A Nightmare Come True

Chapter 10 Jan 1

JANUARY 1ST

NEW YEARS DAY

Thankfully, I woke. I gasped and shock so bad, I was making the bed move. Mason woke up when I did and immediately said "It’s okay, love. You’re safe. I'm here." I was still wrapped in his arms, like we hadn't moved since we laid down.

I was still gasping slightly, when I told what happened in my dream. I knew I had to. I didn’t want HIM to be able to get in here. When I had told him everything, I rolled over to face him. His eyes were wide with fear and anger. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Squeezing me so tight, he slowly opened his eyes and he calmly asked "Do you think it was one of your bad dreams?"

Still shaking a little, I said "I'm not sure. I remember the smell of the flowers, so that part was real. When HE showed up, I only remember being scared, so I don’t know if that part’s real or not." Telling him this made a shiver run down my spine.

"What do you mean you remember smelling the flowers? Is that how you know that part was real?" He was stroking my hair gently.

I took a slow deep breath in and answered "When I can remember the actually smell or texture of something, I know that part is 'going to be' real. If I can't remember those things, I have to wait and see if I have the dream again. If I see it more than once, its going to happen. The only problem with that is sometimes I only see it once before it happens. Like with the plane, I only saw it the night before we were supposed to be on it."

"I'm so sorry. That must be a terrible thing to have kept to yourself for so long." He paused a minute then said "In the mean time I don't think you should be alone. If Brandon or the twins can't be when I'm not, your coming with me. Does that sound good alright with you?" I could hear relief in his voice as he spoke.

"Absolutely." I sighed, also in relief, and tucked into him again.

When Brandon and the twins came over, we told them about my dream, and what we had decided. They agreed with us.

I went in the kitchen to make dinner, and could hear them all figuring out their work schedules and making sure someone would always be with me. Mason had suggested that when he was on call that I simple go with him, if he needed to leave. I made chicken alfredo for dinner, set the table and called them in. We ate in silence. All of us deep in thought about my dream. When we finished, Mason and I cleared the table and did cleaned up the kitchen. When we were finished, we joined them in the living room, but I stood by the window overlooking the garden next to the piano.

Brandon was the first to say anything "You know we'll do everything we can to keep you safe, don't you?"

Still looking out the window, I nodded and said "Yes, I do. Its just ... I don't want any of you to get hurt if ... HE ... shows up."

Aaron said "You don't need to worry about that, little miss."

Mason had came up behind and turned me around to face him. He looked in my eyes and said "It’s going to be alright, love. You said he got to you when you were alone, and we’re not going to leave you alone. One of us will always be with you. You had a very stressful day yesterday. You saved the lives of 152 people. You were assaulted by someone, and had a horrible dream about HIM. You were even able to talk to a detective about it only a few hours later, very calmly I might add, and able to give a very good description of HIM. We’re all very proud of you. I don't think anyone else could have handled all of that, and not had some kind of a breakdown." He was softly smiling at when he finished.

"Thank you, all of you. I honestly don't know what I would do without you." I leaned forward and laid my head against Masons' chest. "I forgot about the detective wanting me to come in and sign paperwork today."

Mark spoke up quickly "I could call the detective, and ask him to bring the papers here."

I nodded and said "I think I'd like that better."

Mason lifted my head, kissed me and said "I'll go call him." He slowly let me go and went to the kitchen.

When the detective showed up, he introduced himself "Hi. I’m detective Damian Shields, but please call me Damian." He held out his hand to shake Masons'.

Mason shook his hand an said "Hello detective, I'm Mason, this is Brandon, Aaron and Mark. As you probably already guessed, this is Michelle." He pointed to everyone in turn.

The detective shook everyone’s hand in turn. When he got to me, he said "I'm sorry to meet all of you under these circumstances.”

That's when I actually looked up to see his face. He was tall and rugged with a hint of a five o’clock shadow. He was tall and sturdy and without his gentle smile he would’ve been intimidating. I felt the same draw to him as I did Brandon and the twins. I knew right away when I had The Dream again he would be the final face I couldn’t see. All I could say was "I'm sure it’s part of the hazards of your job, and I'm glad to meet you, anyway." I wasn't sure how true that last part was. I always kinda thought if I didn't know all the people in my dream, it wouldn't happen.

"Ya, I guess it is part of the hazards." He gently smiled and went right to the point "Well, I had the transcriptionist type up our conversation, so you wouldn't have to write it down for us. I hope that's okay."

I nodded "Yes, thank you. That's very okay. I don't think I could write it down and make it readable. I tend to get a little shaky when I think about ... HIM." As I spoke, I realized I had to lean on Mason to stay calm.

Mason squeezed gently and whispered "It’s okay, love. We’re here to help you get past this." He kissed my head, and escorted me to the living room. Everyone else followed behind us. When we were sitting on the couch, Mason asked Damian "May I look over the papers she needs to sign? I don't think it’s a good idea for her to read them right now." Then turned to me and gently asked "Does that sound alright, love?"

