All I see are shadows. Trees. The world swimming around me. All the while, I call out for Maeve. But she never comes. I can't find her. Why can't I find her?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Since homecoming night senior year, Aisling Turner has lived in a hell of he...
Trees wave and surge around me in time with the churning ground.
I grip the trunk closest to me like it was a lifesaver, my stomach somersaulting in every direction. Why won't the world stop spinning for just a minute?
Where is Maeve?
"M... Maeve," I call out weakly, trying to look through the trees and the dark.
I can't make out much. Just branches. Trunks. Dark swaths of color pulsing and swirling. Pulling in a deep breath, I launch myself forward, stumbling over the rough ground until I get to the next tree, wrapping my arms around it as well.
"What did you do?!"
My head whips up—at least I thought it did, but my head is swimming so much that I'm not sure. Blinking a few times, my eyes finally adjust until I see two figures through the trees.
I can make out glittering. Red.
Maeve.
Thank God. I found her.
I reach out, opening my mouth to call out, but my stomach turns, so instead, I grip the trunk again, screwing my eyes shut as I try to keep from throwing up or passing out.
"What did you do?!"
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I shot up in bed, gasping for air as my heart pounded, and I swore I could hear blood rushing through my head. Leaning over, I ran my hands over my sweaty face into my hair, closing my eyes as I tried to calm down. I went through my breathing exercises, trying not to think about the nightmare until I was breathing regularly again.
Once I felt mostly normal, I looked around my darkened room. I couldn't tell what time it was, but it was definitely late. I had been up until at least 11 p.m. reading my old books. It wasn't like there was anything else to occupy my time, with Dad insisting I didn't need to help out today.
It felt weird. In Miami, I had my online class assignments to occupy my time. Or my part-time job at a nearby indie bookstore, which only fed my reading obsession. But classes were over for the semester, and Dad and I hadn't discussed jobs yet. He'd probably tell me I didn't need to work if I didn't want to, but I wasn't about to be dead weight.
I then thought about the dream. In all the years I had nightmares about that night, I never found Maeve. Which made sense, considering she had just vanished. I never found her back then. At least, I didn't think I had.
Did this mean anything? Or maybe it was more of my mind filling in holes that couldn't be filled? Maybe coming home and wanting to know what had happened to my best friend had manifested into this dream.
Sighing, I tossed my comforter off and got out of bed. I wasn't likely to get any more sleep, but I'd still try again after I got some water.
The rest of the house was dark and quiet as I carefully went downstairs to the kitchen. Flipping the light on, I padded over to the fridge and pulled it open, going for a bottle of water from the pack Dad had bought that day. I could almost hear my grandmother wailing about wasting money on bottled water when the well water from the tap was perfectly fine. I supposed she had a point, but we still bought bottled anyway.
