The pavement was cold beneath my bare feet. I was standing in the road, on the yellow line and a thick, cold fog snaked around me. Pressing in from all angles, it quickly seeped through my tank top and thin leggings, chilling me to the bone.
All I saw was grey. The fog was too thick to see anything beyond. A cold that had nothing to do with weather spread through me.
Where was I?
Last I remembered I was in my apartment, alone...
As if to answer my question, the fog pulled back to reveal a sliver of night sky and a triad of lights dangling over my head. A traffic light. Each bulb flashed wildly, a frantic dance of red, yellow, and green. The lamp swayed violently on its mount, as if being tossed by a wind that I couldn't feel.
I was in an intersection. And though the fog was still too thick to know for sure, something stirred in my mind. I just knew. It was the same intersection where Ethan and I had nearly run someone down. But now it was me that was in the middle of the road. Only, this time, the road seemed abandoned.
As soon as I thought it, I heard the rev of an engine. Two headlights materialized in the distance, their long beams catching on the thick mist, as the car they belonged to barrelled down on me.
Panic seized my brain and, like an idiotic deer, I froze.
A small, rusted-out compact shot out of the cloud. It flew past me, missing me by inches. I was spun around—propelled by the force of the passing car—and came face to face with a bloated corpse.
I choked on my scream and toppled over, the grit of the pavement gouging into the palms of my hands. I ignored the pain and scrambled back, eager to get away.
But waterlogged body didn't chase after me, like I expected it to; it hung limp in the air, hovering a few inches above the ground. Its hair drifted around its rotten head like it was still floating in the water from which it was dragged.
I staggered back to my feet, readying myself to run in any direction... But something caught my eye. Something about the body...
It—she? The state of her body made it hard to tell—was wearing pajamas. Wet pajamas. They clung to the grey, swollen body. The same pajamas the girl from my latest dream had been wearing
Dream...
I understood then.
This... This was another dream.
A switch flipped in my head. Of course it was another dream. It was so obvious. The unnatural fog, the reenactment of the almost-accident, the floating girl. Of course...
The tension eased from my shoulders. This world—no matter how terrifying—wasn't real. Despite the terror of my previous dream, I had come out unscathed. None of this meant anything.
Right?
I studied the horrific figure. Could it really be the same girl from my other dream? I hadn't gotten a good look at her face, not that it would matter now. The corpse's face was so bloated and rotted that it was far beyond any recognition.
But there were other similarities: the long, tangled hair; the dampness of her clothes; and, of course, the pajamas.
The front of her pajama shirt was torn open and there were deep cuts patterning her skin. Chunks were missing. A few of her ribs peeked out from the discoloured, rotting flesh. But there was no blood; her gruesome wounds had been washed clean by her watery grave.
What had happened to her?
Did it matter? This was just another invention of a sick mind. My sick mind. A ghostly girl inside my head.
Something flickered in the back of my mind. With a deep breath, I took a shaking step forward, to study her face. I hoped for something, anything, to help me recognize her, something I could use to identify her. I inched closer...
Her eyes snapped open. Despite her mottled, rotten skin, her eyes were perfect. Alive. Bright and deep blue. We stared at each other in silence. And then she raised her arm and her cold, bloated hand skimmed across my cheek—
I jolted awake. Despite the fact that I knew that I had just emerged from a dream, it was still a little disorienting to suddenly be back in the warmth and safety of my bed. The dream, despite it's strangeness, had felt very... real.
Yes, the dream had been strange—stranger than usual. Different. My theory from the day before rose its head. What if there was something more to these dreams? What if they weren't just senseless ramblings of a tortured subconscious, but something else?
What if the girl was there... because she was trying to tell me something?
The other ghosts were determined to communicate with me. What if this was just another one of their attempts?
Was that a thing?
Could ghosts do that?
Could they enter dreams?
It seemed impossible. But I knew by now that nothing in this world was impossible...
My first thought was to ask Luc, but a splintering pain shot through my chest. Luc... In the wake of everything else, I hadn't forgotten what I had finally gathered the courage to say aloud.
"I don't know how much longer I can keep trying..."
The words sent little waves of pain through me. It was awful to comprehend, but it was, unfortunately, true. We were never on the same page. Hell, we were rarely in the same place. We weren't communicating. We weren't connecting.
We were barely a "we" anymore.
Just thinking of it—trying to picture my life without him—made my chest ache and my throat tighten. What would I do without him? I felt so lost and—
Two arms snaked around me and I felt soft lips graze the nape of my neck.
"Morning," Luc murmured in my ear. He kissed behind my ear, and his stubbly chin brushed against my neck.
Without thinking about it, I sank back into him, savouring the warmth of his chest against my back. It felt so good, like a glass of water after lying in the hot sun. This... This had never been our problem. Even as I debated our future together, the hungry little animal in me wanted more.
I went stiff, suddenly overcome with guilt. How could I want this, after all I had been thinking?
The nuzzling stopped. "What's wrong?" Luc asked, concern plain in his voice. "Did you just wake up from a bad dream?"
"Something like that," I muttered back. I inched away from him, partially so I could look him in the eye, partially so I could contain the ravenous animal inside that wanted to taste his flesh.
Luc was as perfect as ever, even first thing in the morning, with his long hair mussed and wild. The morning sun caught on his dark skin, illuminating it with gold. He was so beautiful, almost too beautiful...
But being beautiful wasn't the issue.
"What?" Luc said, smiling one of his perfect, warm smiles. "Why are you staring?"
I looked away. "I'm just... surprised," I said, my cheeks warming with the lie. "I thought you were going to sleep at the house."
"I was," Luc admitted, his smile fading. "But then I decided it was a bad idea. I've left you alone too often and I figured you'd want some company after everything. But when I got home..." his smile crept in again, "you were already asleep."
"Mm," I replied, remembering. I had decided to go to bed early instead of letting my imagination wander down dark paths. "I was tired."
"Understandable," he said, inching a little closer. "Well, we have today. You have the day off, right?"
I perked up. "Today? I do. Why?"
"It's been too long since we had a day together," Luc said, brushing the hair from my cheek and tucking it behind my ear. "I've been so absorbed with work and research that... Well, I've been an asshole, haven't I?" He smirked, but his eyes were soft.
A smile came to my lips before I could stop myself. "I wasn't going to say anything, but..."
Luc chuckled, and he was so close that I could feel his laugh rumble through his chest. "Feel free to. I know I've been working too much. And it's been taking its toll... I've been ignoring what's really important to me." He leaned in and kissed my forehead. "But I'm going to make more of an effort to take time for myself, and for us. Starting today."
There was a whisper of caution in my head, but I couldn't stop the warm feeling spreading throughout my body. It was like he had read my mind—even if that wasn't the kind of psychic he was—and knew exactly what I needed.
"Well," I said. "What did you have planned for today?"
"A full schedule of absolutely nothing," he said, his green eyes flashing. "Starting with lounging in bed for a good, long while."
"That sounds nice..."
"Doesn't it?" he murmured, leaning in close and pressing his lips to mine.
As I kissed him back, the warmth in my chest flared to a full, blazing fire. My heart pounded as I pressed myself to him. He wrapped his arms around me again, holding me tight. I felt so good to be close to him. To be with him.
If only... I didn't have a chance to think. All thought was pushed aside as his hands explored my body.
No, this was never our problem.
It seems Luc isn't quite ready to give Rachel up.
What can he do to salvage their relationship? 🔮
I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
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As usual, I'll be posting the next chapter on Patreon next week (find the link on my profile!) and then on Wattpad the week after that!