Melanie Parks had it all. An amazing childhood best friend Lauren Porter, they're attending one of the best colleges in the country together, a great family, and a longtime boyfriend, Jamie Sanders, she loves and who loves her back.
Or so she thoug...
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Hands hold me down, pinning me to my bed as he tells me off.
"You embarrassed me tonight."
"I can't believe you said that in front of my dad."
"Do you know how bad you made me look?"
"Were you trying to piss me off?"
One hand sneaks up the skirt of my dress and he yanks my underwear down, ignoring my pleas and choked sobs of apology.
"You made a mistake and now you have to make it up to me."
He slips his hand free from my dress, dragging the lace off my legs. I watch with tears in my eyes, powerless to do anything else, as he unbuttons his pants and spreads my thighs. His face darkens before he slams himself forward, forcing the tears to spill down my cheeks.
I bolt up, gasping while my sweat coated body trembles with the aftershock of one of the few recurring nightmares I've had since I've been back in the apartment.
The body next to me shifts and I try to slow my breathing so I don't wake them up.
"Mel-Mel?" Lauren murmurs.
Shit.
"Sorry," I mumble.
"Another one?" she asks, pushing herself up beside me.
I've been sleeping in her room in hopes that not being in my own would keep the nightmares at bay, but so far it hasn't helped.
"Yeah."
"I'm sorry."
"Not your fault," I tell her. "Sorry for waking you," I add now that my body has finally calmed down and I'm feeling somewhat better.
The nightmares have been rough, the first one was a night terror since I was basically reliving the night things finally fell apart for Jamie and I. I woke with a shriek, my bed torn apart from my thrashing during the near panic attack inducing dream, which in turn woke up Lauren. She crawled into my bed to soothe me, wrapping me in her arms to help me fall back to sleep. Bad dreams had became a nightly occurrence since. Surprisingly I didn't have one on Wednesday with the run-in with Jamie after class.
I'd like to think it's because Spencer has become a source of comfort for me, but I don't know if that's a coincidence or not because the nightmares have come back since then.
"It's okay," she says, stretching her arms above her head and letting out a sigh before settling back in her bed. "Want to talk about it?"
I close my eyes and shake my head. I haven't been able to tell her what happens in my bad dreams, too worried that they'll bring on another panic attack.
