Beautiful Nightmare

by Stotz, Chrystie Q.

  Kamdyn turned to me, recollection and then worry on his face. “I’ll handle this.” he said sharply, turning back to me.

  “No way! I’m not hiding out in the kitchen. I’m coming with you.”

  “No, you’re n…”

  I gave him a look, one that told him there was nothing that would keep me here. Our eyes locked with an intensity I couldn’t even fathom. I could almost feel him pushing my mind, bending it the way he wanted it to go. And I pushed back with every ounce of strength I had.

  His beautiful mouth opened, then closed. He sighed and rolled his eyes.

  “Fine, damn it. Just don’t… just don’t. Please.”

  And I wasn’t the only one to follow him as he walked out of the kitchen. Everyone that was in the room followed, headed in the direction of that voice.

  We found our way into the living room where the loud voice had come from, and there was, who else, but Samantha. She turned to face us as we appraoched, a big smile plastered on her face.

  “Kamdyn, how nice to see you. Great party! So glad I was invited.” She had this annoying habit of waving her hands dramatically around in the air as she spoke. Tonight it seemed to be more exaggerated than ever.

  “You weren’t, so why are you here?”

  I was surprised by the harsh tone in Kamdyn’s voice, but I masked it. Quickly.

  Samantha eyed me after Kamdyn spoke and he, protectively, put an arm around my waist. I saw an eyebrow twitch as she flicked her eyes back on him.

  “What do you mean, not invited? It’s a party, since when did I have to be invited?”

  “Since you decided to attack my girlfriend, maybe. Or steal her purse. Seriously, how childish and immature could you be?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” She gently trailed her fingers over the small bag wrapped around her wrist and smiled again. “And please, I’m so over it. I’ve moved on.” She glared at me as the words left her perfectly glossed lips. “In fact, I’m seeing someone new. Very new, really. He just moved here from… well, it doesn’t matter where he’s from. I actually brought him here with me, to introduce him to everyone before vacation ends.”

  I saw movement from the dark hallway to my right. My eyes drawn to the darkness, as a guy dressed in a black fitted tee, dark jeans and boots came out of the shadows.

  He had long black hair that shimmered deep red in the light like blood . He was tall and muscular in build but he had the same unusual violet eyes as Kamdyn. He was breath taking; no one in the room could look away as he entered.

  But something to me wasn’t right; something about his demeanor was almost disturbing. As he got closer to us, I started to pick up a darkness surrounding him. Even after he had left the shadows, they seemed to cling to him, following him, engulfing him like a shadowy aura.

  I blinked in confusion and when I opened my eyes and looked again, they had disappeared. Once he stepped into the surrounding crowd his eyes locked onto mine, giving me a shivering feeling of unease. Without a glance in Samantha’s direction, he walked right past her, nearly pushing her aside, and stopped directly in front of me.

  It felt like we stood there forever, locked in a trance. Not moving, not speaking, less than a foot apart. Finally, he stuck his arm out, hand extended, toward Kamdyn without even a peek in his direction. At the very last second, he lifted a beautifully dark, arched eyebrow and turned to toward Kamdyn.

  “I’m Halo, Halo Century.” His voice was deep and whimsical. It made a chill run down my spine. I tried to hide it, which I thought was a success until his gaze flicked back to me for a second, a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth.

  Kamdyn looked at his out stretched hand, then back up at him. His eyes seemed to widen in recognition, just a quick flash in those eyes, than it was gone. I looked around the room at the people surrounding us, as Kamdyn reached out, introducing himself, to see if anyone else saw what I did. But from the awed expressions everyone was wearing, it was obvious. No one saw anything, but me.

  When I brought my attention back to Kamdyn, I saw the introductions were over and Halo’s interest was back on me again. His eyes locked on mine when I looked up at him and a slight smile lightened up his dark features. Making him so much more beautiful. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught drastic movement, hands flying up in the air dramatically, than I saw Samantha come stomping toward us, jumping between me and Halo.

