VANISHED (#1 in the VANISHED series) #NaNoWriMo2019 ✔

e i g h t ✔

Prison bars clinking and clanking, doors slamming, wails swooshing under thresholds as blood pooled in perfect circles under decaying corpses. Arielle's visions while sleeping worsened the more she tried to force her slumber. Would she ever have a normal dream again?

Black masses hovering over marble tombstones. Red doors fizzling in and out of focus. Jade crawling along a tiled floor, dirt under her nails, bloody tears trailing from her demonic marble eyes.

Even after Stella returned to bed and fell into a peaceful sleep, Arielle's horrifying images continued.

It's like I'm not sleeping at all.

When she woke to daylight fluttering through the curtains, she yanked her pillow to her chest and exhaled. One glimpse at Stella's bed showed her friend wasn't there, so Arielle threw the covers over her head and, taking advantage of the momentary solitude, she cried. Fresh tears streaked over those that had dried on her cheeks during the night.

Stella was worried about her, Mrs. Sullivan was worried about her, but she only worried about Jade. Not only would her beautiful best friend forever haunt her memory, but now she realized her feelings towards her weren't what she thought. Not simple friendship or sisterly love... it was more.

But as she came to terms with her moments of jealousy and overreactions at Jade's adventures over the past few years... Arielle understood she'd never get to confess the truth. Never get to tell Jade of these emotions. And to discover out if there was any miraculous way that Jade might have reciprocated them.

She chuckled through her sobs. Jade never would have felt the same. First off, she cared for Trevor, awkward as he was. And second, though she supported LGBTQ+ rights and believed in love for all... she'd always made it clear how straight she was.

And until a few days ago... Arielle had identical beliefs. Sure, she'd found women attractive before, she'd admired their outfits and stared a little longer than she should have... but this was different. These were feelings; tension-inducing, world-warping, catastrophe-creating thoughts of being with someone she'd never imagined wanting to be with. These were desires; images of Jade in her arms, of Jade's lips against hers, of Jade's hands on her waist, of Jade—

A lock clicked, and the hotel door swung open.

Arielle held her breath.

Shit—Stella. She can't see me like this.

"Ari, you awake?"

Arielle immobilized, hoping Stella would think her to be asleep and give her a chance to compose herself.

"Fine, I'll get breakfast again, then," said Stella, shutting the door and disappearing again.

And as her footsteps faded down the corridor, Arielle let out a heavy sigh of relief.

"That was too close." She hurled the covers to the floor and hurried to the bathroom, meeting her own gaze in the mirror. Her hazel eyes were bloodshot and glossy, more coppery than usual. Sticky streaks lined her cheeks, and red marks poked at her neck from the fabric of the pillows scrubbing against it. "And I need a shower."

***

When she exited the bathroom, draped in a fluffy bathrobe, Stella was waiting, munching on a muffin. "Morning," she mumbled between bites, "sleep good?"

To lie or not to lie?

Arielle recalled her reflection from moments before, after climbing out of the shower. The puffiness underneath her eyes would make it difficult to hide her rough night from Stella. "Nightmares. Again." She arched a brow. "You?"