Through the Fire and Flames [Book One]

5-Nightmares

It had only been a couple of months since it happened; eight months to be exact. It sounded like a long time, but it wasn't enough time to get over it. Maybe that was why I still had nightmares about the incident. My dreams were so vivid they seemed real. Every night I had horrible nightmares, mostly of men all dressed in black grabbing me and carrying me away, doing things to me that no high school girl should have ever had to dream of. Worst of all, they felt so real, and left me with no way to cope except to fight sleep until the physical exhaustion forced my body to shut itself down and sleep anyway. The dream I had the night before was possibly the worst I have had since the actual event.

~I was walking through the woods dressed in jeans with a cream colored cardigan. The beautiful trees, and ground were covered with a fresh blanket of glittering snow. The birds were singing a beautiful winter song as I walked alone through the quiet, seemingly empty woods. I was walking to no certain destination.

I walked into a big open field and saw a man standing there, dressed in all black with his hood pulled down over his eyes. He was just standing still, staring at me. I turned around to go the other way, and another man stepped in my path, he too was dressed in all black. He was standing against a tree, staring at me through his thick, shaggy hair. A slim smile crept onto his face as I looked at him. I turned to take another direction to avoid whatever was about to happen. As I started to walk away from the other two men, a third man dressed all in black also, stepped into my desired path. He had his arms crossed in front of him, his feet set shoulder width apart. I turned away from all three of them, my heart started to pound against my rib cage in danger.

I started to sprint away from them in the only direction I had left to go. The two guys standing on the left and right of me sprinted in my direction, and grabbed my arms. I thrashed and kicked around, desperately trying to get out of their grasp. The two men in black drug me back to the open field where the third man stood waiting, the man who ruined my life. They pulled my cardigan off, and tied my arms behind a tree. Aj smiled wickedly, and nodded to the other men. The man to my left held my thrashing legs as I tried to kick him away from me while the other two men got themselves ready to 'have their fun'-~

"STOP!" I screamed over and over in my head, and pushed the thought to the back of my mind. "Do. Not. Think. About. It." I whispered to myself. I squeezed my eyes shut, and tried my hardest to keep the thought out of my mind, and to keep the tears from falling, but the dream seeped out of its locked box. It was the only nightmare I've had that hasn't actually happened.

~The two men got their 'turns', then Aj took his. He took his time. Making sure he didn't miss a step. They untied me, and took me to a cave and continued. When they decided they were done, the left me lie there, cold, naked, terrified and alone in the cave. ~

I snapped my eyes open, and tried to hide my shaking hands. I took a deep, shaky breath and wiped my sweaty palms on my pants over and over again. I continued to take deep breaths, and closed my eyes again in a desperate attempt to calm myself down. "Breathe Zara, just breathe. Take deep breaths," I whispered to myself.

Bella looked over at me, and touched my arm. "Zara, you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," I lied quietly. I looked at the clock. We had a minute left of the class, then I would be in Nick's strong arms. Maybe I wouldn't think about it then. I continued to take deep breaths. I could see Bella's eyes darting to me every time I moved. I closed my eyes, and breathed deeply.

The bell rang, and I got up and put my book bag on. I walked down to the cafeteria, and saw Nick. "Hey baby," he said, taking my book bag off my shoulders. I didn't say anything back, I couldn't say anything. I couldn't breathe. I was shaking, and he noticed. I let him lead me to the back of the cafeteria. We sat there at our table, and he wrapped his arms around me. I laid my head on his shoulder, and closed my eyes, desperately trying to get the images out of my head. "Zara, love, please tell me what's wrong," he said worriedly. He entangled his hands in my hair, and gently kissed my head. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't answer, and I just laid there; not breathing, shaking, and terrified.

☆For all of the new readers, rereaders, and other readers of this book, how are you liking it so far? Please comment and look for new chapters! The book is actually complete, but I am completely editing it so please be looking for new chapters! Thanks to all you readers out there that made the original book such a hit, I never thought I'd get so many reads!☆
☆☆ How do you feel about the characters, and about what do you think happened to Zara? How do you feel Nick is doing at mending her pain?☆☆