Meori Apeuda

Chapter 6

Darkness.

Impenetrable Darkness surrounded me. But still I felt that I wasn't alone. There was something. Something dangerous, at the edge of my vision, waiting for me to turn my back towards it, so it could attack.

I turned in circles, breathing heavily, searching for a way to escape. My heart was racing and it felt as if I had something stuck in my throat, making it harder to breathe.

There! A light! It looked like a single street lamp, throwing its light on a human figure below it. I saw dark hair, broad shoulders and light skin. I narrowed my eyes, trying to detect who it was.

Something growled behind me, sounding like a hungry animal, catching up to its prey. I whirled around and stared into the pitch black darkness behind me. Shadows moved and slowly formed a shape, a body, a face that I knew all too well. A whimper escaped me and I started tumbling backwards, trying to get away from him.

He watched my escape attempts with a grim smile and chuckled darkly. "Bad puppy. Where do you think you're going?" he growled and walked towards me. I screamed, struggled to get on my feet and started to run towards the light and the person standing below it.

"Help! Please, help me!" I cried, my feet dragging across the floor as if I was walking through quicksand, slowly sinking deeper. I heard his footsteps behind me, coming closer and closer.

He would catch up with me soon, that was obvious. I screamed in fear, struggled harder, trying to escape from him. I had sworn to myself that he would never lay his hands on me again. Never again. Tears chased down my face and I sobbed.

I shot up, startled. My throat felt raw, I probably had screamed in my sleep, my face was damp from my tears and my heart raced. I buried my face in my hands and cried. I was so damn sick of these flashbacks, of these nightmares.

When would they finally stop? There had hardly been a night in the last two years, where I hadn't had a nightmare. As a result I had tried to sleep as little as possible, but it didn't stop the nightmares at all.

Suddenly I noticed that my phone was buzzing. I grabbed it and saw an unsaved number on it. Racking my brain, who it might be, I stared at it for a second, before the memories of last night came back. Hurriedly I picked up. "Hello?" I croaked, my voice still thick with tears.

"Good morning. Are you okay?" Chan's voice sounded worried immediately and I cursed myself for picking up in this state. He was just too attentive. "Yeah, yeah, everything's okay, I'm just a little freaked because I just had a stupid nightmare, that's all..." I quickly tried to assure him, rubbing my eyes with the palm of my hand.

"Aaah, that's bull, I know that feeling." He sounded so compassionate and understanding, I almost felt bad for not telling him the whole story. But he mustn't know. Nobody ever should...

"So, I assume you're not quite ready yet?" he asked and I quickly checked the time: it was 9 am. "Fuck!" I cursed, causing Chan to laugh. "Ey, what's that language Missy? Behave yourself!" I rolled my eyes while I shot up to run into the bathroom. "Yes Daddy" I grumbled sarcastically.

It seemed to catch him off guard and I giggled. "Give me five minutes okay? Are you already downstairs?" - "Yes Ma'am, your chariot is right in front of the house." I snorted and with a short "Ok, see you soon" I hung up and grabbed my hairbrush.

I yanked the hair brush through my dark hair, then snatched my toothbrush. Simultaneously brushing my teeth I ran through my room to my suitcase and grabbed fresh underwear, another Tanktop and Jeans. That moment I became aware that I was still wearing Chan's Hoodie and I stopped for a second to grab the collar and smelled it. It still smelled like him.