Bliss

◆ 7 ◆

Max Eppelher's nightmares.

"Max, stop it!" The pretty brunette giggled, trying to pry off Max's fingers from tickling her stomach.

"You know how much you love it Lottie." Max chuckled, burrowing his face on the crook of Charlotte's neck after giving up tickling her.

A few minutes after the two lay in the couch comfortably warm in each other's embrace, Max sat up and pulled out a thin white gold necklace.

"Max...what is that?" Charlotte asked, her voice notching a pitch higher than usual and her amber eyes gleaming with curiosity.

Not saying a word and giving only a charming crooked smile to his girlfriend, Max clasped the necklace onto her neck. She fondled the pendant, a shining and wondrous silver heart.

"Its...beautiful." Charlotte said, her voice laced with almost fake happiness, and if Max could've discerned better, a hint of guilt.

But he didn't.

All he said was,

"Just like you, my love."

Suddenly the scene darkened, and Charlotte wasn't Charlotte.

Her features darkened, the smile that graced her lips was now an open and wide cave sucking in Max's soul, her horrid breath and sharp fangs visible enough to engulf Max in clouds of evil.

"Am I your love?" Her grotesque voice penetrated his soul, pricking his heart.

Am I your love?

Am I your love?

Am I your love?

"Lottie!"

Max bolted up in his bed, cold sweat dripping down his forehead and shivers running down his spine.

A strangled sob emitted out of his throat, making him pull his knees to his chest and cry silently.

He was supposed to move on.

To forget about her.

Yet she still haunts him at the darkest hours of the night. He did not love her.
She...

Taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself, Max laid down again, pulling the covers up to his chin slowly and squeezing his eyes shut.

No more of her, he thought.

And indeed, no images or memories of Charlotte crossed his mind.

The only thing he saw right before his eyelids shut was a certain beautiful redhead.