Beware of the B

Chapter Seven

I couldn't bare to open my eyes. I knew what I would see. I knew this image all too well. It never leaves; it never goes away. I never forget.

I sat with my hand on my ears and my head between my knees. I rocked my body back and forth, telling myself this wasn't real.

'Wake up. Wake up. This isn't real. This isn't real.' I tried to tell myself but I couldn't seem to break away. I knew if I opened my eyes, I'd see that image that plagued my memories. The one that I could never get rid of.

"Open your eyes Riah, it's all okay," a soothing, familiar voice whispered to me. I knew this voice all too well, but at the same time it was hardly present. I loved this voice, wanted to hear more of it. I needed it.

Tears started running down my face as I continued to rock back and forth.

"No! No! This isn't real. Stop this."

"Open your eyes,dammit!" Another voice screamed growing impatient.

I jumped startled and my eyes flew opened. I stared ahead of me and I couldn't take my eyes off the scene. I tried to look away but I couldn't. I tried to move, to scream but nothing.

There was so much blood; so much. The bodies...the scene... everything was so familiar, so vivid. The tears started to blur my vision, it was getting harder for me to breathe. In a second, I passed out and everything went black.

I jumped up and gasped for air as I tried to adjust my eyes to the darkness. I tried to catch my breath, but it was almost impossible.

"One two three four five six seven eight nine ten,"I repeated over and over, "You're okay. You're okay."

As I was beginning to calm down, my door was opened and my sister rushed in. "Is everything okay?"

"Y-yes," my voice was so strained. Obviously, it wasn't okay. There I was sitting in bed, hardly breathing with tears running down my face. I was anything but okay.

She sighed, came over, and sat beside me on the bed. We sat there in silence for what seemed like forever until she finally spoke. "Sariah, this isn't healthy. You need to talk to someone about these nightmares."

"I'm fine," I whispered, looking down at my hands.

"How many times are you going to tell that lie," she asked impatiently.

"As many times as it takes for me to believe it."

"Sariah, you need-"

"Sade, I'm fine. You don't have to act like you care right now, I don't need it. Just go," I sighed, "Please."

She sighed, got up and slammed the door behind her to let it be known that she was not happy. I knew she was just trying to help me and care for me, but she was just doing it because she had to. It was her responsibility to care for me. I've been through too much of the fake nonsense and at this point, I was over it.

I knew there was no way I'd go back to sleep after that episode, so I picked up my phone from the bedside table and went straight to Netflix. I might as well continue binge watching my shows.

Today, unlike other days, I wasn't excited to go to lunch. I really didn't care what they were serving, I just wanted to go home. All I could think about was going to sleep, but I couldn't. For one, I was at school. Secondly, if I went to sleep I knew that I'd be sucked into another nightmare. I'll pass.

Honestly, today might just be one of the worse days I've had since the nightmares started. The thing is, I usually don't open my eyes during the whole ordeal. I don't even pay attention to the all too familiar voices. I could just coax myself to wake up, but now that I have seen the image, it now haunted my mind. I couldn't even focus on my class work because of it.