Team Sparia

Chapter 22 - "Stay away from me."

Spencer's POV
Where am I? It's so dark and it's cold -this definitely isn't my living room. I try to steady my breathing, which, while I do so, my eyes begin to adjust to the darkness. I'm standing in an alleyway dressed in pyjamas and it's pouring it down with rain. That explains the cold. I begin to walk forward wanting to get out of wherever I am. "Where are you going?" A menacing voice calls. Its low and I can tell it belongs to man. I spin on my heel to face whoever it is and freeze as soon as I see him. It's a man, dressed in a black hoodie but he has no face, almost a little too much like A. This can't be happening, A is gone. He takes a step forward and it echoes through the hollow alleyway. My breathing escalates and my heart rate starts to rise. "Stay away from me." I say trying to sound confident but failing miserably. It was like a whimper more than anything. The man doesn't reply but rather carries on walking towards the spot that I'm frozen on. He's holding something, what is that? The object in his hand catches the light and I suck in a sharp breath. He's got a knife. "N-no, no please." I beg losing what little strength I had. "Please don't." My voice was laced with fear and I could hear my heart beat pounding in my ears.
"Hold still Spencer." The voice sounded evil. I look to the left and see my reflection in a window, I'm a deathly pale colour and my brown eyes are wide with fear. I turn back towards where the man had been standing and gasp when I see he's standing directly in front of me. He grabs my neck and I squirm under his grasp trying to get away. "Stop!" I whimper. The man raises his hand and as he does I let out a scream. It echoes off the walls of the alleyway and it's so loud it's almost deafening. It doesn't seem to faze the man though and he plunges the knife towards me without hesitation.

I bolt upright my heart racing in my chest. I was drenched from a cold sweat and I felt like the walls were closing in. "Spencer?" A soft tired voice asks beside me. I pull my knees to my chest trying to regulate my breathing. I'm okay, I'm okay. I repeat in my head trying to calm down but it's not working. I look at my hands which are trembling. "Spencer!" I hear her voice again and I burry my head in my knees. I feel someone's hand on my back and I jump up in fright. "It's okay, it was just a dream." I look at Aria who is sitting on the floor. I felt sick to my stomach and I realise that my wound was throbbing as if I had been stabbed again. "I think you're having a panic attack." I can't breath or really process Aria's words. She slowly stands up and starts to show me how to breathe. "Just do what I'm doing Spence." She takes a deep breath in through her nose and slowly breathes out through her mouth. I follow her example taking deep breaths in and slowly breathing out again.

Eventually, my breathing was back to normal but my heart was still beating irregularly. I sit down suddenly feeling exhausted and see not only Aria's concerned face but also the faces of Hanna and Emily. Crap, I forgot they were here. "Are you okay?" Aria asks sitting beside me.
"Yeah, it was just a bad dream." I say dismissively not wanting to admit what the dream was about.
"Do you want to talk about it?" She questions raising an eyebrow. I shake my head and take a glass of water that Emily was handing me.
"Thanks." I mutter.
"You freaked me out." Hanna says startling me. I still felt a little shaken and the looks of concern I was getting wasn't helping.
"I'm fine now guys I promise. It was just a dream." I say my voice a little hoarse. I take a sip of the water trying to loosen my vocal chords a little.
"What the hell did you dream about?" Hanna asks bluntly. I wince at the memory of the dream and try to push down the feeling of nausea I got from it.
"Can we drop it please?" I ask my hand involuntarily holding my scar. It really felt like it was bleeding but if I checked it here then the girls would know what my dream was about.
"Spencer you're bleeding." Emily's eyebrows are knitted together in confusion and worry. I pull my fingers away from me and see that I had a blood stain on my t-shirt, where I had put it on my wound from holding it and my hand had a light red covering it.
"Crap." I mutter standing up abruptly.
"Let me see." Aria stands up just as quickly and I try to protest but she shuts me up with a look. "Just let me look." She slowly rolls my t-shirt up like she had last night until she reaches the source of the bleeding. "I think you reopened your wound a little." Aria whispers as her finger graces the area where I was stabbed. I flinch when I feel her touch it, a sharp pain exploding in my abdomen.
"I'm fine just get some steristrips and some painkillers." I pull my t-shirt down feeling a little exposed.
"Maybe we should talk to a doctor." Aria says her voice full of worry and concern.
"I probably just opened it when I had my dream." I wasn't one to beg but I really didn't feel like visiting the doctor. "I'll be fine just get me some steristrips and I'll put them over it to help." I try to plead with Aria through my eyes and watch with relief when she sighs.
"Fine, but we have to talk about this," Aria pauses glancing at our friends for a moment before lowering her voice. "later." I nod my head realising that she really wasn't going to let this go.