Lonely girl (a Tony Perry romance)

chapter 2

Next time he woke up, he was thankful the nightmare hadn't disturbed him a second time. He looked at the time - nearly 11am. He got up and dressed and made his way through to the kitchen where he switched the kettle on and made himself some toast for breakfast. Sipping his coffee, he wandered what the dream meant. Anything or nothing? He finished and after loading up some laundry decided to go back to the shop.

He pulled into the car park and sat for a minute, wondering what the hell he was doing. Then he saw her through the window, putting stock on the shelves again.

He quickly jumped out of the car and walked inside. He headed towards where he'd just seen her and again, nothing.

He went to get some milk and turning the corner, saw her. He walked over.

"Um, hi. I saw you in here yesterday." he mumbled not really sure what to say. She looked up at him and he gasped as he saw a huge bruise on her cheek. Her eyes seemed duller than the previous day and she looked even paler.

"What happened?" he whispered. She just looked down at the floor and softly walked away. "Don't go" he said quietly but she carried on.

His shoulders dropped in dismay. What was going in? In his dream she had called for help and now had a bruise. But how could he help someone with no identity, someone he didn't know anything about.

He sighed, taking his milk and some potato chips he saw to the till. After paying, he sat in his car for a few minutes to see if she would come out.

Ten minutes passed and no sign of her so he started the engine and headed out of the car park. She was standing by a tree on a grassy area, looking towards him. He slammed on the brakes and went to get out of the car when she turned and vanished behind the tree. He couldn't believe it. If he told anyone, they'd think he was going insane but he knew what he'd just seen.

He drove home, not sure what to do or think. Should he even be worrying about her?

That night, when he fell asleep he was hoping not to get the bad dream again. He wasn't so lucky. She was screaming for someone to help her as she lay on the ground, sobbing. He jerked awake, gasping for breath. Sweat was running down his back, making him feel uncomfortable. He jumped out of bed and got himself a drink of water. And a couple of painkillers, as waking up so quickly had given him a bad headache. He decided a shower and a change of clothes might be helpful. On emerging from the shower, he pulled on a clean t-shirt and shorts and stripped his bedding which was also soaked through with his sweat. He re-made the bed, and collapsed, exhausted into a fitfull sleep.

He woke early the next day and knew he had to talk it through with someone. But who would believe him? Was it worth going back again to the shop?

He grabbed his keys, got in his car and did so anyway. He walked in and after walking around the entire shop without seeing her, decided he was going crazy. He headed for the door. She was standing by the flowers that every shop has by the entrance. He looked at her. Then walked over towards her. This time, to go with the bruise on her cheek, she had a cut. Right in the centre of the bruise. He reached his hand out to her. She looked sadly at him and once again walked away. He reached for her hand to get her to say something and gasped at how cold she was.