Chapter 1
“Can I ask you something, Barbara?” asked Carter. We were standing in a white room, and it looked cold – but it seemed as if Carter kept everything warm. His beautiful brown eyes sparkled, and my heart leapt, but there was something in them. I couldn’t make of it yet. I was just so happy to see him again, to hug him again and know that he was near me and not anywhere else.
“Go on ahead, Carter,” I said as I smiled and buried my face into his chest. I loved his name, I loved when he said my name – I love absolutely everything about him. It was a beautiful bliss that I felt then and there, and I wanted nothing more.
“I want you to know that I love you, ok?” he asked as he stroked my long, blonde hair. “There’s nothing else in this world that made me happy but you. Please take care of yourself.”
I felt a sudden tug of sadness in my chest. I still felt his warmth, but it started to feel a little cold.
“What are you talking about, silly? And you’re grammatically incorrect; I ‘make’ you happy.” I giggled. I pressed my cheek against his chest, hearing and following the beat of his heart.
I felt Carter chuckle a little, but his face turned serious. A few seconds after I felt him pull away from my hug, and in an instant, I felt a cold, cold wind. I didn’t feel safe. I suddenly felt like wasn’t where I wanted to be.
I turned around and saw that the room turned into a dark gray shade. I shuddered and looked up at Carter’s face which turned from loving and compassionate to expressionless, almost sad. He looked down on me and kissed me on the forehead. “Promise me that you’ll take care of yourself. Promise me. Promise me that you’ll take care of yourself. Promise me.” He kept repeating this over and over again, and it scared me.
Suddenly, a bright white light flashed in the room. It hurt my eyes.
I heard Carter shout with fear as the flash lasted for a ten seconds. It was too bright to see, so I tightly closed my eyes and grabbed in front of me, searching for Carter. “Carter!” I screamed. “Carter, where’d you go? You left me! Please come back! Please, Carter, please!” I didn’t understand why I was so scared; I didn’t understand where all this fear came from, but I kept on screaming. I opened my eyes wide and I felt a sere of pain as I searched frantically for Carter in the bright light. No one was in front of me and I was alone. “Carter!”
Everything went pitch black after I screamed. It was comfort from the bright light, but the darkness bore so much pain.
“Barbara, wake up! Barbara!” Hands shook me awake as my eyes quickly opened.
“Carter!” I screamed. “Carter, don’t leave me!” My eyes darted around my surroundings to find myself in my bed, in my room, with my mom’s concerned face staring down at me.
“You’re dreaming again,” she said with a worried face. “Are you okay?”
I knew I wasn’t okay, but I had to lie to my mom – I bet I frightened her with my screams and woke her up from her sleep again. “Yeah mom, I’m fine. You should just go back to bed.” I felt a tingling in my throat, I was choking up again – I was going to break down again. “I’m fine, mom, really,” I said as I quickly brushed away a tear. “Thanks for worrying about me.”
Mom didn’t believe me, but she knew it was too early to persist on asking me what was wrong, what I dreamed about again. She stared at me, gave me a small smile and a quick hug, and kissed me on the forehead. Mom got up from my bed and walked out my room.
