractive that everyone was distracted from their work! And, damn it, you know very well I could not afford firing you! By the way, the Miss is willing to work for you."

"Oh, so you are indicating that it's all my bloody fault that I'm so appealing to them! How abou--"

"STOP!" someone yelled at top of her lungs.

Both men turned, and found themselves facing a young lady.

"Um, Miss Baldric," Morris started, obviously embarrassed. "Let me introduce you to..."

"Ellen? What are you doing here?!" Draco's eyes widened, as the anger disappeared from his face, and was instantly replaced by surprise and confusion.

"Ah! So you already know each other!" Steven called out in relief.

"Hullo Draco!" Ellen walked over to Draco with a cheerful smile, while giving an assuring nod in the direction where Steven stood.

Putting his arms around her small frame lightly as Ellen reached up to hug him, Draco whispered into her ear, "Care to explain?"

Seeing this opportunity, Steven quietly left the scene.

Ellen took Draco's arm, and walked him to his office. "Well, you know that my brother and I are orphans, I just finished school, and he was fired just a couple of days ago," her voice was low and touching, her eyes sparkling with tears. "Now we can't even support ourselves, so I came for the interview, hoping it would change our situation."

"I'm not buying it." Draco's face showed no emotional change.

"I gave it a shot," Ellen threw it at him casually, her facial expression turned back to usual.

"So how come you never told me about the interview? And Andrew never said a word about it either."

"Oh, I told him not to. I mean, if I got in, I wanted to give you a surprise; if I didn't, I wouldn't want you to hear a word, because it would've been embarrassing," Ellen explained, with a grin on her face.

"So, um, you put the flowers and coffee here?"

"Why yes. Do you not like them?" The smile on her face grew wider. But Draco seemed to be lost in his own little world.

"Draco?" she waved a hand in front of his eyes.

"Huh? Oh! Um, no, of course I do," he smiled lightly. "The flowers are beautiful, and I am in need of some coffee."

"Thought so, and narcissuses are my favorite flower!"

There was no reply.

"Actually," Ellen checked her watch, "it's lunch time already. So you wanna go and grab something?"

"No, no, you go ahead," Draco replied, something else was clearly on his mind, "I'm not hungry. I'll just stay here and try to catch up on some work."

"All right then. You sure you don't want anything?" her eyebrows lifted questioningly.

"Yes, I'm sure," Beaming at her, he added, "Enjoy!"

Leaving a smile behind, she didn't forget to thank him.

Finally, he was alone in his office. Sitting in the chair beside the huge window, he stared at the narcissuses Ellen had put on his desk. Slowly, his mind drifted away...

"Mother!"

"I understand, son..." her voice trailing off, "I don't even want to imagine how disappointed your father would be when he finds out about this."

"I am sorry, Mother, and please tell Father that," his words were sincere. "I am not worthy of being your son."

"Don't," she choked, "don't say that. Your father and I have been very proud of you. You did the Malfoy name proud." She swallowed the tears, and kept her head high as she forced a smile on her face.

"Mother...I..."

She turned her back to him, "Leave, now! Before it's too late!"

"Yes..." He turned on his heels. Softly, he thought he heard her saying, "...and don't forget..."

"I won't, Mother," he said to himself.

Without looking back one last time, he left the world where he used to belong, completely behind.

"And I didn't forget, Mother," Draco said gently to the flowers. They nodded slightly, as if they understood him. He reached to his neck, and pulled out a locket hiding behind the sweater. Letting it rest in his palm, he used his fingertip to trace the outline. A drop of blood dribbled onto the silver heart when his finger met a sharp thorn on the bottle-green vine that entwined the locket. The thorn stayed still, as if laughing at him. It hurts, doesn't it? Yes, his heart was aching from the touch of the old wound. He watched, as more blood dripped from his finger, and he knew his heart was also bleeding.

***

"Why him?"

"Don't you think he is special, in many ways? He is definitely not a simple character."

"But he's not the only one, is he?"

"There is a special aura about him that the other suspects don't have. I've known him for almost five years now, but surprisingly, I know for a fact that there's more to him than what he's allowing us to see."

"So you think he might be 'The One'?"

"Possibly."

"OK, I'll do it."

"You have your own reasons too, don't you?"