I said "Ya. I don't think I want to read any of it right now."

Damian handed the papers to Mason. As he read thorough them, I felt him stiffen a little. When he was finished, he said "I think everything is correct. Where does she need to sign?"

Damian pointed to the bottom of two pages and said "Here and … here." I signed them quickly without glancing at what exactly I was signing.

Mason asked "Would you give us a minute? I need to ask Michelle something before you leave." As he stood up, he pulling me with him.

Damian nodded and said "Of coarse."

We headed to the far corner of the kitchen. He turned to me said "I think it might be a good idea to tell Damian about your dreams. I'm not sure why, but I feel a strong something from him. I'm not sure what it is, but I think we can trust him with it."

I nodded slightly and said "I feel it, too. Like I do with Brandon and the twins. I think I know what you mean, and I agree. I think we can trust him."

He smiled lightly and said "I'm glad you think so too. I'll be right there with you, and so will Brandon and the twins." He kissed sweetly and pulled me back toward the living room.

Just inside the entryway to the living room, I came to a stop. Mason stopped and looked questioningly at me. I whispered "I think I want to stand here and tell him." He nodded once and stood to my right and a little behind me. He held my hand. I looked from Brandon, to Aaron, to mark, to Mason and finally to Damian before I spoke "Damian there's something else I ... I mean we think you should know. It’s going to difficult to say, and maybe even more difficult for you to understand."

I looked up at Mason and he nodded in encouragement. I looked back to Damian and told him everything. While I told him, his face became more and more concerned and stressed. When I finished, he looked shocked. He sat there for a minute or two, before he finally said "I'm glad you told me. What you’re saying is, you can see bad things happening in your dreams and that they always seem to come true, unless you do something to change it?"

I nodded and said "Yes."

Mason stepped forward a little bit and asked "Do you believe her?"

Damian quickly said "As a matter of fact I do. I don't know why, but I feel drawn to all of you, too. I also feel very… overprotective of Michelle. I've never been one to be that way. It’s a little much to take in all at once, but I do believe her, without a doubt." He stood up and added "I'm not sure what to do next." He stood there looking confused.

I took a deep breath and said sort of matter-of-factly "I don't think any of us know exactly what to do next. I don't entirely know why we are all so drawn to each other, but we are." I looked at everyone and added "We have been brought together for a reason. Whatever that reason is must be important. I think we should keep close to each other, but not tell anyone else about my dreams."

Everyone agreed. We sat and talked a while about how I could tell when it was just a dream or a bad dream. It was almost an hour later, when the twins said they were going to head home, Damian followed them, and Brandon left a little while later. Mason and I went to bed shortly after they left. We laid there a long time, before I felt him fall asleep. I didn't want to close my eyes. I was afraid of dreaming. I laid there, until I was sure Mason was sound asleep, and got up slowly. I went to the window and looked out into the garden. I was happy to find that it felt peaceful and calming.

After a while, I decided I needed to play. I quietly left the room, closing the door behind me. I took the flowers from the piano, and put them on the coffee table by the couch. When I went back to the piano, I opened the top, as it should be, to hear the sound more clearly and crisply. I sat down, and let my fingers slide over the keys, finding my center. When I found it, I felt the tension in my body start to melt away. I slowly and quietly started to play my composition. While I played, I felt the tension slowly disappear. With a smile slowly growing on face, I started to think about the first part of my garden dream. I closed my eyes, and continued to play. I tried to focus on the garden - how it looked, smelled and felt. I remembered the flowers looked a little wilted, and they were all mostly closed. Their sweet smell was almost gone. Like they were going dormant. The air was cold. I tried to remember the fountain. It still had water in it, but it wasn't flowing. I tried to remember what I was wearing, but all I could remember was that it was long, dark colored, thick and warm. That was all I could remember. I didn't want to think about the rest of it, with HIM.

When I finished, I suddenly felt like someone was watching me. I stopped abruptly, opened my and twisted around to look toward the living room entrance. Mason was standing against the doorway. He was smiling pleasingly at me. I exhaled slowly and said "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you. I-I couldn't sleep, so I thought if I played a little I might relax."

As I spoke, he was slowly walking toward we. He sat down next to me, and said "I think that was a good idea. How do you feel now?" He was slowly wrapping his arms around me and pulling me against him.

I looked up at him and said "I fell better. Now that you’re here too, I could almost forget everything else."

He kissed me, it slowly turned more passionate. Beginning to get a little breathless, he slowly pulled me into his lap, and picked me up and carried to bed. ... Well you can figure out what happened from there I'm sure ...

When I finally fell asleep, I didn’t dream. When we got up the next morning, I told Mason about what I had remembered. He told me "That sounds like what it looks like when I turn the fountain off just before winter." We told Brandon, the twins, and Damian when they arrived for dinner.

Damian made a comment I had to remember "Well, at least we have a time frame now. When it starts to get colder, we'll be extra cautious."