An Old Time Tale

Chapter 4

Haven jolts up as looks around taking in her surroundings. She was at the same lake as she was previously. Did she just dream all of that with Eli finding her? This time when she stands up she slowly walks up to the lake before her. As she inches forward she hears what sounds like a muffled melody. The closer she got the louder it grew...it was quite magical sounding. Her feet now placed in front of the shore of the mucky water she crouched down peering into the lake. Her face was now directly above the water as she examined with curiosity. "We in the depths of the darkest sea, want nothing more than you to come with thee. We mean you no harm with our beautiful Melodie's, come swim with us where you'll be free."
Something about this feels all too familiar with Haven. She slowly treads her way through the cold, muddy lake water. She's is waste deep when she feels something strange. When did she get here? Haven turns around to head back to the land. When all of sudden something grabs her ankle and pulls her under. She fights her way to the top, but the thing has ahold of her too tightly. Haven looks down trying to see what has her ankle in a grip. That's when she sees it..or her? It was a girl but not just a normal girl...she had a tail, like a fish. Her eyes were as dark as the night sky and her hands had very sharp nails or what appeared to look like claws. Haven screamed in fear, but it was no use as she was submerged in water and no one could hear her. She finally was able to kick the monster in the face and get to the surface taking in all the air that she could. She swam as fast as she could to the land finally reaching it. Panting from fear and lack of oxygen Haven looks down at her leg. It had a big gash from the fish girls claws and after that haven passed out.

Haven screams as she sits up from the couch. Eli hears her and immediately runs out of his room to go check on her. "Are you okay!? What happened?" The boy asks to the girl who was breathing heavily. She looks up at him and relief immediately washed over her. "Yeah..I think...it was just a nightmare.." She spoke softly slightly talking to herself too. She swings her legs to where her feet are now flat on the floor. Eli sits down beside her and is still looking at her with concerned still written on his face. "Are you sure you're okay?" He asked the question that Haven didn't actually know the answer too. Her gaze set on him as she sighed. Was she okay? She was more bothered by what that nightmare could mean. "Can I be a hundred percent honest with you?" The girl spoke making eye contact with the blue eyes she found strangely relaxing. "Yeah...I'm listening." He said sitting back on the couch settling into a more comfortable position. The girl let out a shaky breath as she also leaned back on to the couch. "My dream was sort of..well scary. It was almost too real feeling. I was at the same lake I woke up at but this time I was..I don't know like lured into the water. There was a girl or what looked like a girl but she was almost monster like. She had black eyes, sharp claws, and she was trying to pull me to the bottom of the lake. I was able to break free and return to the shore but when I looked at my leg I had claw marks. That's when I woke up.." She spoke with a nervous tone in her voice. Looking over at Eli he seemed anxious but also calm in a way. He was silent for a little while but then sat back up to speak. "I think it was just a really bad nightmare..you've been through so much in such a short amount of time...I'll ask Scott about it later though okay? For now we should try to get back to sleep." He said gently acting as if Haven was gonna break if he said anything else. She let out a breath she was holding and nodded. Eli went to get up to head back to his room when Haven gently grabbed his arm. He looked over at her with a slight confused look. "Um..do you think you can stay out here with me? I-If you're not comfortable with it then that's okay.." She stutter the words as she softly spoke them. He gave her a reassuring smile and grabbed her hand as he pulled her up from the couch. It was now her turn to be confused.
"Come on..you can sleep in my bed and I'll just sleep on the floor. So I'll still be in the same room as you..." He reasoned as he carefully pulled her along back to his bedroom. "Thank you.." She whispered to him and he just gently squeezed her hand tighter.