Bending The Rules

Chapter 11

CH 11

Christian POV

Another dream choked me awake.

I lay with Ana on a well-worn scotch plaid woolen blanket in the tall grass of some hillside. There was a gentle wind meandering through the reeds. The reeds bowed and swayed with the butterflies in their ritual dance. I heard the gurgling of the creek and the bellows of the frogs. I listened to grasshoppers chirping and bees buzzing. I smelled the richness of the soil and the unique scent of Ana. It was so real and I could not possibly dream of being anywhere else.

Ana rested on her elbows as her hair gently caressed her back. The sun shone through her hair and highlighted strands of fiery red. She laughed and said its time to eat.

I sit up and pull the basket up to open it. Inside are containers of chicken and cheese and fruit. I open the bottle of Merlot and pour into plastic wine glasses. I open the containers and dish out the food. I pass Ana her wine and she smiles as she takes her sip.

Ana's eyes rip wide and I see her cough up the red wine as it runs to her chin and drips angry droplets of blood. A torrent follows covering herself in a red sticky mess. Her beautiful skin is as pale as dishwater. The acrid air reeks of blood and rust and salt.

I throw her cup aside and hold her. I push bloody hair from her face and stroke her softly. Blood continues to force itself from her mouth. I am helpless and angry as she turns to ash and sand.

Cackling and hissing renders its dominance in the air. I look down at our plates. The raw chicken tears inside out and churns out blood and guts. The cheese is rapidly turning green and crumbles like it's on sped up film footage. The rotting grapes shrivel and spit out their spent seeds.

The traitorous wind claims Ana and gently carries her away...

X x X

I make it to school earlier than usual. I tap my fingers against the keyboard and stare at the screen. I have a few stacks of paper that could use grading but right now my pulse is racing and my mind is edgy in anticipation that Anastasia will walk through that door any minute.

I stare at my classroom door and listen for her voice that may come down the hall. I offered her the chance to come see me today and I've already made the promise to myself that it'll happen...

She'll come... she'll come, I know she will...

What am I thinking? I have my hopes so high that she'll come and I think about the other students who would jump at the chance to get one-on-one time with me. In my first few months of teaching I'd offered the help, but once I realized it was mostly girls who wanted nothing but to joke around and flirt I discontinued. I'm not blind to the way my female students act around me, but I've learned to ignore them.

My thoughts stray to back to Ana as I go and open the classroom door to my eagerly awaiting students.

Her soft giggles fill my thoughts and make my heart give a short thud. Her pink blushes make my head feel light. The way her blue eyes widened and popped out yesterday make me want to stare into them endlessly, but I'm not sure if it was sadness or fear in her blue eyes then.

I gave the students their course instructions and then went back to thinking about Anastasia. It was never intentional but something my brain chose to do on its own.

I can't help but wonder what she did after her date with Jack. Did she end up going to his house? Did her kiss her? Did she accept his kiss?

I dropped my head on the desk. I was tearing myself up like I was earlier this morning after that horrible nightmare. Just not knowing the answers to these straying thoughts was torturous.