  She grabbed his hand, looked up at him and said, “Umm… no!”, then turned toward me, put her hand in my face, waved way too far into my person space. She screamed, “Bye bitch!” as she dragged Halo by his hand behind her. I thought I saw a flash of red in his eyes as he looked at Samantha hastily before returning his scrutinizing gaze on me, while being dragged away.

  Kamdyn jumped in front of my view right before I saw Halo turn the corner, “I think I’ve had just enough of this party for tonight. You want to go upstairs for a while?”

  I felt the tingle of his hand clasping mine and looked up at his beautiful face with a smile that I know lit up my face. I realized that I still hadn’t answered his question when his expectant expression still hadn’t changed. “Definitely,” I said smiling bigger at him. His exhausted expression was then rearranged with an excited grin and a cocked eyebrow, giving a clear explanation of wicked intentions. He hurriedly pulled me in close, thinking he was going to hug me I went more than willingly, but instead, at the very last second, he threw himself down to one knee, grabbed me by the waist and flung me over his shoulder, like I weighed nothing, and ran for the stairs.

  We came back down not too long before the ball dropped. The whole party was crammed into the living room, packed tightly around the huge TV. Everyone had little hats and noise makers. People all around the room were cheering and whistling, waiting for the count down to begin. Everyone in the room was chanting in unison as the ball made its decent.

  “Five, four, three, two, one… Happy New Year!” Hats went flying in the air, people cheered and screamed, drank and kissed.

  Tingles surrounded my waist as Kamdyn’s arms swooped around me, pulling me close to him from behind. “Happy New Year, Love,” he said into my ear. I smiled and sighed, leaning back against his chest, closing my eyes. I relaxed at the feeling of his warm breath on my neck and turned around, just in time, to meet his sweet tasting lips. It felt like hours had gone by when we were broken apart by a shrill scream from somewhere in the house.

  We ran toward the sound, running through room after room. We finally rounded the corner to the game room where we found Lauren in Alex’s arms, sobbing. Her phone was lying on the floor, at there feet. I let go of Kamdyn and pushed my way through the thick crowd. Lauren’s pink Razr flashed and blinked as I picked it. Mom disconnected appeared right before End call. I closed the phone and reached out to touch Lauren’s back.

  “Lauren? Lauren, what’s wrong? What happened?”

  She released Alex and flew into me, gasping. “Trystie, oh my God, Trystie. She’s…dead…She’s…dead! They…found…her…”

  “Lauren, what? Who? Who’s dead?” I asked searching for her eyes through tears and disheveled hair. When her nearly vacant eyes found mine, my heart plunged to the floor and I felt the pressure building behind my eyes. Lauren took a few deep breathes and said the words I already had ringing in my head.

  “They found… Drea. She’s dead!”

  But I didn’t expect to hear what she said after that. Nothing in the world could have prepared me for something so perverse. Her whisper was the loudest noise I had ever heard.

  “They said she was… drained.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  The purpose of this book is to keep track of my feelings, and to make me feel like I have someone to talk to when I have things to say that I would rather not say out loud. Or to anyone. So, here it goes…

  Even though I feel good when I am with my friends, or with Kamdyn, I feel lost when I’m alone. That isn’t something I even want to admit to myself. In fact, I di
dn’t want to believe it until just now, when I saw it was on the page.

  Sigh…

  It was harder than anyone could know, living through the very thing that killed your parents, while you lived. Although it seems everyday that I should be getting better, feeling better, I’m not. I feel guilty for being the one here.

  Now it has happened again. Now I lost someone else, a friend.

  I have only been here a little over three months, and in those three months I have found seven of the best friends I have ever had. I found a guy that I know I belong with, and have guardians that care about me and make me feel loved.

  I was finally beginning to let my wounds mend. How stupid of me to believe that the pain was over.

  Tonight I learned that I lost one of my friends.

  Lauren had explained to me what happened before I found her tonight. Her mom had called to say Happy New Year, when a new report flashed across the screen about the missing girl from Southbury. Lauren heard everything.

  How exactly does someone go about draining another human being? And why?

