Hevgard

chapter 1

Chapter one

Lightening drew across the night sky. With it came its excellent white light. A part of that light illuminated a quivering girl who laid underneath her blanket, begging for the monster of her mind to let her be. Fifteen years after her first incident and Lisa hart is still cowering under her bedsheets from the night terrors. Every night for as long as she could remember, she has been forced to relieve the same nightmare. Contrary to the belief of others, what doesn't kill you doesn't make you stronger. Not like this, it doesn't. rather, it leaves you gasping for air to fill your constricted lungs and begging for help under a shaky breath.

Sitting in the dark, she watched the raindrops batter the window plane. Her mind scurrying from thought to thought, trying to block out whatever would take her back to her dreamscape. Her phone chimed, reminding her of the world of distractions that laid beneath her pillow. After a brief, uncomfortable moment of accustoming to the brightness, she began mindlessly scrolling from app to app. Like every teenager she soon became lost in the world behind the screen, worrying why those closest to her had not messaged and only briefly remembering the horrors that troubled her some minutes ago.

"Hey you! Why you still up?" said a message from Jeremy.

"Night terror"

"Shit! Want me to come over"

"Dude.... it's raining" she replied, looking out from the window. She stared at a house on the other side of the fence with only one lit room on the upper floor.

"You're legit my neighbour. Plus, there's this really cool invention I got last week that stops rain. It's called an umbrella, it's really high tech"

"Oh wow! Did you also get the invention that tells time? If you did you would know it's 2am!!!"

"Jokes apart Lisa, are you okay?"

"I am, don't be a baby, I'm just a bit frazzled that all." She replied smiling from ear to ear "I'll see you tomorrow right?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world. Well it's not like I can miss it, it's the first day of school."

Lisa started typing a reply when her room door squeaked open and a woman in a black suit walked in. "Don't tell me you haven't slept" she said as dropping her briefcase and walking towards Lisa "Lisa it's a school night".

"The night terror woke me up" she replied making space for her mum to sit beside her. A flash of lightening revealed the tear in her mum's eyes which the darkness hid. No words were exchanged but they both knew there was nothing else to say. Mrs hart stood up, gave Lisa a kiss and walked out, sniffing a bit as she left the room.

Lisa took one last look at her phone. Jeremy had left one last message for her during the awkward moment she shared with her mum "night". She smiled a bit as she laid back on her pillow, allowing her heartbeat increase and lumps form in her throat before falling back asleep.

Sunlight shot through the window striking Lisa's bedroom mirror and reflecting to the wood mimicking tiles. It reminded her of treasure hunting movies, striking her as an over dramatic announcement of sunrise. She had been up for hours now. The night terror came, this time there was no one to talk to about it. But the night she dreaded had finally finished, now she could move on with her life. At least that's what she thought.

She sat in her bed unable to move, her eyes stuck on the glinting mirror. Calm as she looked, her mind was in the worst of disarrays. Screaming at the top of its lungs and dreading what may happen next. Fight and scream as It may. It will and can always be just her minds voice, unable to save her, unable to scream out.