Just Fall

Chapter One

Her heartbeat kicking against the inside of her chest, she ran from the darkness that chased after her. The ravenous abyss rode tight on her heels as she sprinted past the brambles and bushes that she felt but couldn't see. Terror in her voice, she screeched for help, but nothing could be heard past the roaring of the darkness that hounded her. A single beam of light glowed in the distance. It's warmth touched on her skin the moment her sight connected to it. A beacon of hope, she thought. Save me. Diane's side ached, pleading with her to stop, but her fear was too driven to pause. It forced her on the path to the light. I have to get there to safety.

A voice from the darkness howled. "Stay with us! Stay!"

The command urged a whimper out of her tired body, but not once did she stop running. Not once did she look back. The chill of the darkness behind her and the warmth of the light just out of reach, came to a horrid halt when Diane found herself teetering suddenly on the edge of a dark crevasse. On her tiptoes, she quickly held some balance to keep from plummeting. Her breath shaking, she peered down and found the origin of the light nestled way down at the bottom of the cliff.

"Just fall," a gentle voice whispered in her ear.

"Stay with us!" the darkness wailed. It was so close she could almost feel the icy cold grip around her.

"No!"

"Diane?"

Her eyes shot open with a gasp as familiar hands rubbed her shoulder. Her eyes immediately met her husband and she breathed a sigh of relief. The sight of his confused, but unforgettable face slowed her heartbeat down to normal. "Hey."

Christian sighed. "Hey yourself. You okay? You were talking a bit in your sleep."

She slowly propped herself up one elbow and rubbed her eyes in efforts to wake up. "Really? What was I saying?"

He shrugged. "It was hard to make out. Something about 'just falling' or something like that. Sounded like a dream."

More like a massively weird nightmare, she thought to herself. Even then, the events of the dream were breaking away like the clouds dispersing after a terrible storm. The thing that she held onto, the thing that still lingered was the coldness of the dark, the warmth of the light and how she managed to be wedged in between. She nodded. "Yeah, a strange one."

He leaned over and pressed his lips to her mouth in the softest of kisses. His deep blue eyes were rich with concern. "I'm sorry babe. Looks like it shook you up a bit. You wanna talk about it?"

Diane gazed at him, then scoffed. "Nah, it's nothing serious. I can barely remember it already."

He smiled. "Yeah, it's crazy how that happens. The mind is a tricky thing." He also propped himself up on one elbow and pushed her wild, chestnut hair from her face. "Or, it might have been that good morning kiss that drove that bad dream away."

Her eyebrow raised. "You're playing the hero now?"

Christian cocked his head and shrugged. "I'm just sayin'. I'm the man, right? So when my lady is in some distress, you better believe I'm gonna swoop in and rescue her."

She grinned. "So you're sayin that you'll drop down and whup up on some nightmares, tough guy?"

He grimaced. "Pfft! Baby, I'll kick the shit outta some nightmares for you. You don't even have to ask!" Christian flexed his bicep with his free hand and kissed it like a vain bodybuilder.

Diane's laugh echoed through their posh, sun-washed bedroom and Christian's eyes lit up like diamonds. "God, you're so ridiculous!" She playfully pushed him. "You dork!"