Bittersweet

Bittersweet: Chapter Thirty-Eight

THIS BOOK IS CURRENTLY BEING REWRITTEN AND HEAVILY EDITED. NAMES, PLACES, AND SOME SCENES WILL BE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. SOME STUFF WILL BE TAKEN OUT AND SOME WILL BE ADDED.

THE INITIAL PLOT STAYS THE SAME.

So, if you begin reading as of 5/21/2021 and choose to read ahead further than I have updated-some things might be confusing or might not make sense. As of right now and will continue, slowly, adding the new chapters as I write them. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT has been rewritten & updated.

**IF A CHAPTER HAS BEEN REWRITTEN/EDITED THE ^^ABOVE^^ NOTE WILL BE AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CHAPTER.

Also- please be aware that with this new version, I will not be posting mature chapters separately. Mature scenes will be added to this book. If you are not comfortable with sexual content and adult language please do not proceed forward. Thanks :)

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Eliza

          The steady beeping of my alarm clock is enough to pull me from a deep sleep. Although it's relentless and irritating, I'd take it over the monster that had been weaving my dreams into a nightmare that has been running on repeat. It feels like I've been stuck in this particular nightmare for days, unable to pull myself fully out of it.

          It always starts out the same. I'm running through the darkness, trying to keep my feet steady and quick. Knowing that if I slip up just for a moment, we're done. He'll catch me-us. At first, I'm never sure who he is and most of the nightmare, except the bone-chilling parts that are undeniable, are a confusing blur. I don't know who is chasing me. I don't know why he's chasing me. But I can feel his wrath- his deranged need to deliver the worst kind of pain imaginable.

          I try to fight, but it seems that it's never quite enough. And it never fails, the moment I lose that fight inside of me, he shows just a sliver of his face.

          Tucker.

          And then, I'm nothing but a victim to his hot break on the back of my neck and his large hands that palm me in places that are unwelcome. I hear fabric tearing and feel warm tears leaking out of my eyes as his hands wrap around the delicate column of my throat. At that same moment-the moment I have nothing left to give-it all ends with a single high-pitched blast that is deafening. I cower, squeeze my eyes shut, cover my ears, and wait until it starts all over again because it never seems to go further than that.

          At least, not usually. Except this time. This time was different.

          With that one single blast, all the little missing pieces fall into place. I see it clearly as Tucker succeeds in taking his revenge on me. I only thought the repetitive nightmare was bad. No, this was much worse.

          This time, I watched my downfall frame by frame. All the fuzz is filled in. I feel the residual pain that comes in the form of a steel-toed boot to the belly multiple times. I feel the warm gush of blood between my legs and then on my hands as I frantically try to wipe it away. I feel the intense fear that he'd somehow get ahold of Lenora for shooting him with that gun. I feel Lenora's hysterics deep, deep in my aching bones.

Then, I hear myself telling her to run but then feel the panic of being left behind set in as she does exactly what I tell her to.

I want to go with her.

          But I can't. I can't go with her because I can't move.

          The terror doesn't stop until the very end-until I take that pistol in my hands and ultimately finish what she started. And then a different type of horror sets in. I'd...I'd shot a man. Multiple times. Jesus. What kind of nightmare is this? Of course, I'd had to live through every single second of it before the incessant beeping of my alarm clock began to pull me out. Thank God.