Dear Payton,

Chapter 7

Dear Payton,
November 16th, 2014.
You asked me to marry you today. I hope you never regret it. I'm so excited to start our lives together. We're moving to Chicago in less then 20 days and now we're engaged! Who knew my next letter to you would be full of excitement and surprises. Everyday holds another surprise and everyday my life changes. No matter what happens though, each day is another step taken in this beautiful journey I am blessed to be having with you. I am so happy to call you mine, my princess, my baby-girl, and soon to be my wife. I wonder how long you've been planning this. The years leading up to this, marriage with you was only a dream of mine, an imagination, and another crazy thought that I believed would never come true. Cause in my eyes, I'm too much to put up with for so long. But now, here I am. With a wedding ring on my left hand and writing you this with my right. I love you Payton Marie Smith.
Sincerely Yours, Sam Smith.

It's 11:53p.m, I woke up to the sound of glass breaking. I sat up in the bed and I heard footsteps coming from down the hall. With Payton still asleep, I slowly got up and went into the living room to see what was going on. I turned on the light and I saw that the candle from our kitchen counter had fallen and shattered. I grabbed a trash bag from under the sink and started to pick up the pieces. I began to pick up the smaller edges one by one and suddenly I heard Payton scream. I dropped the bag and all the pieces fell out. I ran to our room as fast as I could while yelling, "Payton!" I ran into the room and there was an older man holding her at gun point. She started to cry and hold her breath to prevent hyperventilating. I put my index finger to my lips and whispered, "it's gonna be okay baby. I promise." The man looked about 32 years old, he had blonde hair, green eyes, pale skin, and you could see the hate and anger in his posture. The man looked at me and I faintly said, "Just let her go, man." He said, "Give me that diamond ring of yours and I'll let her go." I took it off and held it up to him and said, "here, take it." He threw Payton on to the floor and put the gun in his back pocket. He walked towards me and all I could see was Payton on the ground shivering. He got closer to me and as his hand reached for the ring, I hit him in the jaw. He began to ache in pain and I kicked him between his legs and he fell to the floor. I kept kicking him and beating him. Payton was screaming between each and every kick I gave to him, "Sam, stop. Sam, Sam!" Payton picked up the gun from the floor and shot me in the arm. I fell to the ground and Payton came crawling towards me, "Sam, wake up. Wake up, this isn't real."

It's 9:35a.m, I woke up to Payton on the floor and she was covering up her eye. I immediately panicked and went down to her and said, "Oh my god, Payton are you okay?" She uncovered her eye and it was red and swollen. I lifted her chin towards me and I began to tear up, "Holy shit, Payton, did I do this to you?" I said. She shook her head and took a deep breath. She placed her hand on my knee and said, "Sam, it's not my eye I'm worried about, it's you. This is the 26th time I've woken you up cause of a terrible nightmare. I kinda just let them slide cause I didn't want to upset you. But now they're getting violent and I think they're getting worse. I know some of them have something to do with me." I took a long pause and began to cry my eyes out, I kissed her eye, and I began to apologize. "Payton, I'm so sorry. I should have told you sooner. Yes, I have been having awful nightmares and I don't know why but they all have to do with you." Payton took a long pause and looked up at me and said, "I want you to go to therapist. I know you don't want to but I think it would help you. Please, try to go for me? I have the perfect one for you, her name is Dr. Laura Anderson. She used to help me in my early teen years with depression and anxiety. She's brilliant, I know she'll give you plenty of advice." I smiled and kissed her softly. I thought about it for a minute and agreed to go to see Dr. Anderson as soon as I can. I stood up, picked Payton off the floor, and carried her to the kitchen. I got a bag of ice and slammed it on the counter to break it into tiny pieces. I placed it on her eyes and she placed her hand on top of mine. She kissed me and I whispered to her, "Baby, I am so sorry." She kissed my hand and said, "It's fine! I'm fine! I'm just kinda glad you're strong enough to protect me if anything were to happen." She laughed and held the ice up to her eye. We walked back upstairs and looked up information on where to contact Dr. Anderson and we made an appointment for that afternoon at 2:30p.m.