Ghost of Her Past [Rewrite]

Chapter 6- Something's Wrong

"- Jesse, wake up!"

She was sure that someone was calling to her, but she couldn't tell who. Her eyes felt heavy, head aching with a migraine. The voices were distant and distorted, as though someone were speaking through a radio.

"Jesse!"

Then, reality came crashing down. White light consumed the darkness, and Jesse's eyes suddenly snapped open. She became aware of a strong, calloused hand shaking her shoulder, one that belonged to Lukas. Radar was watching from behind, wheezing from panic. Relief immediately overcame them, both sighing heavily at the sight of Jesse awake.

"Are you okay?!" Radar squeaked.

"Y-yeah, I think so," Jesse stammered, sitting up slowly. She was shaken up by that nightmare, or perhaps double nightmare would be a better description, her shaking arms covered with goosebumps.

"That was crazy," Lukas said breathlessly, running a hand through his golden locks- something that Jesse picked up as one of his nervous habits. An enchanted iron sword laid abandoned by his feet, like he had dropped it in a hurry.

"What are you talking about?" Jesse asked, frowning.

Radar waved his arms frantically like a bird, looking absolutely traumatized. "Big, scary monster! Blue wings, freaky glowing eyes, terrifying fangs!"

Jesse blinked once. "Yeah, I didn't catch that."

"It was a phantom," Lukas said positively, pointing to the window. At the sight of it, Jesse paled. It had been completely shattered, shards of shimmering glass laying on the floor. "I've read about them before. They only target victims who haven't slept in ages... but I've never read anything about one doing that before. Much less seen one with eyes that glowed like that."

"I... what are you talking about?" Jesse asked. "What happened? And the full story, Lukas."

"Well, I was headed off to bed after making sure Aiden had everything he needed, and I bumped into Radar, who for some reason was going to make sure you were doing okay before going off to bed himself," He explained, giving Radar a side glance of suspicion. "But before we got there... we heard screaming."

"I've never heard anything more terrifying!" Radar piped up, shuddering. "It was almost like a banshee, but a gazillion times worse!"

Lukas nodded. "When we tried to find the source, we realized it was coming from your room. We ran as fast as we could, but by the time we busted down the door, we saw you, tossing and turning like you were having a nightmare, with a phantom looming over you. I drew my sword to chase it off of you, but once it noticed us, it fled through the broken window. Jesse... it was like it was... feeding off you, and you weren't waking up."

"It took us several times before we could finally get you to wake up again," Radar said. "I was so scared that... that thing had done something to you."

"I'm fine," Jesse assured with a weak smile. Outside, the sun was beginning to rise, the dark sky slowly diminishing into a light pink. She must've only been asleep for a few hours, because her body was still exhausted. That, and her double nightmare had completely drained her, making for one very restless sleep

"Don't give me that crap," Lukas snapped, surprising both Radar and Jesse with his sudden outburst. "I have a little gift, Jesse, and it's called knowing when my friends are not fine. Stop lying to us and tell us what the hell is going on!"

His escalating voice didn't help improve Jesse's mood either. "I can't exactly tell you." Jesse retorted, folding her arms.

"Why not?"