𝑯𝑬𝑹 𝑪𝑯𝑶𝑰𝑪𝑬

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐎𝐧𝐞

𝐈𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐥𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐬𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞.

𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐀𝐥𝐲𝐧 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐬 𝐃𝐫𝐢𝐚 ↑

𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐒 𝐖𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐀 𝐁𝐈𝐓𝐂𝐇. Especially if they were the same one playing on a continuous loop to the point where sleep was no longer a comfort. The kind of nightmares that like draining every ounce of strength you had to the point where you did not want to continue to sleep. It might be why it took me so long to fall asleep last night and why it is so hard for me to get up this morning.

Any other time I would worry about sleeping through my alarms, since I often did which is why alarms was plural, but not with the most dreadful day replaying over and over again in my subconscious on a continuous loop until I eventually shoot straight up on my bed, sweat dripping from my forehead and behind my thick blonde locks.

My breathing was rigid, my chest rising and falling as I felt the tears form in the corner of my eyes. My heart aches and my body shivered from the wind blowing in from my opened window. Cold sweats... not something I thought I would have to experience until at least forty, but they were still nothing new.

After forcing myself to calm down, getting some kind of control over my heavy breathing, I shoved my heavy covers off of me and went to the window, shutting it and closing the latch, locking it in place. Nearly tripping on a box heading towards my own bathroom, I kicked it out of my way in frustration and slammed the door shut behind me.

Moving from my hometown in South Carolina to a very cold, never heard of town in Washington had been bittersweet in my opinion. Sure, leaving everything I have grown up with back in Summerville, including my grandparents who I already missed desperately, was a hard pill to swallow at first. Summerville has always been my home, it was filled with the friendliest and the most creative and artistic people you could meet. I used to think I could live there for my entire life, once I traveled the world of course, like I always wanted to do. It was somewhere I could find myself raising a family and having my house by the beach, maybe becoming an English teacher since I loved reading and writing so much.

But of course, reality would set in and the traumatic events that occurred at the one place I used to think was a safe haven made me want to hide from it and never return. I wanted to get as far away from Summerville as possible, escape all those memories built there over the years and never think about it again. The good and the bad ones.

My dad's company promoting and relocating him was a blessing in disguise. Under any other circumstances, I would have come up with some elaborate, clever scheme in order to convince my parents to allow me to stay with my Nana and Pops, knowing full well they would be more than willing to have me. But in truth, my father never would have accepted this job offer if he didn't think I wouldn't be on board with it. Sadly my younger siblings had to suffer the loss of their friends and hometown, where I was selfishly celebrating our big move across the country. I may have been celebrating on the inside only but I was still celebrating nonetheless.

It is why there are still so many unpacked boxes just sitting in my room. We have been here for only a week and I still haven't finished. That may have to do with the fact that I have little to zero energy to do anything nowadays. I give it a day or two more before my OCD kicks in and I have my room spotless from head to toe. Right now? I was enjoying being lazy for once.