Babysitter For Rain
CHAPTER 8

Ana awakens from her nightmares with feelings she has never felt for a long time. The dream reminded her of the events she had experienced when she was a child.

Ana does not remember the whole incident. All he remembered was his immense fear when he saw a snake standing and staring at him.

"Snake!"

Ana screamed inside her head. He remembered something before he fell asleep and had that nightmare. He quickly woke up from his bed only to throw his blanket down. There's nothing there.

Ana suddenly became limp. His fear made the air around him feel extremely cold. Ana continued to hug her own body. His eyes kept looking around him. What if the snake comes again?, he thought.

Slowly, Ana hears someone calling her name. At first it sounded faint, but over time, it sounded jarring in his ears.

"Dad!"

Ana's eyes still shed tears, a remnant of her fear from what she had just experienced. He forced her to look at the tall figure before him. "Marius ...," he called her a weep.

As Ana returned to her consciousness, she could feel Marius' hands clasping tightly to both sides of her shoulders.

"Ana ... please, say something," Marius asked as she held Ana's face.

Ana hears Marius's heartwarming request. He wanted to say something, but what? On his head there was only the word snake, the animal he hated the most, the animal that kept haunting him.

With tears streaming out from her eyes, Ana looked at Marius and said, "Snake ...."

"Snakes? No snakes, Ana."

Ana could only cry before she finally fainted again due to the pain that still struck her head.

......................

Luckily, Marius quickly catches Ana before she falls to the floor. Anxiously, he looked at the poor girl who was currently in his arms. With her other hand, Ana's tears washed down her face. Then she carried Ana back to her bed.

"Is there any way to calm him down?" asked Marius, who had been there.

"Seeing from the situation, I could only inject a sedative into him. Tomorrow morning ....," replied the doctor.

"Do it."

Marius did not need the doctor to continue his sentence. For him the most important thing at the moment is that Ana can improve. She did not know what to do when she saw Ana hysterically like that. If the doctor has a solution to make Ana better, then do it immediately.

Marius continued to stare at Ana who was lying on her bed. He still doesn't know what's really going on.

Lucas who followed Marius immediately called the family doctor. Not only was she busy calling Eli and the waiter, but she had to calm down Rain who was still crying. While Marius remained beside Ana, holding Ana's hand that occasionally trembled violently, until the doctor arrived.

"How is he?" asked Lucas after he drove the doctor to the front door.

"His hand is no longer trembling" replied Marius while still holding Ana's hand. "He looks a lot calmer than he was."

Marius kept thinking about what caused Ana to react like this. The doctor said this was an overreaction of fear. As Marius knows, Ana only has Ophidiophobia. Every time she saw the snake, Ana would react like that. But, where did he see her?

When Marius found her earlier, Ana was just lying alone. There's nothing around, except a cell phone and a towel. There are no snakes anywhere. If there really was, shouldn't the snake move in search of a way out?

Marius also hesitated if Ana simply misidentified the snake with something long and similar to the shape of a snake. What did Ana really see?

"Look for the snake to really exist, and Ana actually saw it. The only possibility now is that someone broke into Ana's room before we came, and took the snake away" Lucas said as he and Marius descended into the kitchen to discuss the matter.

But for what?, thought Marius. Why would anyone bother to do that?

"Is this one of their terrors?" asked Lucas again.

"If they know Ana's weakness, it means they've got information about Ana" Marius replied.

"Unfortunately, that information will make things difficult for Ana."

Lucas's right. And this will do him more harm, Marius thought.

"I'm going to call someone to check the CCTV footage that's on top of Rain's room. It may be too far, but who knows if there are any clues" Lucas replied Marius with a nod.

"How's Rain? Is he okay?" asked Marius.

"Don't worry. He was just worried about Ana. He has fallen asleep since then" Lucas replied, holding Marius' shoulder as if he were giving him strength. He knew Marius needed that right now.

Marius again drowned his mind on Ana's current condition when Lucas was gone. The guilt keeps coming up. He knew this plan would only endanger him, but still he did. If so, what can he do?

Marius suddenly remembered, there was someone he had to inform. Soon he took the phone in his pocket and contacted the person.

"Something happened with Ana ... No, he is now okay ... The doctor said he would be fine ... Alright. See you later."

The last sentence ended his conversation with that person on the phone. And Marius returned alone, drowning with his own thoughts.