My Will To Live

CHAPTER 18- Night Terrors

Taylor lets me borrow some of her clothes to sleep in for the night. But because she's so tall, and I'm slight, the shirt ends up looking like a dress instead. We both have a laugh over that, and then Taylor leaves to make dinner.

I'm left with nothing to do, so I hop on the couch and take everything in, from the hand stitched throw cushions and the electric fireplace that is always switched on 24/7 to the scented candle that makes the entire apartment smell like it's Christmas. And then, much to my surprise, an extremely fury kitten hops up on my lap and purrs. Meredith Grey Swift has made her entrance.(A/N: this is set in the Red era, so she doesn't have Olivia yet).

"Aww you're so cute." I gush. I can't help it. Meredith's large eyes make her irresistible.

"She likes you. That's a first. She doesn't really like strangers." Taylor says, already beginning to set the table. I can't help it, I stroke my hand across Meredith's soft fur as she purrs.

I swear, this is a dream.

I can't be in a house with Taylor Swift.

I cannot possibly be in the Taylor Swift's house sitting on her sofa petting her cat.

But it feels so real.

Taylor Swift hugged me. That felt real.

By the time dinner is over and done with, I've pinched myself at least a hundred times trying to tell myself that this is all real. When I crawl into bed, however, that's when it gets real. Too real for my liking.

It starts, simply, of course. It starts like a normal dream. I'm back in the car with Taylor, except she isn't there. I'm waiting in the car just after I left the hospital.

"Wait here." The same person says. And I do. Except, instead of Taylor, it's my parents who appear. Father smells of drink. He grins creepily at me.

"You have been a very bad girl. You know what happens to bad girls? They get punished." He slurs. Why is it that he always says this sentence?

"Tell me. Why did you run away?" He says, leaning in dangerously close.

"I..."

"WHY DID YOU RUN AWAY?" He yells into my face, lifting the bottle he was carrying, ready to smash it into my head. I duck, and it hits my mom, who has appeared out of no where. She falls to the ground unconscious, a pool of blood slowly turning the ground crimson beneath her.

I back up, but the car door is locked. The only way out is the open door behind my father. And I don't know how I'll get there.

"Going so soon? I don't think so." He states. He snaps his fingers and Taylor appears. Her hands are tightly bound by rope and she seems to be bleeding from a head wound. My heart instantly lurches. She looks beaten down and so tired. I try to reach out for her, but my movement makes my father snap his fingers again. Two men appear and start to beat her up. I, of course, am horrified.

Then I see it. The glint of a knife, as they angle it towards Taylor's body. Then I am screaming, and I scream and scream and scream, until I wake up and I am drenched in a cold sweat.

I don't sleep afterwards.