Wilted

Chapter 1

I am again standing in front of the mirror in my bathroom. I am breathing heavily. I splash some cold water on my face and pull my snarled hair into a ponytail. I walk into the hall and sit in the kitchen. Out the window I watch the garden. It stopped getting tended to when my mother died. While watching I see something move past the garden in the forest. Not a bird or a deer, or even a squirrel. But a figure, a shadowy figure.

I am horrified to think it might be the woman from my dreams. But the same force that pulled me under the water in my dreams is acting now. In robotic like movements I put on my shoes and begin to walk outside. Towards the woods, and the shadowy figure.

When I come to the edge of the woods I see the woman waiting by the arbor to my mother's gravestone.

"We meet again." she says as she stands up and begins to move towards me. Then I begin to scream.

I open my eyes to find myself on the ground, shaking. I sit up quickly remembering what happened. The fast movements make my back ache. I twist my head around in all directions but don't see the woman. In pain I slowly stand up. I limp past the overgrown garden to the front door of our dilapidated house. We only receive one check a month because of my mother's death. My brother keeps all the money we have in a bank account which I can't access. All I know is that our mother left us nothing. My brother blames me for her passing. I feel guilt wash over me like rain every time I see that check in the mail. Sometimes I think that maybe it was my fault.

I open the front door and pull off my wet shoes. It rained that night and I am muddy from falling on the ground. I shuffle upstairs and close my bedroom door. My ratty t-shirt clings to my skin. I pull it off over my head and throw it onto the floor. I look in the mirror at my plain black sports bra and my skin pulled taut against my ribs. I turn away from the reflection, remembering the beautiful girl I used to be. I step out of my soggy jeans and put on a pair of running shorts. I put on a clean t-shirt and pull my hair out of the messy ponytail it is in. I pick up the brush from my dresser and pull it through the snarls. I place the brush back on the dresser and walk towards the hallway. I tiptoe to my brother Jason's room. I lightly knock on the door and I hear a muffled noise. I walk inside to find Jason at his desk. He looks up from his book and asks, "What do you need Anna?"

"Um. Uh. I have been having. Um. Strange. Dreams." I said each word slowly, scared to admit it.

"Can you describe one of them?" he said, a tone in his voice questioning everything I said.

"It might take a while." I said. He nodded and gestured for me to sit in his bed. I took a deep breath and began to relive my worst nightmares.