Lexington And Fifth

Chapter 29: Dream A Dream Of Me

Ella finds herself back in dreamland, drifting into a chaotic storm across her mind as she finally drifts off to sleep after the horrific night she's endured. As Connor lays at her side in their hotel room, holding her close as she shudders in her arms, Ella finds herself reliving that terrifying night...

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Ella is standing in the hall of Greg's apartment. The man she'd spent her life hating lays dead a few feet away, while Detective Ridley lays unconscious at her feet. The creature looms in her face, it's hot breath pouring over her like a dense fog. She closes her eyes, terror welling up inside her as she feels the creature taking hold of her.

As the nightmare nears it's climax, the dream changes and soon she's standing in a room of brilliant white light. She opens her eyes, and standing before her is not the scary beast who has been killing so many people from her past, but Andrew Ingram as she remembered him. He stares at her with an intensity that she's never felt before, as if he's trying to study her face and display concern all at once.

"An...Andrew? Is that you?" she asks him.

"Yes Ella, it's me," he replies. She reaches out to him and cradles his face in her palm, and tears stream down her face as she feels the warmth of his touch on her own face.

"I...I don't understand," she stammers, wanting to wrap her arms around him and tell him everything she's been dreaming of saying to him for the past eight years.

"It's complicated."

"I'm...I'm so sorry, Andrew. I should have been faster. I should have saved you..." Ella cries, wrapping her arms around his waist and pulling him in for a fierce hug.

"It's OK Ella. You don't have anything to be sorry for. I've never blamed you. I need your help though. Please Ella, help me."

"What is it? What do you need from me?"

"I..." he begins to say, but soon the room grows dim, and Andrew begin being pulled away from her grasp.

"Andrew, no!" she shouts, holding onto him for dear life. A fierce gust of wind seems determined to pull him away. As his grip on her begins to loosen, he looks into her eyes and begins to shout.

"It's my brother! Look for Howie! You have to...Zeus!" he shouts, his wording breaking up with the intensity of the storm ripping him away.

"Andrew, no, please don't leave me. I love..." she starts to shout, but it is too late, and Andrew is ripped away, taken into the black abyss surrounding her. She kneels on the ground, tears streaming down her face as she stares into the great unknown.