From Sunrise To Sunset

Destined 1

Cassandra

"Until you find me, my love."

I feel myself struggling to breathe. "Ahhhhhh!"

I'm dying... I've lost control of my body... I'm weak, I can no longer fight this. The inevitable is here... At least I die in the only place I've ever felt safe; his arms.

I hear his screams, and I feel his embrace becomes tighter as I struggle to release my final breath.

"Ahhhhhh...Ahhhhhh...Ahhhhhh."

"Cassandra? Cassandra? Wake up!"

I open my eyes and find Laura sitting next to me on my bed with her hands holding onto my shoulders and shaking my body. Tears begin to stream down my cheeks uncontrollably.

She looks at me puzzled. "Cassie?" she says, but I don't correct her. "What is it, sweetie?" She releases my shoulders and clasps her hands around my right hand.

I don't respond as I hold onto her hand helplessly sobbing. She moves her right hand up to my left cheek and caresses it softly with her thumb. "Shhhhh,"

"I...I died," I try to explain.

"What?" she looks at me even more puzzled than before.

"I dreamed that I died." I sniff.

"Oh...well...it was just a dream." She assures me. "It's over now."

"I know, but it felt so real. Like... really real." I sit up on the bed and reach over to the nightstand for a tissue.

She cups my face with her hands and looks me in the eyes. "Sometimes dreams feel real, but they're not. You're here now, and you're alive."

I nod my head in response as she releases me. "I hope I didn't wake Dad," I say, blowing my nose into the tissue.

She chuckles, "You know Dad could sleep through a category-five hurricane."

I nod my head. "Can you get me some water?"

"Sure," she gets up from the bed and steps out of the room.

I bring my knees up to my chest, place my head on them, and wrap my arms around my legs as silent tears fall from my eyes. I realize now why I've never dreamed past Margaret's and Jonathan's wedding before. I reach over to the nightstand, pull out the drawer, and take out my diary. I pull the pen from the spine and open it to the pages where I last wrote about Jonathan and Margaret, and I make a small note as a tear drops from my eye.

'She dies on their wedding day :('

I can still smell the lavender candles and Madonna lilies like they're here in my bedroom. Margaret has become a part of my life so much that sometimes it feels like she and I are the same. I have dreamed of her wedding day more times than I can count, and now I recall every detail almost like it was my own. Knowing now that the dream ends with her death leaves a scar on my heart. Who dies on their wedding day? Jonathan was devastated, there was so much pain in his screams that I was unable to endure it.

I hear Laura's footsteps coming back up the stairs and quickly wipe my eyes with my blanket while placing my diary back inside the drawer.

"Here you go." She hands me a glass of water and sits on the bed next to me.

"Thank you." I take a few sips of water, then place the glass on the nightstand.

"Are you gonna be okay, or would you like me to get in with you?"

I look her up and down. She's wearing one of her short silk nightgowns, which means only one thing.

"Isn't Noah spending the night?"