The Killer Secret

6.

The sound of crashing waves in the distance woke me up. The sky was gray and I shivered under the dawning light. I looked around me, trying to figure out how I got here. In the distance, I could see a girl in a red dress, staring at me. She looked really familiar but I couldn't pin point where from.

I stood up and started towards her. Every step I took, she took one further until she disappeared in the trees that lined the beach.

As I entered the forest, I spotted the red dress again and tried to catch up.

"Hey! Wait!"

I ran, following the sound of twigs and leaves being cracked and snapped in the distance. After a while, I stopped when I reached a clearing. The girl was facing away from me as she went down on her knees. Her blond hair flew with the wind as I slowly approached her.

"Are you okay?" I asked, slowly walking around her and froze when I saw her holding Travis in her arms. His shirt was drenched in the same color red as her dress and I fell to me knees beside him.

He was whispering something over and over and I leaned in closer to hear him clearly.

"Y-you did t-this. You k-killed me."

He grabbed my arm as he said the phrase over and over again. The girl in front of me started laughing and that's when I noticed it was Tammy. She had a huge gash, on the side of her face, that brain matter was spilling out.

She grabbed my other arm and I struggled to get out of both their grips.

"You killed us all!"

The field was filled with the dead. My sister, my parents, Axel...everyone was there as blood seeped out of their open head wounds.

I screamed and cried, trying to let go as they all rose up, chanting my name like the walking dead.

"Kayla! Kayla!"

I closed my eyes tightly as they approached me and I screamed louder.

"No! I'm sorry!"

"Kayla! Kayla! Wake up!" I jerked awake and threw up my dinner from the night before.

"Its okay," Travis cooed, rubbing my back as I broke down. I rested my forehead on his shoulder and tried to clear my head.

"They're back, aren't they? Your nightmares?" he asked and I sniffed, nodding in response.

I got out of bed and rolled up the cover with my vomit. Travis helped me strip my bed of the sheets and grabbed a clean set from my closet, while I disposed of the dirty ones in my laundry basket.

I glanced at the clock, on my nightstand, and groaned.

Great! Three hours of sleep.