Dreaming of Alten

Chapter 14. Real Life

I wake up. For a moment I wonder where I am, and then I realize I'm on my own bed, in my own room. I have no idea how I got here.

I sit up. I feel like I've just woken from a bad dream, but I can't remember if I was having a nightmare or not. My heart is racing and my breath is coming in small uncontrollable gasps. I feel terrified but I don't know why.

I see my phone lying on my bedside table and I reach for it to check the time. It's four in the afternoon. Why was I asleep? Why am I home?

As I stare down at the phone, wondering if the time display on it has been messed up or something, it starts to ring. Lily's calling me. I answer it.

"Hello?"

"Ash?" Lily sounds like she's been crying.

"Yeah. Are you okay? What happened?"

"Can I come over?"

"I—"

"I know you're sick and everything, and I'm really sorry, but I really need to talk to someone right now. Please!" There's a hiccupping sob at the end of the sentence.

"Are you okay?" I ask again. She sounds really upset.

"Please can I just come over?"

"Of course," I say. "But where are you? Do you need me to—"

She hangs up on me.

What just happened?

Lily has never, ever, in her entire life, hung up on me, not even when we've gotten into really bad fights. I don't think she's ever hung up on anyone. This has to be bad.

And what does she mean, she knows I'm sick?

I don't feel sick.

I sit there staring at my phone, and slowly I start to remember being at the beach with Alten, and Colin and his friends showing up, saying they'd killed Alten's friends. I remember blood on my arm, and later, blood on my shirt, and Alten trying to help me, and then Colin stabbing Alten.

What happened to Alten? Is he okay?

I reach for my phone to call him and realize that I don't have his number. I never thought to ask him for it. I never needed to call him. He was always there.

I look down at my arm where I got cut by Colin's knife. Everything looks fine. There's absolutely no sign at all that there was any sort of injury there at any time, not even a scar. I get out of bed and walk over to the full length mirror in front of my closet. There's no sign of any injury or past injury on my neck or chest or any other part of my body, either.

So what does it mean? Was it all just a dream?

I'm still thinking about it when the doorbell rings, not once, but three times in rapid succession, like someone's trying to break the bell. I run to the door and open it to find Lily standing outside.

Her face is a mess of tears and makeup. I can see traces of mascara on the back of her hands from maybe wiping the tears out of her eyes. There's makeup on her top as well, and her hair's sticking out wildly in all directions.

"Lily! What happened to you?" I'm amazed she was able to drive here like this. "Are you okay?" I put an arm around her and guide her into the house and onto the couch, where she sits sniffing into a piece of tissue that I hand her. "Lily! Talk to me! I can't help you if I don't know what's going on!"