Bi-stressed

CHAPTER 74

"Zac!?" I hypnagogic jerk with my heart thumping. I look around realizing I'm in the car with Shawn and Hardin.

This time Hardin doesn't say anything, he looks at me then back at the road.

"We're not in the city as yet. You should go back to sleep." He simply states.

I don't reply back instead look ahead at the grove of trees forming a tunnel. This view is so beautiful.

"I love long roads like this, the tree tunnel creates such a magnificent sight." I speak in excitement. "My dream driveway." I mouth.

Hardin looks at me and rolls his eyes. How dare he do that!

"Mine too." He says softly smiling at the sight ahead.

"Really? Your dream driveway too?" I ask in surprise, letting go his eye roll.

"Yeah. It's aesthetically pleasing. And especially when you're driving with someone you love." Saying this, he turns to face me, looking into my eyes.

"With Elaine, you mean." I smile and look ahead, taking in the view. His expression fades and suddenly the car slows down moving at low pace. He then slides in his sun visor extender allowing the sun to shine on my face.

"Oof, put that back!" I say, covering my eyes.

"No." He gently moves my hand down so my face is exposed to the sunlight.

"The refracted rays of the sun look more alive on your strikingly beautiful face." He expresses his speech in a poetic manner.

I am speechless.

"Have you ever seen your eyes in the sun?" He asks softly.

I shake my head a 'no'.

"It's like they melt into golden rays, forming an eclipse." He speaks in a hushed tone, his eyes locked unto mine.

"You could be a poet, you know." I laugh trying to ease the tension forming but he doesn't even smile instead he continues staring into my eyes.

"And you could be a song writer." He states not breaking eye contact.

I shift uncomfortably and turn my face looking ahead at the beautiful tree tunnel. When I look back at him, his eyes are fixed at me. Looking into his eyes suddenly increases my heartbeat as if I were staring into Zac's eyes. Hardin's eyes are replaced with Zac's, the love changed to anger, the way he was glaring at me when I was sitting besides Hardin on the couch.

"Zac!" I shout, my heart thumping like a few minutes back. My head spins and all I see ahead are the dead trees half fallen, half falling not giving us way to pass.

"The trees! They're falling!   We're stuck. How are we gonna get out of here!?" I cry, my vision turning mosaic.

"Lexi? There are no trees falling!" I hear Hardin.

"Lexi!     Lexi? Alexia, are you okay!?" I hear Shawn calling out my name.

"What's happening!?    Fuck, she's getting a damn hallucination!"

"A hallucination?"

A hallucination. When the word strikes me, my vision begins to clear and the view infront is neither the tree tunnel nor the dead trees fallen. It's a plain road and the car is pulled over to the side.

Shawn and Hardin's troubled faces tell me they've experienced me hallucinating. Not like they experienced what I saw.

"Are you okay?" They both ask.