Broken Lantern

Chapter Thirty-Five

When we get to the airport, we are told that we can't exchange the ticket for an earlier flight. We'll have to wait to see if someone wants to trade seats on an earlier plane or just wait until tomorrow morning and use the tickets we have already.

We have already given up our room so we can't go back there. Instead we decide to stay in the airport, talking to people and asking if they'd like to trade seats. When we finally realize it's not going to happen, we find two seats to settle into for the remaining few hours left until our flight. We sit down and lean on each other to sleep for a bit.

I'm standing on my front porch, the flames are licking up around my face, the heat is burning me, and I can feel my flesh peeling away. But I've got to get inside, I have to find her. I step into the house and my feet sink into the carpet, like stepping into a giant roasted marshmallow. I try to lift my foot, trying so hard to make it down the hallway that's now stretched out in front of me, but I can't pull my feet out of the melted carpet. I stand there, frozen and burning, unable to do anything but scream.

I feel hands shaking my body. My eyes snap open and I see the fear and anxiety on Kevin's face. His mouth is moving, but nothing is coming out. He's frantic, terrified even. There are two security guards standing behind him and a small crowd is gathering around us. I can see everyone, but there is not a sound around me. Kevin is shaking me by my shoulders, he's screaming at me, but I can't hear his words.

The female security guard pushes Kevin aside with her shoulder, knocking him out of the way, as she steps forward to stand in front of me, she takes me by my shoulders and suddenly I hear the screaming, the blood curdling screams are now piercing my ears. She reaches her arm up above my head and comes down across my cheek, hard. I feel the sting and the screaming stops. Tears are streaming down my face as I am now fully aware of all that's happening around me.

Kevin is on his feet, next to me, he's pulling me up into his arms, hugging me tight. The security guards are visibly shaken, as they take a seat next to us, the lady is shaking her head, her face is bright red.

"That is some scream you've got there, young lady." The male security guard says to me, putting his arm around the female that's just slapped me. "I've never heard anything like it." She tells him.

I sit back down and put my face in my hands, as the crowd around us begins to dissipate, losing interest now that the shows over. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry", I repeat over and over, humiliated by my actions.

"Young lady, you have nothing to apologize for. I can only imagine the horrors you must have been facing for you to howl like that." The female officer says to me. "I'm sorry for slapping you, but this young man couldn't get it to stop."

I nod at her, understanding full well why she felt compelled to smack me. Kevin is sitting next to me, his arms around my shoulders. He pulls me into lay my head on him and he kisses the top of my head. "We have got to get you in to see someone about this, Alley. You can't keep going like this." He tells me, seriously worried for me.

The plane ride home was uneventful, thankfully. No nightmares, even though I tried hard to stay awake through most of the flight, I had fallen asleep, but it was peaceful enough.

When we get to the car and begin to pull out of the parking lot, I turn our phones back on they both begin to go crazy. Everyone is texting us, we each have 20 or more missed calls. I begin to panic as I dial my mom's number.

Her phone rings and rings, with no answer. Kevin begins calling Joel and Jess, but neither of them answer either. I try Britt and he calls Matt, when we finally get an answer, Kevin puts Matt on speaker phone, as we both bombard him with questions, "What's going on, man?" Kevin asks as I'm also saying, "Matt, is everyone ok?"