Saving Alexandria [Book 3 of the Stavros Series] ✔️

7//Becoming Alex

The road ahead of me is barren of any form of life. I'm the only living person on the earth, I know it, I can feel it in my gut and the fear of being alone is slowly killing me. But I can't do anything about it, instead I'm forced to drive this car down an empty road at night with the radio slowly growing louder.

I softly sing along to the song although I don't know the words, I'm always a second behind them. Soon I forget about being alone on the gray and aging earth, and instead I focus on the getting the words right. I keep trying and every time I get closer the song gets louder and faster building a crescendo until it finally I'm able to belt out the words, singing my heart out with a grin on my face. That is until I lay my eyes on the road in front of me again and see a small figure in the middle of the road. I try to swerve but it's too late.

I'm screaming, she's screaming, the whole world starts to crumble beneath the car. Tree's from the side of the road start to fall onto the street and suddenly there's flashes, hundreds of paparazzi are surrounding my car, laughing and yelling my name as I cry out for help.

They start to call my name back to me, over and over again but it's not the same. Instead they're calling out, "Alex."

...

"Alex," a voice yells in my ear, "Alex wake up!"

It takes a few seconds for me to realize that my body is shaking and that someone is calling my name. I jump up in bed after I open my eyes, seeing Michaels' face hovering above mine.

"Why are you so close to me," I grumble, scooting farther away from him towards the head board.

He looks at me curiously, his brown eyes analyzing me. "You were having a nightmare. I was trying to wake you up."

"I was," I ask, feeling my body run cold. "I-I'm sorry. It's just the new environment I guess." I clutch the blankets to my chest, begging for some sort of comfort.

Michael's eyes look over the blanket I'm using as a shield and the death grip I have on it before trailing up to meet my eyes. "Have you been raped before? You could have told me, I would've have slept on the floor."

I shake my head, feeling heat blossom to my cheeks and I don't know why. "No, I haven't. Like I said it's just stress, but thank you."

Michael doesn't say anything, instead he lays back down under the covers and waits until I do the same. Minutes pass by in silence and I try my best to keep my breathing even and my thoughts elsewhere. I didn't know I was having a nightmare, I usually don't remember when I'm woken up from it by someone else until they tell me. But when or if I do remember what I dreamt about it's like reliving the nightmare all over again, so I try to not think about it.

"Alex," Michael whispers in the dark with my back facing him.

"Yeah?" I whisper back, careful to keep my voice even as well.

"I'm not stupid," he says right before he wraps an arm around my waist and pulls me to his chest. I begin to squirm out of his hold, shocked by his action before he speaks up again. "Don't even try Princess."

I do as he says and give up against his tight hold, sinking back into his arms. As uncomfortable as I am, being held by a giant after he woke me up from a nightmare, I let him hold me and oddly enough I try to take comfort in his embrace, which works.

A short time later Michael falls asleep, his hot breath fanning my neck and his arm now hanging loosely over my body. It only takes an hour and half for the sun to start to rise and I take that time to rise out of bed, careful to not wake Michael up.

I look around the small cabin, at the books, the worn down furniture, the walls made out of logs, and I decide I can't take it anymore. I've been in here for the past two days, if I stay a minute longer I'm going to think about things that I don't want to think about. I don't have the paparazzi out here to keep me distracted, I have to put myself to work.