Previous to Ever After

Ten

I was running. Hard.

I was in the hallway in my castle. There was a bottle in my hand. It was full of sizzling, yellow liquid. I squinted at it as I turned to look down the hall, towards my father's chamber.

I could see him lying in his bed. My mother draped over him, sobbing.

There was a grandfather clock standing next to them. Its big hand was almost on the twelve.

It started to chime, the loud, pounding sound shook the castle, causing me to fall onto the floor.

"No!" I yelled as I stood up and kept running, but the hallway continued to get longer and longer and my legs grew weaker and weaker. The edges of my vision started to blur.

"She's not coming!" I heard mother scream between sobs. The brokenness of her voice shattered my heart. "She's too late!"

"No! Mother I'm here! I made it!" I yelled as I tried to run harder, but it felt as if I had rocks tied to my ankles.

Ten chimes rang in my ear.

"No!" I screamed. "Daddy!"

I haven't called him that since I was young.

Eleven chimes.

"No! Please, wait! I'm almost there!"

Then, twelve pulverizing chimes rang, and my mother's excruciating sobs filled my ears.

"No!"

I woke up, screaming.

William jumped and pulled Wesley to a stop, who also looked startled. I must have dozed off while we were riding away from Grammy's cottage. William lifted himself up and turned on Wesley's saddle to face me.

I felt myself shaking, my mind still trapped in my nightmare. My breaths were short and uneven and my eyes started to fill with tears.

"Genevieve," William said holding his hands up to cradle my face. "Genevieve, what's wrong, what's the matter?"

"I–I was too late. We didn't–we didn't m–make it." I said, starting to cry. Oh my goodness, it felt so real.

"Hey, hey, you were dreaming, okay? Clam down, please, it was just a dream," William said, trying to meet my eyes. But I was shaking my head, looking everywhere but at him.

"No, no, it wasn't, we were too late, he was gone, and we didn't make it. We didn't make it." My heartbeat was quick, and I saw the edges of my vision start to fade to black.

"Genevieve." William suddenly moved my head up, shocking me into looking straight into his eyes. I stopped stammering and shut my mouth tightly. "It was just a dream," he whispered. His breath smelled like strawberries and cinnamon and I realized how close our mouths were. I felt his fingers on my cheeks, his thumb brushing over my jaw, somehow calming me down.

"But what if it comes true, what if we're too late, and what if–" My breathing grew fast again.

"Hey, hey." I looked back into his beautiful, caramel eyes, completely memorized. "Just focus on me, okay? Don't think about the dream, focus on me, can you do that?" All I could do was nod. "Okay, good. Just breathe, please, calm down."

I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing. I felt the speed of my heartbeat slow down. I opened my eyes again.

"Okay," I whispered. "I'm okay now, I'm alright."

"Are you sure?" he asked. I could hear the worry in his voice.

"Yes, I am, really," I said as I looked up at him. He was staring at me so intently, his brown eyebrows furrowed together. I couldn't help but thinking that it was the cutest thing I've ever seen. Lawrence didn't look that cute when he was worried about me. Granted, he was very rarely worried about me.