What Happens Doesn't Always Stay

Secrets Revealed

Warning:

First paragraph may be triggering to some people.

His hands were running up and down her sides and chest. She couldn't move. Every time she tried, he grabbed her and held her there.

Every time, she screamed.

"No!" Taylor bolted upright in her small bed, breathing heavily, heart pounding in her chest.

"Taylor," she heard Princess Shayla's voice on the other side of the door. "Are you alright?"

"I'm," she was about to say 'I'm fine', but that wasn't true. There was no use lying to the princess. She knew. "You can come in," she opted for instead.

The Animarian princess came in and sat on the edge of her bed. "Was it the dream again?"

Taylor meekly nodded. She'd been having the same nightmare ever since the morning she woke up with a stranger. She could never see his face, but could feel his hands all over her. And there was nothing she could do about it.

Princess Shayla hugged the yellow eagle ranger firmly yet gently.

"Princess," Taylor started.

"Yes, Taylor?" Princess Shayla pulled away and looked at the normally bold blonde's tear-streaked face.

Taylor took a shuttering breath. "It was a little different this time."

"What do you mean?"

The pilot closed her eyes at the memory. "I could hear her screaming. Broken sobs for me to help her."

"Michael?"

She nodded. "I tried to run to find her, but he stopped me." Fresh tears fell down her cheeks as she struggled for breath. "She kept screaming."

Princess Shayla held her close as Taylor recounted the screams that would strike terror into any mother's heart.

"Mommy! Mommy, help me! Mommy, I'm scared! Mommy, don't leave me here! Mommy, it hurts! Mommy! Mommy! MOMMY!!!!!"

After nearly an hour, Taylor had finally cried herself back to sleep.

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The former Air Force Lieutenant was already up and dressed for her morning run by the time her alarm went off. It was something she'd done ever since she was little. Her brother would get her up at the crack of dawn and the two would go for runs together. After he died, she did it on her own; it made her feel like he was still there with her. When her daughter was only a few months old, she'd take the stroller and go on runs with her. There were days where Michael would wake her up so that the two could go on their run. It was a much needed bonding time for the mother and daughter, especially since they never knew when Taylor would end up being deployed.

She turned off the alarm and crept out of the temple, making sure to not wake Cole up. The mother in her was always frightened that he'd fall out of that tree and get himself hurt.

As she ran, Taylor thought of both the life she'd left behind and the life she'd found from the moment she landed on the Animarium.

Things she'd left: her daughter, her dad, the Air Force, her best friends since childhood Taya and Polly.

Things she'd found: her Eaglezord, the Bear Brothers, new best friends in Alyssa and Princess Shayla, the little brother she'd never had in Max, friends in Danny, Cole, Wes, and even Merrick, a boyfriend who truly cared about her even if they fought.