  And this new guy. Who is he? I have a feeling he isn’t what he appears, for whatever reason. I don’t know. The shadows I saw clinging around his body? My imagination? Probably. What the hell else could it be. I guess we’ll see. And again, I’m not sure why, but I know I will find out. Whether I wanted to or not.

  I hadn’t heard much from Jayson over the last week, so I was relieved when I got a call from him New Years day. He had called, much earlier than I would have liked, but I was glad to hear his voice on the other end. He was knocking on my bedroom door within five minutes of hanging up the phone.

  I didn’t even have the will to throw off the covers yet, let alone get up and get dressed, so when Jayson walked into my room I was still in bed. He closed the door quietly behind him and sat down beside me. Without saying a word he kicked off his shoes, threw over the covers and lay down with me. Putting his arm around me, he pulled me onto his shoulder. I didn’t resist. I couldn’t.

  “Sorry I woke you up so early. I didn’t want to be alone anymore.” His breath was warm and welcoming against my hair.

  “It’s okay, I didn’t want to be alone either. And I missed you.” I smiled against his shoulder, feeling his arms pull tighter around me. I closed my eyes, and fell back to sleep in the relaxing comfort of my friends arms.

  The parking lot was dark. There were no other cars in sight, no buildings near by, only a large lot surrounded by frightening dense woods and a thick layer of fog. I found myself spinning in slow circles, looking for an escape or a sign of life other than my own. Standing in the center of the lot, my heart told me not to move, while something in my mind kept nagging me to inch forward, toward the coldness lurking just inside the tree line.

  I felt it, something there, just beyond the stretch of moonlight lightly illuminating the deserted parking lot. I could feel it caressing my mind, lightly pulling me in the direction it wanted. Whispering to me everything that I want to hear.

  My left foot moves, slowly taking a step toward the unknown darkness. My heart beats faster, pulsing hard in my ears. I know it’s telling me not to. Stop moving, go back1 But my mind won’t. Can’t.

  With each footstep taking me closer; my heart numbs, calms, and quiets. I take that final step out of the fog and into the nothingness of the forest. As my foot touches the ground, leaves and branches crunching under my weight, and I was smacked with alarming awareness. Whatever had driven me into the woods, that influence telling me to take that step, was now gone, leaving me in a state of utter panic.

  Frozen in place, my mind raced to comprehend my situation and how I was going to get out. Figuring where I came from was the wrong way for escape, I walked deeper into the forest. For the first time, I realized there were no sounds coming from the woods surrounding me. No light anywhere, no life other than my own. I was wondering blindly through the endless forest coming to an accepting belief that I was the only living being here, when I felt something. Someone was here, but no matter what way I turned, I saw nothing. Heard no sound.

  I took off running, branches smacking hard against my face, arms, legs and stomach, leaving a stinging burn where they hit. I had no clue where I was going, racing to an unknown destination. As fast as I ran, the presence I felt kept up, right behind me, almost whispering in my ear. I couldn’t see anything in the soupy blackness engulfing me. Suddenly, the ground beneath me changed, getting thicker with debris, and I tripped over something big, falling to the ground hard and hitting my head. Dazed, I just laid there, unmoving. I could feel the pounding in my skull and the slow trickle of blood that escaped threw skinned knees and palms. I wasn’t even sure if my eyes were open or closed while I was on the ground. I could almost see less staying still than I did running. My mind was blank and lost, unfocused on anything important.

  After a few minutes of lying on the forest floor, my head cleared slightly, enough to feel that the presence was lurking somewhere close by. Motionless. I sat myself up, scrambling backward to find some support, landing up against a large rough tree. My mind was telling me to get up and run, to get away from whatever was out there. But this time, when my heart told me to stay, I did. I was not listening again.

  I squinted my eyes in stubbornness and crossed my arms tightly over my chest. “I am not going to run anymore!” I screamed. My voice echoed and bounced off the trees around me, but still I heard nothing stir, nothing was startled.

