Chapter 156: New side (2)
"You are haunted by people you have killed? There is a tea you can drink to help you relax while you sleep if you drink it before bed. It tastes like alcohol but it is not. Whenever I was restless and could not sleep, I always made it. I slept quietly and none of my problems showed up in my dreams. I can," Annalise stopped herself as she realised what she was offering to do.
’Am I crazy? Why would I make him that drink? I don’t even have what I need to make it,’ Annalise thought.
"You can do what?" Rafael asked, urging her to continue. "Are you taking back your offer to make it for me? After how kind I have been to you? To let you eat my food."
"If I had known that meant I would owe you in the future, I would not have accepted the food. I remembered that there were some special ingredients my mother used to make it that might be hard to find here. A special root she let soak in tea and if I do find it here, I cannot afford it," Annalise answered.
"Find out how much it will cost and I will give you the money you need or I can pay someone to find it. I have tried many ways to have a peaceful night’s rest, but nothing has worked. Only trying to drink myself to sleep and I don’t want to resort to that," Rafael replied, sitting down on the long chair. "You are free to sit."
"So, when I leave your bedroom after you have had dinner, you are not going straight to sleep? How long does it take you to finally go to sleep?" Annalise asked.
"After an hour or two. Sometimes I wake in the middle of the night and go out to the yard to train until I have cleared my mind, but I have not done that since I have returned. I stay here and drink the water that you place for me. This will pass at some point. My father says he is able to sleep peacefully," Rafael said, leaving out the reason why his father said it stopped.
His father started to explain that it had something to do with his mother and Rafael cut in before the conversation went someone who would have scarred him for life.
Annalise now wondered how her father dealt with death almost every day and seemed fine when they came together for dinner at night. She was not haunted by anyone she had killed like Rafael because she had not taken many lives compared to him.