Revenge Turned Sweet

Chapter 7: I Can't Sleep Either

It's cold. Freezing actually, my arms tremble as I hug them over my chest trying to nurse the hole in my heart. Though, somehow, it isn't the frigid air that's making me shiver, it's the loss. The loss of them that keeps reverberating through my body and back. I trudge through the snow covered grass, noticing the small flakes covering my hair and slowly melting onto it.

The once fuzzy pajama pants are now soaked with moisture slipping through every crevice and dripping slowly down my legs. I wrap the sleeves of my pajama shirt over my hands and exhale furiously into them. There are no tears, no sobs, no emotions as I walk. Just fear, bone-chilling, panic-inducing fear that every step I take will lead me toward my own demise. I lean against a thin tree, catching my breath after running for so long, and squeeze my eyes shut, willing this to be a nightmare.

A disembodied robotic sound fills my ears before I have time to open my eyes. Cool steel wraps around my throat. Squeezing relentlessly and my eyes shoot open, finding him. The man who killed my family coming to finish the job. His brows are pinched together as the cool metal fingers tighten around my throat making me wheeze, desperate to feel the frozen air glazing my lungs once again. He lifts his arm, forcing my feet off the ground and his gaze intensifies.

My nimble fingers wrap around the metal ones, trying to pry them away from my throat to no avail. I strangely hear his staggered breath coming through the slits in his mask, coming out in clouds in the cold weather. My vision begins to turn into tunnels, the only thing visible are his cold, calculating blue eyes trained on watching the life drain from me. I let out one more strangled wheeze as I succumb to his superhuman strength.

I shoot up, hands flying to my throat and a coughing fit wracks through me. I can't catch my breath. My hair flies into my face and sticks to the sweat dripping from my forehead. I press my hand to my chest, tapping on my collar bones to ease the panic running through my mind. My chest shrinks as a clear breath glazes my lungs, realizing what I had was a nightmare, not reality.

The warm light emanating from the lamp next to me somehow melts away the frosted horror that clouds my mind. I scan my surroundings, I'm back in my bedroom at the compound. My brows knit together as I try to remember getting off the plane or even walking up to my room.

I have no memory of it whatsoever.

I frown when I see I'm still in my suit and reach my trembling hand into my pocket to fish the cellphone out. I check the time and push out a breath, it's three in the morning. I slowly climb off of the bed on wobbling legs and grab the duffel bag sitting on the other side of the large bed. I ruffle through the amount of clothes stuffed in there until I find a pair of white joggers and a black cropped tank top.

I toss them onto the bed and stalk over to the bathroom. I take a quick shower, scrubbing the nightmare off of my body and doing my best to scrub my mind of it. One step forward and three steps back with these dreams coming back to haunt me.

After dressing into my pajamas, I empty the large bag onto the bed. Deciding if there's going to be another mission first thing, then I should probably pack extra clothes just in case. I throw in an extra pair of sweatpants, a cream colored sweater, a pair of black jeans, a pair of white sneakers, and anything else I think I might need. After doing so, every ounce of fatigue has left my body and gone to some other lucky person.

I lean against the bed, pushing out a breath and trying to calm my shaking hands. I shake my head as if that would clear the panic coursing through it and put on a pair of slippers. I shuffle over to the door and find the hallway empty but lit up completely. I make my way over to the elevator, dragging my feet behind me and stare through the back of the glass. It's dark in that area of the compound, like it's deserted. I jump out of my skin when the elevator dings, signaling that I've made it to the first floor.