After school, Evan met me outside the school with his usual smile. "You excited about our party?" No! I didn't know there could be so many parties in high school! But instead of typing what I was thinking, I returned his smile and nodded. "I knew you would be. We're going to have drinks and stuff. That's okay with you, right?" I shrugged. I couldn't care less. "Good. I'll see you later, babe." He kissed me on the cheek before walking over to his friends, who I hadn't even noticed were waiting for him a few feet away from us.
I turned to see Sasha glaring at me from in her car inside the school parking lot. I gave her a quick smile, and she flipped me off. The anger in her eyes from seeing Evan and me together sent a jolt of energy through my body. She wanted him, and she wanted me to burn.
This party was going to be very interesting.
***
The night before the event, we found each other.
I was in my dreamscape again since I felt no discomfort. I stood by a lake, the one I went to with my dad right before he got shot. Tears fell out of my eyes as I stared down at my reflection. They dropped into the water, disrupting the calm with gentle ripples, which slowly turned giant and turbulent.
My feet slowly sank past the rocky ground of the lake into the muddy sand below. The water burned my ankles as the waves I created changed course and slowly advanced toward me.
"Help!" I screamed as panic flooded my chest. "Please! Somebody!" Usually, I have control of my dreams, especially when they're lucid. But this dream seemed to have a mind of its own.
The first wave loomed over me. I closed my eyes as the water crashed over my head, yanking me out of the ground and rolling me up the rocky beach. As it receded, I gasped, pulling myself up. My clothes clung to my body like a second skin and smelled like blood.
I wobbly stood and made my way to the tree line to avoid the other wave coming towards the beach. My body felt sluggish and stung everywhere.
"Help," I weakly called. The second wave came towards the shore as I gripped onto a tree to steady myself. A hand clamped down on my wrist and pulled me up. Grey's eyes burned into mine, and he yanked me through the woods.
"What are you doing here?" I asked.
"I don't know," he said honestly. "I don't even know why I'm helping you." I could hear the rushing water behind me, edging up the shore, knocking down some of the weaker trees. It towered above us about two feet.
I tried to move faster, but my legs slowly turned into lead. I couldn't push them any further, and they stiffened.
I fell, making the wave behind me look even more daunting.
"Don't look back," he ordered, yanking me back up. "Just keep moving."
"I can't," I managed to say before the water collapsed onto us. It dragged me across the ground, more cuts forming on my skin. My body contorted, flipped, twisted, and shot through the rushing water. I couldn't get up, resurface, or even breathe. I kept my eyes squeezed shut and held my breath for as long as possible, my lungs burning.
A hand grabbed my soaking wet clothing and pulled me out of the water. I gasped for air, my back pressed against Grey's stomach as he labored for air. "I didn't realize how scary lucid nightmares could be." His voice strained as he used one arm to hold onto a tree, the water rushing around us. It was starting to smell saltier.
"Grey! Whatever happens to me, don't let go," I heard a woman's voice order.
"No," he whispered. The pine trees across from us started to form into palm trees, a woman and child attached to one of them. She had a striking resemblance to Grey, and the little boy looked like he could be Grey's brother. The woman's grip looked like it was slipping. Panic flashed in her eyes, but she covered it up with a smile to her presumed son.
"Mommy, I'm scared," he whined.
"Don't you dare let go of this tree, Grey," she ordered, flooding me with shock. "Do you hear me? Please, for me. Don't let go." He nodded. She looked like she couldn't thoroughly flush herself against the tree, her arms not strong enough to hold on.
"What about Cecelia?" he asked, his eyes wide with fear. "Won't she drown?" Her other arm rubbing his back, let go to touch her stomach. She was pregnant.
"She's okay, honey," she said after a moment. She gave Grey a weak smile. "She's still kick—" Her grip wasn't tight enough. She slipped away and let out a scream, young Grey calling after her as she was dragged off into the tumultuous waters, her head disappearing from view.
"Mommy!" young Grey screamed, frantically looking around. He wailed as he continued searching for her. A lump in my throat formed, and I knew what this was.
A memory. A dark, horrible memory. And whether or not Grey realized it, he let me see it.
Grey's arms tightened around me and the tree. "Damn it," he muttered. His younger self kept screaming and tore a hole in my heart. So this is what he held inside of him. I thought he was such an obnoxious person and didn't know what it was like to feel anything because he was rich. But he experienced loss in such a horrific manner.
"Are you okay?" I whispered.
"No," he hissed. "I'm not." Then, as the waters receded, the scene shifted until we stood next to his mother's body. She laid in an unnatural position as younger Grey found her, rubble all around them. Grey screamed as Disaster Relief workers picked up the body. He screamed as he followed after them and cried, "That's my mommy!" I didn't even realize I had started crying with him.
"They were only able to save my sister," he commented as his younger self and the workers disappeared from view. "She miraculously survived."
"I'm so sorry," I whispered. Grey let go of me and took several steps back. That's when the scent in the air began to change, and the sun started to set. Palm trees turned into trees typically seen in our town and the rubble melted into the ground, turning into pavement. Gasoline filled my nose, and I knew what was happening. I reached out for Grey, but I was in the arms of the man, who had a gun pressed into my temple. Grey stood next to my dad, his eyes wide in horror with tears from his fresh open wound caused by his memory.
Grey attempted to grab my dad, but his hand phased right through him. He looked back at me as the man snarled, "Give me the money right now, or I'll kill her."
My dad scrambled in search of his money as the man's vice-like grip got even tighter. "Faster!"
"Daddy," I said, tears escaping my eyes. Grey flinched and clenched his fists.
"It's okay, baby; I'm going to give the nice man some money, and we're gonna go," my dad said as he dug through his wallet to no avail. But unfortunately, he left his credit card in the car, which is what we were walking back to get because he had no cash.
"You have no money on you?" the man asked.
"No, I'm sorry, if we could just get to the bank or something, I'll get you the money," my dad quickly suggested. "I just have to get my card."
I closed my eyes and swallowed as the man said the dreadful words, "Not necessary." The gun went off, and my dad crumpled to the ground, droplets of blood littering my face.
I couldn't contain it like I did when I was a kid. I screamed, clutching my hair as I sank to the ground, sobs quickly following. "Dad, no, please." I crawled over to his lifeless form before Grey's arms wrapped around me and pulled me into his chest. He held me as we both cried together.
YOU ARE READING
Little Sweet Dreamer
Teen Fiction"Oh," he said, as my back hit the wooden wall. Damn it, of course. With nowhere to go, his arms locked me in between him and the wall. He stared down at me as he said, "So you're trying to piss me off?" His lips were surprisingly close to mine. No g...