"What?"

"We both know what I'm talking about."

Pause.

"There's always the Love Potion, you know."

"Brother! You know I don't want it to be forced..."

"Yeah, it's your call," Another pause. "But you understand that we cannot allow a muggle..."

"Yes...but--"

"I've tried for four years to force some magic out of him. And trust me, I have enough evidences to prove that he's not."

"Oh..."

"So you understand that I have to do this either way."

"Yes."

"No regrets?"

Silence.

"No regrets."

***

Knock knock.

His head jerked up.

"Come in."

An auburn head peeked in from the small gap the door made with long strands of dark red hair falling into a young girl's face. A wide grin on her face, she walked in with her hands behind her back.

"I see you are done eating," Draco said, his face responding to her grin with a smile.

"Mm hmm, I had Italian with Andy."

"Oh. Haven't seen him for a while, how is he?"

"Pretty good. He says hi, and wanted me to give you this--" She took her hands from behind, and set a brown pint on the desk.

His eyes brightened up a little, "Haagen-Dazs. He knows me the best."

"Yep. And he said coffee's your favorite flavor."

"Right he is," he said cheerfully, not breaking eye contact with the cup containing his favorite ice cream.

"Oh, and he said he'd call sometime today."

"It's about time he called me," he finally lifted his eyes to meet Ellen's, "or I would've thought he threw me out of his head along with the Beetles."

"He never liked them."

"Mm hmm." His face said 'whatever'.

"Ugh."

"Time to work, my lady."

She blushed a little, unnoticed by Draco

"Hmm...uh, what exactly do you do, Ellen?"

"Let's see." She picked up a piece of paper, and started reading off the list, "Answering phone calls, making photocopies, delivering messages and mail, organizing the agenda, keeping necessary supplies coming, maintaining contact between you and Steve, kicking admirers out..."

"Ok, um, great," he cut in, "does the last one mean you need to keep yourself out too?"

Blushing furiously, she protested, "That. Was. Not. Funny."

He only smirked. "So, you have my schedule?"

"Today's? Tomorrow's?"

"Both."

"Basically, you are supposed to be preparing for the meeting tomorrow morning with the Nike representatives, and you should have your new design ready for presentation," she said, her eyes not leaving the agenda.

"That's it?"

"Yup."

"So I'd be free for the rest of tomorrow?"

"If you get the conference down, which means you have to make sure that they agree to adopt your design," she added.

"What time does it start?"

Ellen read off the paper, "Ten thirty."

"In the morning?"

"They certainly don't work at night."

His face stated that he was not pleased with the news. "Great..." he groaned.

"Yeah, well, think of how, um, free you'll be once you are done," she added, hoping it would lighten him up a bit.

It didn't seem to help, "Sure."

"Well, get to work, prince. You have a boss, you know." Changing the topic might help, she thought.

"I don't have anything to work on."

"The design for tomorrow?"

"Done." He seemed very confident.

"Oh..."

"Maybe I should go bother Morris." His face showed the boredom that he was feeling as he crossed his arms.

"Mm hmm." She didn't mind particularly.

"Can I go home?"

"I won't tell," she said casually, without lifting her eyes from the paper on her desk.

"Thank you! You are the best."

"Yeah..." a shade of pink was slowly crawling up Ellen's cheeks.

"See you tomorrow!" With that, Draco walked out with the ice cream in hand.

***

"Come on, Malfoy, pick up the phone."

"Hello Baldric."

"What took you so long? I just called Ellen, she said you headed home an hour ago, and you just got home?"

"I walked."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is, I came home on my own feet."

"Wha-why?"

"One needs some exercise every day."

"Six miles...okay, so how've you been?" His voice sounded cheerful suddenly.

"Funny you should ask I am doing just fine."

"Sorry, I've been busy." The other side stated apologetically.

"Oh yeah? And too busy to mention a word about Ellen's job?"

"She told me not to tell."

"Would you kindly explain it now?"

"Well, OK, so she's on a mission..."

"Oh come on, you'll need to come up with something better than that to pass me."

"I tried."

"By the way, thanks for the ice cream."

"Actually, it's from Ellen."

"Seems like she's more of my sister than she is yours." A grin was forming on Draco's face.

"You have no idea."