  I stayed that way in this black void, waiting, when I finally felt something besides a push for me to run. Cold slowly crept around me, like a fog roll in. A deep chill took over my body, as I pulled my legs in and tightened my arms around me. The push for me to run turned into an intense need, but again I refused.

  I was swallowed up by the damp air now, huddling against a rough tree, waiting. I knew it was there and realization finally dawned on me that it was in my head. It wanted to chase me until I was tired and scared to death, unable to fight back.

  Right. Because what was the fun in a prey that didn’t run. I wasn’t giving it it’s chase and for a brief moment I got a glimpse of emotion; aggravation, need, confusion, anger.

  Just as the thought finished playing out in my head, I heard it. Whispers, all around me. I shut off every notion in my mind thrown in my direction, just ignoring everything I heard, until it spoke my name. It started far away, so it seemed, and gradually got closer until I could hear it directly over my shoulder. In my ear. Feeling it’s breath on my neck. I froze from something more than just fear. A spark of recognition.

  Then he laughed, a small quiet laugh onto my neck. His left arm wrapped around my waist while the other came to rest on my neck, just below my ear. He pushed my head back to the right, exposing the delicate skin over my neck. He leaned forward, I could feel his whole body against the back of mine; his breathing, the contours of his body.

  “You smell delicious,” he said, his lips brushing against my throat as he spoke. “I bet you taste even better.” He licked my neck gently, than exhaled a noisy shudder.

  “What do you want from me?” My voice sounded confident despite my unease. A point I am sure didn’t escape him.

  “I guess you’ll just have to find out.” I could hear the barely contained, sinister laugh creepy up his throat.

  “Why are you here?” I started to turn, to glimpse who was holding me. I had only gotten a glimpse of a glowing red eye before he had given his version of an answer.

  “I should be asking you that. Than again, why don’t you ask your friend… Drea, I think her name was.”

  Was. Drea’s stone pale face and cold vacant eyes flashed before me. I saw her body lying on the ground in front of me. Her clothes in complete disorder, her body broken and contorted. Those now empty eyes were fixed on me, silently begging. In that brief second she was there, I could feel that pain she endured. I heard the pleading of her voice asking to end it. Then she was gone.

  Now he was laughing hard, as I fl
ailed around under his iron grip. I was so busy screaming and pulling to get away I didn’t hear the hiss that escaped through his lips just before he yanked my head back and I felt a sharp burning sting. The slight pain lasted only a brief second before it turned into something else. Something I never would have expected. It turned into pure bliss.

  Then I woke up….

  I bolted upright in my bed. I looked around the room, my room, to see the sun was trying uselessly to push through my drawn curtains. Panting, I reached to pull off the too hot covers when someone grabbed my hand.

  “Are you all right? You were all over the place, screaming and moaning.”

  I had forgotten that Jayson was here. And before I told my body to move, I threw myself into his arms, crying, gasping. He was surprised at first, I felt the tension in his body, holding on to me like he would comfort a child. But then he stroked my hair and pulled me closer, squeezing me like he would never let me go. And I squeezed back, like he was the only other person in the world.

  I vaguely remember him asking me what was wrong, what happened. There wasn’t much I could hear over the pounding of my heart and bawling into his shoulder. When he asked again, this time pulling me away from the comfort of his chest to look at me, I was forced to actually think about what had happened.

  What did happen?

  As he held me at a distance, I tired to think of what my dream was about, what had caused me to wake up so suddenly, drenched in sweat and screaming. But no details of the horrific dream came back to me besides the pain. I tried to remember what my mind didn’t want me to, as Jayson stared expectantly into my blank face. I knew I was in pain, in my dream, but why? I closed my eyes to concentrate, waiting for anything about this dream to surface. I needed to know. It was important to know, somehow I just knew it.

  Pain, pain, pain. It ran through my head searching for an explanation, a flash of remembrance. Absentmindedly, I ran my hand up to rub my aching throat. Why exactly does my neck hurt? An echo of that same ache revealed itself as my hand rubbed over a sensitive spot on my neck.