Don't Fall Asleep

Chapter 7

Awake

Wednesday. July 23, 2014. 5:32 AM

Being alone for so long with nothing to do gave Zena lots of time to think. Past memories that had been pushed to the very back of her mind were beginning to surface. Things she didn't want to remember. Now it was all she could think about.

Zena lay against the tree that had become her new home. She tried as hard as she could to distract herself or think of other things. Anything other than the dark holes in her past. Still, nothing helped.

Everything had begun when Zena was 6 years old. It was before her brother was born, when she still had an older sister. She loved her sister more than anything. The pain of losing her came back to Zena now that she had time to think about it. Watching her sister die right in front of her had traumatized her. Zena's cheeks became wet with tears.

-Flashback-

The two girls walked home from school, hand in hand, everyday together. Zena's sister was only a year older than her, but she was much taller and looked 8 or 9 rather than 7. Her name was Jessie. She had long blonde hair and big green eyes. She was always looking for adventure and protecting her little sister from monsters. Zena looked up to her. She thought of Jessie as a superhero.

At the beginning of their second and third year of school, during fall, they were walking home when the rain started. They didn't live far from school and both of them loved the rain, so it didn't bother them. Zena was stomping in puddles and her sister was giggling as the truck pulled up beside them. Neither of them had paid much attention to it. It looked like a normal truck. Jessie was a few feet away from Zena when three men got out and grabbed them.

Something had been put over Zena's mouth, and everything went black before she woke up in a dark room with her sister and Astronia with her. Zena questioned how her cousin had ended up there, but didn't get to think about it for very long before the men who kidnapped them came into the room. The man in the middle had a gun.

Zena started to cry and heard something that sounded like sobbing coming from Astro. Before she knew it, her sister was standing in front of her with bravery in her eyes rather than tears. Jessie turned towards her for a quick moment and smiled then turned back towards the kidnappers.

"I won't let you touch them. My family is all I have and I won't ever let you hurt them," Jessie had said confidently. 

All Zena heard after that was laughter and a bang. She watched her sister slowly fall to her knees as her blue shirt turned red and a puddle of that same red surrounded her unmoving body. Zena looked up and saw the man in the middle with the gun now raised and pointed at her. He said something but all she could hear was ringing and everything after that was complete darkness.

Even now, with her mind empty and nothing to preoccupy herself with, Zena couldn't remember what happened after her sister was shot. The next thing she remembered was waking up in a hospital bed with nothing more than a few scratches and a headache. Her parents told her the police had found her passed out on the floor with Astro holding her.

Zena got her hair cut short soon after the incident. She reminded herself and her parents too much of her sister while it was long. Once Zena finally started sleeping again, her dreams were replaced with horrible nightmares. She would wake up screaming and crying until one day, they just stopped. That was the day she woke up in a forest after sleepwalking. Since then, she never dreamed. Gradually, she stopped showing up for her counselling. All Zena wanted was to forget.