Alone • Liam Dunbar

Two

All around me was a frozen forest.

The leaves on the trees were white and there was a thick layer of snow that coated the ground. I could see heavy puffs of my own breath in front of me as I ran through it, though nothing else of my own body. It was as if I was reliving a distant memory, but this wasn't like anything I had experienced.

I couldn't see much except the immediate nature I was surrounded by, that is until I turned and entered a clearing.

A woman was sprinting fearfully up ahead. I tried to assess the threat she faced but I couldn't move. My eyes were stuck to the back of her head, watching as her thick curls bounced with each step.

It didn't dawn on me until the end that what she was running from, was me.

---

I gasp for air as I wake with a start, begging my body to become my own after a paralyzing dream. My blanket slips to the concrete floor of the loft as I'm unable to handle the sensation of being numb in my own mind, needing my limbs to move freely. I close my eyes and begin to take deep breaths, committing to a routine for handling nightmares. This imagery was unfamiliar, but that aspect of my life wasn't anything new to me. 

Even after we triumphed against Kate and pushed her into the shadows, she'd still plague my mind almost every night. Gerard would be there sometimes, too, both of them haunting me in my most vulnerable hour. I'd wake up screaming sometimes, remembering everything I did for them, and everything they did to me.  It was a cursed reminder that even as I tried to evolve that part of me wouldn't ever go away. 

I ground myself in the present and a sense of calm finds me, that is until I open my eyes and glance at the clock on my bedside table. My nightmare soon becomes the least of my worries as I realize I hadn't set up my alarm last night. I was too exhausted when I got home and only showered then crashed, not preparing myself for the first day of my sophomore year. 

"Not today," I whine, slipping out of bed swiftly. 

I move rapidly through the loft, running into the thin hallway behind the open brick wall. The bathroom was at the end of it, but in the middle was a slender door that lead to the storage closet. I didn't have much of a wardrobe, so it felt useless to me to drag an entire dresser up to the loft for only a few items. That's when I came up with the idea to make the storage room into a closet of sorts, my clothes folded neatly on the rows of a metal shelf.  

Lydia hated the idea, but since I gave her free rein in designing my bedspread, she accepted it and happily slapped deep red sheets onto my mattress while I put laundry in the same room as my mops. 

My hands reach for the closest bits of clothes, not caring about any particular concept of an outfit. The only thing I do go out of my way to grab is the dark denim jacket that hung from a hanger on the top row of the shelf, the garment belonging to a certain Beta once upon a time. I couldn't take it with me to Mexico since the chances of it getting ruined were too great, so as I finally hold it in my hands after weeks of separation, a bit of calm returned to me. 

I rush to the bathroom afterward to finish getting ready, brushing my teeth and hair respectively. The braid I twist my dark strands into isn't the neatest, and I can already hear my mother's voice berating me for such a sloppy design, but it'll have to do. 

The presentation was not my goal right now, only speed.

I yank the heavy door to the loft open after gathering my necessary belongings. I don't bother to lock it behind me, a nasty habit I picked up from the actual owner of my home. 

On my way down the numerous flights of stairs below, I spot Lori and Brett. 

After the Dead Pool, it was fair to say Satomi's pack had been through more than most. She wasn't ready to lose any of the Betas she had left, so Derek offered her a few lofts in his building so that they could always have a place to escape to when they weren't out in the woods of Beacon Hills. Lori and Brett now only lived a few floors below me, and I enjoyed their company often since I didn't mind having some familiar faces around.