That Summer

A Walking Nightmare

I watched as Gary began to make his way towards me, causing me to break into a sprint towards the door. His hands grabbed me by the hair, slamming me against the wall as my head collided hard with it. The feeling of his hands wrapping around my neck and throwing me across the dining room table was all that I had left to feel in my body. Tears streamed down my face as he continuously hit me with his fist, refusing to let me beg for mercy.

"Oh no, I'm not done with you yet!" I laid on the ground, nearly unconscious. I struggled to see what was happening before me as my eyesight kept fading out on me. He returned from wherever he had disappeared to and had come back with a knife in his hands. Is this how I'm going to die? Instead, he used the knife to cut off my clothing, leaving me bare beneath him. He covered my mouth to prevent me from screaming as he unbuttoned his pants and entered himself forcefully inside of me. I screamed in pain as I watched what every woman in this world feared. That wasn't the end of this brutal torture, for Gary had given me several painful blows to the abdomen and causing me to cough up the crimson blood from inside of my helpless body.

"Anyone who ever loved you was wrong!"

I awoke from my past haunting me in my dreams with an uncontrollable shake. A cold sweat covered my entire body as I looked at the clock next to me. '3:30, you've got to be joking!' I rubbed my face, knowing good and well that there was no returning back to sleep after that reminder. I looked over to see Michael stirring gently in his sleep, completely unaware of my disturbance. I unraveled myself from the sheets lying across my body and slipped out of the bedroom towards the living room. There wasn't much to do since everything involved sound so I decided to get some fresh air out on the balcony. The cool July night air blew through my hair, surrounding me with a sense of comfort. With everything going on with the case and Michael, I'm just a bit skittish and these dreams aren't helping. I haven't dreamt of Gary in a while and now that they're coming back up is scaring me, something doesn't seem right and it's only making it worse for me.

"You're gonna catch a cold out here." I turned to see Michael leaning against the door frame, half naked. His curls were falling in front of his face so angelically that it took a moment for me to thank God for this beautiful man before me.

"Says the one with no shirt on." I said with sarcasm biting at my words.

"What are you doing out here? Come back to bed." I shook my head gently, turning my focus back on the night sky. The twinkling of the stars catching me in a deep gaze that only made me want to escape this madness more than ever.

"What's on your mind?" I felt his warm body wrap me in his peace filled bubble.

"Nothing that I haven't dealt with before." I remorsefully responded.

"Anna we've talked about this, if you're dealing with something then you need to tell me. We can deal with this together, as a team." I turned around to face him completely.

"You can't understand this since you haven't gone through it personally. You won't understand Michael, it's just how this works." He gripped onto my shoulders, holding me at a close distance.

"Then help me understand it, Anna I want to understand what you're going through and maybe I can't but that doesn't mean that I can't support you with any of this." I couldn't stop the tears from filling my eyes for all of this became too much for me. Michael pulled me close to him, refusing to let me go knowing that I needed him the most right now in my weakest.

"Talk to me baby, just tell me what has you so upset and then we can figure out a solution together." I sniffled, trying to resolve the tears from flowing.

"I dreamed about the accident with Gary, and I haven't dreamed anything like that in a long time. Michael I-I can't do this anymore, I don't want to continue on with this any longer. If I see Gary and Whitney, who knows what will be bound to happen! Another accident? I don't want to risk anything and I'm sick and tired of the pain and suffering that we and everyone around us has to go through." I knew I wasn't making any sense, but when you're upset nothing seems to ever make any sense to anyone.