A librarians knockout love

Chapter Six

I was surrounded by a sea of faces, all of them twisted into blank slates. They crowded around me, pushing and shoving me until I stumbled and fell to the ground. Their voices echoed in my head, drowning out all other sounds. I felt my heart rate skyrocket as they closed in on me, their laughter ringing in my ears. I felt like I was drowning, suffocating under the weight of their hatred. Why me. I could feel their hot breath on my face as they whispered cruel insults in my ear. they closed in on me, their hands grabbing at my clothes and pulling.

My surroundings faded into the dimly lit bathroom, the air thick with an eerie silence. Cruel.

A dark, ominous shadow looming in the corner of the room. It seemed to grow larger and more menacing with every passing second, stealing the oxygen from the room, imposing it's presence into every fiber of my being. My feet glue themselves against the title, back pressed against the stall door. I want to wake up. It's movements are slow and deliberate, I could make out the outlines of twisted, gnarled fingers reaching out towards me, going to grasp my face. I want to run away, I want to scream my frustrations.

Darkness. I was awake, My chest heaved as I tried to catch my breath, the sobs racking my body with every gasp. I could feel hot tears streaming down my face. I lay there in bed, my body wracked with sobs. I tried to take deep breaths and calm myself down, but the tears kept coming. It was like a dam had burst inside of me, and I couldn't stop the flood like a dark cloud hanging over me. I was furious, I was anger, I was terrified. I wanted to scream, I wanted to claw my eyes out, I wanted comfort.

My mind was still reeling from the nightmare, the images burned into my memory like a scar. I felt a sense of helplessness wash over me. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't escape my own mind, the memories that continued to plague me. I always woke up before the shadow reaches me, It's not real, I tell myself, just a bad dream, I tell myself, I'm lying, my subconscious shrieking in anguish.

The tears subsided and I lay there in the dark, my body still trembling with emotion. Shuddering at the memory, I realized that my nightmare had likely been triggered by the rowdy bar I had visited earlier that night. The loud music and drunken shouting must have stirred me up,, causing my mind to revisit terrifying scenarios.

I groggily opened my eyes to the sound of soft snores coming from the living room. Rubbing my eyes, I pushed myself up from my bed and padded over to the door, peeking out to see Cole sprawled out on the couch with a blanket pulled up to his chin.

I couldn't help but chuckle to myself at the sight. Cole had crashed on the couch after a night of drinking,

Shaking my head, I quietly made my way to the kitchen, starting a pot of coffee to help wake me up. As I waited for it to brew, my mind drifted to the events of the previous night.

I had gone out after Cole had mentioned something about getting a girl from the library. My heart sank at the thought that it could be Autumn so I quickly got dressed and headed to the bar, hoping to see Cole and confirm my fears were unfounded. My eyes frantically searched for Cole. And there he was, sitting at the bar with a girl next to him, clearly not Autumn. And then, my eyes landed on her.

My thoughts kept wandering to her. I couldn't shake the feeling that something was between us, and it was driving me crazy.

I picked up my phone and opened up the messaging app, quickly composed a text to Autumn, asking her if she was free to come to one of my matches later in the week.

"Hey Autumn, hope you're doing well. I have a match coming up later this week and I was wondering if you would like to come and watch? It would mean a lot to me if you could make it. Let me know what you think. -Eric"