August 27th 1999
It starts with a familiar voice slurring my name.
"Lorna? Are you awake?"
The question lifts me out of my dream. He's here. He's really here. Shit.
I keep my eyes closed, praying he goes away but then...
"Lorna! Fucking get out here NOW!"
Panic washes over me. He's here, he's drunk and he's screaming my name outside my parents house at 4am in the morning.
"No-no-no. Not tonight, Micah," I muttered under my breath.
He screamed out my name again and I got out of bed, walk edacross to my bedroom window and peeked through the curtains.
"Jesus, Micah, " I whispered out loud.
There he was. My stupid-ass drunk boyfriend, lying face down in my Mom's flower bed, hugging an empty bottle of liquor.
"Damn it, Micah," I groan.
Why was here? He knew my next door neighbour was a cop. If he wakes up, Micah will end up in the drunk tank...again.
I heard a slurring sound coming from Micah as he lifted his head to take a good look at me, judging him from my bedroom window.
"Lorna? Lorna baby, is that you?" he called out.
I cracked my window open and silent yelled at him, "It's 2 am in the morning! What the fuck, Micah!"
"I missed you, baby."
"So you dragged your drunk-ass down here and decided to howl about it on my lawn?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't know where else to go," he said in his 'poor little me' voice, that once made me feel sorry for him, but now grated on my nerves.
"Just hold on. I'm coming down." I announced, throwing on sweater.
I run downstairs and pulled on a hoodie. By the time I got out my front door, Micah was on his feet, staggering towards me.
"There's my baby girl!" he said, lurching towards me.
"What are you doing here, Micah?"
"I wanted to see my honey."
He grins at me, clutching his empty bottle of whiskey. I side step his hug, trying not to dry heave from the overwhelming stench of alcohol, cigarettes, and piss that is radiating from him.
"Micah, you stink!" I snapped.
His smile dies and I instantly regret what I just said. Micah's big, he used to play on the football team before he got kicked out of school for underage drinking.
He leans down into my face and spits, "Fuck you - always acting like your own shit don't stink."
"Stop it, Micah," I snap, pushing him away.
He staggers backwards and then takes the empty bottle in his hand and hurls it my head. I duck and cover my head. The bottle flies over me and smashes into the wall behind. Glass explodes everywhere.
"Are you out of your mind," I scream at him, "You nearly hit me!"
He didn't seem to care. In fact, the cold-hearted bastard didn't even bat an eyelash.
"I don't need you. You're not special. I can have any girl in this town!"
"Great! Go find your next victim and drunk rant on her lawn instead of mine."
"Fuck you, Lorna! We are through. Completely and utterly fucking finished!"
"Great! Get out of here!"
I turn my back on him and head back inside. I'm so jacked up, my hands are shaking.
Back inside my room, I peek out the window and see Micah staggering up the road. Holy shit, how did things between us get so messed up?
I crawl back into bed and lay awake. I've come to learn over these past few months with Micah, that you can't save someone who doesn't want to be saved.
But even then, it's still hard to stop caring for someone.
I stare up at the ceiling and imagine him curled up in a bus shelter, passed out and choking on his own vomit. Maybe I should have been kinder to him earlier on...
I sit up in bed, unable to shake this feeling of guilt.
"No, I can't do this to myself anymore. I'm not responsible for Micah's bullshit," I tell myself.
I thought saying it out loud would help the message to sink in, but I still felt awful. Eventually, I got out of bed. Sleep wasn't on the menu tonight and wasn't going to waste the rest of the night worrying about Micah, so I got to work on my college recommended reading list.
I read for a couple of hours until my brain couldn't absorb any more information. There was a letter that I needed posting, so I decided to put on some sneakers, grab my portable CD player and head down to the mailbox at the end of the road.
I tiptoed downstairs and out the house. It was dark outside, but our street was well lit. Crime in this area was non-existent, so I wasn't worried about my safety. Putting on my headphones, I selected my favourite track and started my jog down the road.
I checked every front yard that I passed, just in case Micah had passed out in a neighbour's yard.
Thankfully, there was no sign of Micah.
By now, he should have staggered back home, where he would've passed out and forgotten that he even came to my house and broke up with me.
That was going to be a fun conversation to have with him when he sobered up.
I reached the end of the road and dropped my letter in the mailbox.
My song had finished, so I pulled out my CD player from my back pocket and skipped to track three. As the music started to play, I felt something knock my hand.
I jumped out of my skin and spun around, scanning the empty street.
"Micah, is that you?"
There was no one there - had I imagined it?
I shook it off and started jogging back towards my house. When I had almost reached the front door, it happened again. Something or someone reached out and touched my left hand.
I spun around on the spot, looking for Micah or a pervert, but there was no one.
I glanced down at my hand and was surprised to see that it was bleeding. There were tiny teardrops of blood, streaking red down my palms and fingers.
I ran into my house and shut the door behind, heading straight into the kitchen. Throwing on a light, I rolled up my sleeve and found two puncture marks on my wrist, oozing blood.
Shit- had I been bitten by a snake? I read once that snake bites could happen without a person noticing.
I turned over my hand and found another set of puncture marks on my palm. My stomach dropped - what if the snake was poisonous.
I opened my mouth to scream for my mom and dad. I needed to get help fast... but before I could utter a syllable, a hand covered my mouth.
Suddenly, I was yanked backwards, dragged through my kitchen at a phenomenal speed. I was pulled out my back door into the yard. The air rushed around me and within seconds, my yard was gone and I was passing through the fields behind my house.
I tried to dig my heels into the ground, but nothing happened except my sneakers fell off.
This couldn't be real. It had to be a dream.
I closed my eyes hoping to wake up, but I was still moving... and what was worse was that my arm throbbing where the bite marks were.
I was so scared.
The person dragging me stopped.
I opened my eyes and saw a freshly dug open grave.
I screamed and screamed, praying that someone would hear me. Terror and white-hot agony from the bite marks ripped through my body. My arms and legs started to convulse with the pain.
Colours started to sway and swirl in front of me.
Through it, I saw a woman with vibrant red hair. She smiled at me, touching my cheek with her freezing cold hand.
"Close your eyes, baby girl. It'll be all over in a blink of an eye," she said.
I closed my eyes, thinking she was going to kill me.
Instead, her arms wrapped around and lifted me off the floor. I tried to move but my body had shut down. I was now completely paralysed.
My head flopped against her shoulder as she stood on the edge of the open grave. She muttered something to herself and then dropped me into the pit.
I braced myself for cold hard impact - but was surprised when I landed on something warm and soft. I looked around me and saw that I was surrounded by corpses of freshly killed deer.
Inside, I was screaming but outside, I was perfectly still.
Soil rained down on me and I soon realised that I was being buried alive. I closed my eyes, unable to move, and thought about my family. I didn't want my last moments on earth to be clouded with fear and worry. So, I lay in the pit and thought about my mom and dad until I succumbed to the blackness.
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This chapter has now been edited :) Please remember to vote, comment and follow :)