Loud and Clear

5.

Ryker's POV

I woke up to the sound of my phone consistently buzzing. It was only about four in the afternoon, but I could tell Darcy was exhausted, and I was too after I stayed up all night worrying about her. I didn't feel like whoever was ringing my phone was privileged enough to have me actually answer it, so I continued to ignore it. I stayed in bed for a while longer, making sure Darcy wouldn't have another one of her nightmares. I hated it when she had them; I hated being rendered helpless.

There were subtle signs to when she was in the beginning stages of having a nightmare, signs I had learned to take notice to over the past years. Her breathing would shallow, her feet would rub together, her forehead would perspire, her lip would tremble. Sometimes it would only be a few of the signs, others all of them. After I was sure she was okay, I climbed out of the bed and grabbed my phone on my way out of the room.

When I checked my phone I noticed the multiple missed calls from Dean. I chose to ignore them for now. Instead I went downstairs where a worried looking Uncle Lou was pacing back and forth. He was pacing back and forth saying things to someone I couldn't quite see.

"Uncle Lou, are you okay?" I asked from my spot on the middle of the stairs. His head snapped up to mine and relief spread through his eyes.

"How is your sister?" Was the first question he asked. "Dean said she drove home drunk and distressed." I internally cringed at the thought; it had completely slipped my mind that Darcy drove home. The smell of alcohol was all over her, but it didn't even strike me as a problem.

"She's fine. She's sleeping right now," I told him while descending the rest of the stairs and facing Dean himself. He was sitting on one of the couches with the most painful look on his face. His eyes looked everywhere but at me and his foot constantly tapped.

"I made an appointment for her. To see someone," Uncle Lou mumbled like I was the adult and he was the child. He seemed to recoil when I snapped my eyes at him. "It's tomorrow, after her dance class." I nodded my head, but my thoughts were on Dean. He had something to do with the way Darcy was when she got home. He had something to do with the reason she didn't come home last night.

"Dean, I need to talk to you." He stood up and followed me like an obedient child. I walked outside and sat down by the pool Uncle Lou had build in years ago.

Darcy's POV

It was different this time. Something was different. I couldn't tell what made this dream feel different than all the other ones, but it was. I was walking along the side walk in a yellow sundress. I didn't have any shoes on, my bare feet slapping against the dry concrete. It was a beautiful sunny day in London, which explained the sunhat adorning my head. It was quiet, unusually quiet. A person here and there on the streets, but not how it should be. People should be crowding the streets and pushing into one another in a desperate walk to their destination. Tourists should be taking pictures of the buses and the smelly telephone booths. There should be cars honking at nothing, but there wasn't. There were no tourists or business men. There were no buses to have a picture of or cars honking. Only empty buildings and an overly bright sun.  

I looked to my left and right in hopes of seeing my mum and dad, but they were nowhere to be found. That's what was different. The center of all my nightmares wasn't here. I kept walking along the sidewalk, just looking for anything. I had this feeling in the pit of my gut that screamed something was wrong as I approached a building. It was dark and rundown. The windows were barred up and the door boarded. The gut feeling told me not to go in, but something was pulling me towards it.