She Lives in a Fairytale
Chapter 2
My head was spinning. I wasn't thinking straight, but then again I was. At the moment I just wanted to be left alone with no interruptions, no distractions, and no annoyances. I couldn't stop thinking of Josh, the boy from the dream. The sickly girl haunted me as well. She was as close to lifeless as you could get without actually dying. You could tell that Josh loves her, without a doubt. She's obviously had a rough life. She needs someone and now she has him. Why won't she wake up?
I decided to drift for a while. Thinking of reality would not be allowed. I would dream of either nothing or something totally unreal and impossible.
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My dreams led me to the castle where I currently reside. It was close to reality but anything could happen in a dream.
"Hayley, I love you. You are my life. When I found out about your condition I was crushed but I knew there was still hope. I stayed by your side the entire time praying that you would come through okay in the end. And look at us now." The voice came from the sky and as it finished the small speech the castle disappeared. It was replaced with ghastly images. A girl being beaten by a middle aged man with a beer bottle and his fists. He repeatedly struck her and she cried out in pain. She finally managed to crawl away. The man was too drunk to find her again so he gave up and collapsed.
You could tell that she felt great resentment but he had beaten her so thoroughly that she could not move without grimacing or whimpering. The picture morphed once again showing the girl and Josh as I had seen them before. He was crying beside her unmoving body. All emotion was pouring from him uncontrollably. "If you don't make it through I am going to think about you every day for the rest of my life and wonder, what if? What if I had the courage to tell you before that I loved you? What if I would have been with you, even if we were just friends? I could have protected you. But I was too afraid to talk to you anymore than usual and this is the result. I could have prevented this."
I was then transported to what Josh imagined and mentioned to the girl and what might have happened. I saw him taking blows and yelling at the girl to run as far as she could. "I'll find you soon!" He yelled. She ran out the door, hard and fast. Josh didn't dodge the man quickly enough and was caught on the temple with the bottle. He crumpled to the floor in agonizing pain and died almost immediately. I was only an invisible presence but I was crying my heart out. I didn't know Josh outside of these dreams and visions but I had come to love him in a way.
Josh's killer went to the porch and screamed after the girl. "Your next, Princess." He sneered. She was far enough that he couldn't catch her in his state but close enough that she heard his threat. She caught the underlying meaning. "Josh!" she sobbed as she ran. I was frozen when I heard a voice similar to my own. I finally brushed it off and to the back of my mind so that I could continue to observe. His death obviously affected her deeply. Once she felt she was a safe distance away, she collapsed on the ground sobbing. "My own father killed the only person I was close to anymore. The only one I felt I could trust." She continued sobbing.
I was once again traveling to a different scene.
"Family and friends, it grieves me that we are here to say goodbye to a truly exemplary young man. A hero, if you would." The preacher continued on in that manner and finally asked if anyone had any last words. No one spoke up. I saw her again. Josh's first and only love, the one he died trying to save and protect. Her tears were silent as she sat in silence.
On their way out everyone placed a rose on Josh's final resting place. She was the last to stand and leave. Instead of a rose she placed a tiny cross along with a Valentine's card that said 'With love, your secret admirer.' She had obviously figured out that it was from him. He loved her and after he died she knew she loved him too.
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I awoke sobbing into my hands. When I saw Josh die, when he was murdered it even affected me. I knew it was a view of what would have happened but it still caused me great trouble. I just dug the hole even deeper. I was now more involved than ever in this mystery. The more involved I got in digging this new hole, the more I was burying my current life. Is this why my life is going down hill?
