Beating hearts

Chapter 8

"Time to wake up," Ara says treading into Lilly's bedroom and switching on the light.

Lilly groaned and flipped the covers up over her head.

"Get dressed you have 30 minutes before I come back up here with the water hose," Ara said yanking the covers back down.

"Dressed for what?" Lilly groaned again.

"We are going shopping to get some new clothes for your date tonight."

Lilly rubbed her eyes and sat up in her bed, "I have clothes."

"No, you have ugly boy repellent clothes, that make you look like you belong to a country club,"

Ara replied. "30 minutes, I will be downstairs."

"Ugh!" Lilly yelled before throwing her face back into her pillow.

She eventually dragged herself out of bed, throwing on capris, a red long-sleeved polo shirt, and slip-on black shoes. Then went downstairs to where Ara was patiently waiting on her.

"I'm ready," says Lilly in an agitated voice.

Ara smiles, and looks her up in down, inspecting her choice of outfit.

"What would you do without me?" She says shaking her head.

"Be able to sleep in," Lilly yawns.

Are walks to the door and holds it open.

"Let's go sunshine."

~

After many hours of shopping, going store to store, and bickering back and forth on every subject brought up. Lilly found the perfect thing to wear for her first date.
Even though Ara offered to take her shopping and give her advice on clothes, she wasn't too keen on fashion anymore, she mainly wore just a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. A year ago, she would have cringed at the thought of wearing such a plain outfit, but a lot has changed in the past year, she left the girl made up of style, sarcasm, and charisma behind. Nothing she did before, is what she does now, she doesn't even have the same friends or any friends at all for that matter. The preppy and girly person she was a year ago, died in that car.

~

Ara went to sleep somewhat happy; she had a good day with her sister, and it was just what she needed to escape her current state of mind, she knew Lilly was right, she didn't want to live in the past anymore, it was time to stop hiding from the world. She needed to move forward and forget the bad things that found their way into her life.

Sadly, it wasn't that simple. Saying it was easy, but that doesn't make life listen. That night she dreamt of horrors, the darkness she has sworn to move on from. They had crawled their way into her comforting warmth and sleepy slumber. It felt nothing like a dream, but like she was standing there, beholding the terrors that surrounded her.

She's in the woods, it's dark and musty. One by one the blackbirds filled with thickening sorrow fly and screech around her, the screeches echo throughout the woods, it sends shivers down her spine. The birds continue to circle, making that awful noise. Someone screams a high-pitched scream in the distance, it's an echoing scream that rings high in her ears. The big eerie birds turn to black shiny ash, their dust belonging to the wind. Everything goes quiet, only for a few seconds, she hears whispers, first their faint, but then they grow louder and louder, she now hears what they say.

"Blood everywhere, all over one another. Blood everywhere dripping down into the gutter, what to do but sit in cry, didn't even get to say goodbye."

Over and over, it repeats. Ara doesn't know what it means, she spins around confused, not knowing where the whispers are coming from, they surround her.
She stops, freezes in her place, she stares ahead of her where a woman stands. Ara steps back and screams when she notices the familiarity of the woman.

Her mother stands there covered red, her skull is cracked open oozing a mixture of brain matter and blood down the sides of her face. Her bloody gored intestines fall out of her stomach. Ara screams in terror but is unable to look away.

"Blood everywhere, all over one another. Blood everywhere, dripping down into the gutter. What to do but sit and cry, didn't  even get to say goodbye." Her mother says gurgling blood. She repeats it, again and again.

"I don't understand! What does it mean?" Ara shouts at her.

Not being able to stand the sight of her mother like that, she tightly shuts her eyes, hoping that when she opens them, it will all be gone. She slowly reopens her eyes, and jumps back with a Jolt, her mother stands there in front of her, face to face.

"Go back, Ara." Her mother says.

She hears an insanely loud wolf howl before she awakes with a jerk. She breathes heavily, looking around her room. A couple of tears roll down her cheeks as she lays back down in her bed.

"It's just a dream. It was only a dream."