The Impact (Book II)

The Nightmare

Light brings me to life, but darkness kills me. What am I?

The dream always started the same.

I stood in a vast, white room with no furniture. There was blinding light and I never saw anyone right away.

Eventually, I would get the distinct feeling that I was not alone. That I was in danger.

That I needed to run.

My legs felt weighed down as I tried to escape the unseen danger. The threat never revealed itself. It only tormented me from someplace hidden. Ahead of me, Will and my children appeared. They seemed to be miles ahead and I felt sure they would get away. But, then a woman with my face flew past me, a knife in her hand.

Despite my warning shout, they didn't hear me and Will went down, the knife buried hilt deep in his back.

The scene would change at that point to a room where I was shackled to the floor and my family surrounded me, bloody and glaring at me accusingly.

"You didn't save us," my oldest, Zach, spat.

"I'm sorry, I tried! I tried to stop them!" I pleaded.

Will held his beating heart in his hands and thrusted it into my face, yelling, "Look at what you've done!"

"Melanie!"

I woke up to Will, unscathed, shaking me by my shoulders.

It took me a few moments to remember where I was, that my family was safe. Cold sweat coated my face while I gasped. I looked up at Will, whose brow furrowed with concern.

"Mel, are you okay? You were screaming in your sleep." He asked.

"I'm fine," I rasped, my mouth as dry as a desert. I shook his hands off me and rose out of bed to go take a shower.

Before I made it into our bathroom, he muttered, "This is the fifth time this week."

I paid him no mind as I shut myself in the bathroom and turn the water as hot as it'll go. Stripping out of my sweat soaked sleep clothes, which only consisted of one of Will's old shirts and a pair of shorts, I hopped into the shower. The water was scalding and I jumped around for a few minutes before my skin adjusted and I stood under the steady stream, my waist length black hair plastered to my body.

Recently, I had been having that dream consecutively for the last few weeks. I had no idea why that was or what the dreams meant, but I was always filled with a sense of foreboding that took me hours to shake off and by then it would be time to sleep again and the whole cycle would start again.

I repeated to myself, I'm safe, my family is safe. No one can hurt us; not with Joel watching over the barriers.

Two thousand years had passed since Will and I escaped from Hell. I had been engaged to the Demon King, Lin XVI, and Lucifer had presented Will as an early wedding gift. He had known about my forbidden relationship with Will and had sent my sister to spy on me under the guise of amicability. I thought I would be able to put it behind me, but with the reoccurring dream, it felt impossible.

When the water began to cool, I shut the shower off and wrapped a towel around my body. My skin was pink from the hot water, giving me a healthy flush. Hastily, I rubbed another towel through my hair, ridding it of excess water. Gooseflesh broke out across my arms as I entered the cold bedroom. Will was seated on the bed and had his chin jutted when he was going to argue with me about something.

As I walked over to my closet, he said, "You've had nightmares for a while now, but you won't tell me what they're about. I think it would help you to talk about it."