In the Arms of You | ✔️ | EDITING

~ Chapter 14: Visiting the Grandparents ~

Edited!

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"Stay away from me," I said in fear, backing up towards the wall as much as possible. "I didn't mean to get her killed!" I cried out in pain.

"Princess?" A voice called out into the distance. A very familiar voice that I couldn't place.

"I'm sorry! Please, I didn't mean for all of this to happen!" I cried out once more.

"Princess, wake up!" The voice said harshly with a worried undertone.

I woke up gasping for air, my hand flying to my throat as if I was being strangled. I take some deep breaths, one at a time. "It was just a dream," I whispered to myself trying to refocus my eyes on my surroundings. All at once, everything crashed back down. I was in Zach's car and we were currently on our way to Stormy Brook. It was near midnight if not later according to the empty roads and nighttime shadows.

"Princess? Are you okay?" Zach asked from the driver's side of the car. I whipped my head around to see him glancing at me every few seconds from his focus on the road.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I told him. "It was just a dream." I then focused my gaze outside the car and into the vast darkness ahead of us. All I could hear was the sounds of tires on the gravel as we spun past and the occasional occupant on the road at this time.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked me as he took a sharp right turn off the interstate and onto a four-lane highway. I shook my head, afraid that if I spoke, what I was thinking would stumble out I would regret later on.

We drove in silence for a while until I started to recognize the area. We were approaching Stormy Brook. Soon enough our headlights lit up a sign, the sign. It read Welcome to Stormy Brook'. I shivered as we passed by it, memories rushing to my head of that fateful night that my life fell apart. Zach didn't say a word about my discomfort, but I knew that he understood why I seemed tense and anxious.

"Pull in here," I told him as we reached a motel. "This is the only motel in this area unless you'd rather go further into town."

"Here is fine," Zach said as he pulled into a parking space near the lobby entrance. "Plus, I doubt anything else in town would be open this late anyhow."

We make our way inside the small two-story motel. It contained about twenty rooms and was painted white which contrasted the ominous woods that stood out behind it. We walked up to the front desk attendant who had her back turned. "Welcome to Stormy Brook Motel, how can I help you?" She asked as she fiddled with something under the counter, probably paperwork.

"We would like a room please," Zach spoke for us. At the sound of his voice, the desk attendant jumped and turned around. As soon as she did, I recognized the girl. Her name was Brooke and let's just say she has a reputation around these parts. She looked straight at Zach, ignoring me completely.

She leaned herself against the desk in a seductive way and gave him a bright smile. "Would you now?" She asked him in a flirtatious manner. That interaction just made my blood boil and I am not sure why I felt the way I did, but I know I did not like her at all.

I plastered on my best smile and addressed her myself. "Yes, we would Brooke," I said.

Finally, she glanced over at me. She got off of the counter and looked at me with her arms crossed and a smug look on her face. "Well, if it isn't little Miss. Lena Mercer, finally back in town I see," she said. "What brings you back up here anyhow? Did the rumors finally catch up to you in that new town?"