Billy Hargrove // DNA

Chapter Thirteen

I dreamed that I was standing in a dark alley. At my left I saw that the end was closed off by an iron gate. I looked at my right and saw that the other end wasn't blocked by anything. I carefully stepped over garbage lying on the floor and traced my fingers over the concrete walls. When I reached the end, I suddenly saw a big man standing in front of me. I looked up at him with fear. His face was unrecognizable. I took a step back while the man grabbed me.

"What the hell is going on?" Amelia was rudely awakened by her bedroom door being slammed open. Terrified she jumped up-right in her bed. She saw Benjamin standing in her door way, only wearing a boxer short and holding a baseball bat in his hand. He looked around Amelia's room in confusion and turned on the light. "What are you doing?" She asked. Benjamin walked over to her window and checked to see if anyone was hiding in the garden. "You were screaming, I thought there was an intruder." Suddenly Benjamin noticed he was still holding his baseball bat in a defense position. He lowered it and sat down on her bed. "Are you okay? Did you have a nightmare?" He asked. Amelia rubbed her eyes. "Yeah, I guess so. Sorry I woke you up." Benjamin shrugged. "God, I'm just happy I didn't had to bash in someone's head." Benjamin examined her face. "You wanna talk about it?" He asked. "I don't really remember it." That was a lie. "If you need something, let me know." With that Benjamin got up and left her bedroom. 

Amelia had been dreaming about the man again. When she was nearly fifteen years old, she and her family had gone to a restaurant. Her stepfather had been consuming alcohol for hours and as they were walking across the parking lot, John had began threatening her so she became frightened and ran away. 

Amelia had kept running until she could no longer breath, not paying any attention to her surroundings as she ran. After she had her breathing back under control she looked up and noticed she was standing in the middle of a dark alley. She didn't remember which direction she had came from so decided to go the the right. When she left the alley, she bumped into a tall man. She wanted to apologize and walk away, but the man grabbed her and dragged her into the bushes.

Amelia has never mentioned this to anyone. She thought no one would believe her. She was also too afraid to go to the police for fear of the man's revenge.

Amelia snapped back into reality. She looked at the clock. 4:27. She climbed out of her bed because she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep. She decided to distract herself by reading a book but failed. Her thoughts went back to last night, when Billy was standing in her room. Billy had reminded her of the man. She knew he would never hurt her in that way but she didn't want any man touching her like that again. 

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It was time for Amelia to start her daily morning ritual. She decided on a black t-shirt with a flannel shirt that had once belonged to Benjamin, combined with jeans and white sneakers. She plastered a lot of makeup on her face to hide her dark circles under her eyes. 

After getting Cora ready for the day, they headed downstairs for breakfast. Amelia didn't feel hungry so she just drank some water. "Are you okay, sweetie?" Her mom asked with a worried look on her face. "Benjamin said that you had a nightmare in the middle of the night." Amelia shrugged. "I'm okay." Her mom wanted to say something else but Amelia quickly went upstairs to brush her teeth, not wanting to explain what truly had happened. 

A few minutes later Benjamin and Amelia were on their way to school. "Were you able to get some sleep?" Benjamin asked. "Yeah." Another lie. Amelia played with her fingers while listening to the radio. "Do you get nightmares often?" His soft voice made her feel calm. "Nah." Another lie. Benjamin sensed that she didn't want to talk so he kept quiet. 

When they arrived at school, Benjamin squeezed her hand before saying goodbye. Amelia looked at the parking space that was unofficially reserved for Billy but didn't see his car. A little disappointed she walked to her friends. "Hey guys." She tried to sound as cheerful as possible.