Hello, everyone!
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Meg's hands trembled as her parents pulled away from the curb, leaving her in the parking lot, which was packed with children and teens, all carrying duffles and backpacks.
Meg scanned the crowd, spotting kids she knew and new campers, but she couldn't find the one she was looking for, and she wasn't entirely sure how she felt about that.
It looked just like another summer at camp, but to Meg, it meant facing her nightmare.
*FLASHBACK*
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to forget!" Meg cried.
She stared back, her eyes hard as stone, her expression blank.
"I don't care, Meg. You forgot to make a reservation, just like you must've forgotten your brain in bed this morning."
"Why are you so mad? I know I was supposed to make reservations, but we can just have our date next week."
"My birthday won't be next week."
"I know, but I already have a fun plan for today. Just because we can't get into a restaurant doesn't mean we can't do something else."
Her foot connected with Meg's stomach, and Meg sputtered, kneeling over as she clutched her burning abdomen.
"That doesn't matter. I told you to do it, and you didn't. You disobeyed me."
"I disobeyed you? You're always 'forgetting' to do things I tell you to do; you're always 'forgetting' important things, like our anniversary or my birthday. I asked you to be with me when I had my surgery a month ago, and when I went in, you weren't there. When I woke up, you still weren't there."
"Why, you ungrateful, little-" she snarled, and her words were lost in the angry roar that was torn from her throat.
She tackled Meg to the ground, fists flying as she began punching every part of Meg's body while Meg tried to shield herself from the blows. She could feel bruises blossoming all over her skin, and her girlfriend tore out chunks of Meg's hair. Her nails stabbed into Meg's wrists as she tried to hold the girl's hands out of the way to continue the brutal 'punishment.' Horrible words and insults (most of which, I dare not repeat) were spat from her mouth, cutting into Meg's heart even more so than the ring on her finger as her beloved girlfriend punched her again.
Meg cried out as a fist flew into her face, and blood spurted from her nose as her eye began to swell.
"Lia, stop!" Meg shouted, breaking out the nickname she rarely used for her girlfriend anymore.
The blows stopped raining, and Meg glanced through the small gap between her arms (she'd been doing her best to cover her face and head) to see tears filling her eyes.
"Lia?" Meg whispered, and she jumped a foot in the air as she was drawn into a hug.
"I'm sorry," she whimpered. "I'm so sorry, Meg. It's just… I am forgetful, and I'm working on it, but you know me with my ADD and… I'm sorry. The reason I'm so forgetful is because my medication stopped working, and we haven't gotten the chance to find a new one that does. And-and at your surgery… I couldn't stand seeing you after that biking incident. Your foot made it look like you'd never walk again, and you were in so much pain, and I couldn't stand to see you like that. Please… my temper, I-I'm working on it, but when you said you forgot the reservation, I freaked because we had our first date in that restaurant, and that's what makes it really special. Oh, Meg… I know I just did a horrible thing, but can you ever forgive me?"
Meg smiled. "Of course I can. You're my girlfriend; I trust you, and I know you'll never do it again, Lia."
Lia smiled as she kissed Meg, passionately.
Little did Meg know, her medication was working perfectly; she'd just chosen to ignore Meg, and the day of Meg's surgery, she'd chosen that day to let go and start sleeping with every girl on the block while Meg wouldn't be able to pop in and see what was going on.
If Meg had known anything that she knows now back then, she would've pushed her away and started running after that beating, which turned out to be the first of many.
*FLASHBACK OVER*
Almost an entire year after Meg broke up with her, she would finally have to cross paths with Amelia once again at summer camp.
And Meg… well, Meg wasn't entirely sure if she had the strength to do that.
Meg took a shaky breath as she climbed onto the bus and sat down, taking an aisle seat so that she would have an escape if necessary (call her paranoid, but after everything she'd been through… extra precautions that some people may see as overkill were downright reasonable).
Meg jumped as the source of her nightmares and her terror appeared on the bus.
"Don't see me; don't see me; don't see me," she muttered, sinking down lower in her seat.
Amelia saw her, and she smiled softly as she climbed over Meg's legs and sat beside Meg.
"Meg… it's been a while," she said, and Meg nodded. "Meg, I screwed up," she confessed. "I was going through a tough time, and I took it out on you. If you give me a second chance, I'll never hurt you again."
"You always said that," Meg muttered.
"I know, but this time I really mean it."
"No, Amelia," Meg snapped.
"Anne-"
"Don't call me that," Meg growled. "Get out of my seat."
"Megan Lillian Young, I love you, and even though you've given up on me, I will not give up on you. Please."
"I said get out of my seat. Do it before I kick you off the bus entirely."
"Meg-"
"Leave, Amelia!" Meg shouted. Luckily, her angry voice wasn't heard over the loud din of the children shouting and laughing on the bus.
Amelia sighed and climbed back over Meg, purposely brushing Meg's hand with her's and making the girl flinch, before she sat beside a new camper, who introduced herself as Lisa Roberts.
Meg froze. Lisa Roberts?
*FLASHBACK*
Meg came around slowly after her surgery, and she blinked blearily at the doctor.
"I'm alive?" she muttered.
He chuckled. "Yes. We almost lost you after you lost so much blood. We didn't think we'd be able to go through the blood bank fast enough to save you, but a young girl named Lisa Roberts sprung into action and donated some blood. You have her to thank."
Lisa Roberts had saved her life.
*FLASHBACK OVER*
The girl who had saved her life was now friends with the girl who almost ended it (quite a few times).
Wow. Talk about a lot to take in.
"Cricket Cabin," Justine announced before she began rattling off names. "Amelia Mason. Lisa Roberts."
No, don't say it, Meg begged in her mind.
"Meg Young."
And she said it!
Meg crossed the grass to stand behind Lisa, shrinking away from Amelia as much as she dared with so many other campers around.
Why did she have to be placed in Cricket Cabin? If she were placed in Bunny Cabin or Weasel Cabin or any of the others, she could avoid Amelia all summer if she planned it out and maybe even talked with a few councilors about altering her schedule (without telling them about Amelia. Meg could be an incredibly good liar when she wanted to be. How do you think she hid the abuse all those months?) But now that they were in the same cabin, there was no avoiding her.
Justine lead them to the cabin and assigned them bunks; typically, they got to choose their bunks, but after the incident last year (don't ask), they thought it would be best to start assigning bunks.
Just when Meg thought her luck couldn't get any worse, Justine called her name and pointed to the bottom bunk on one of the beds along the back wall. Lisa was assigned to the one above her, and Amelia… was assigned to the one next to her.
"Fate keeps bringing us together," Amelia whispered as she passed Meg. "You can't avoid the conversation forever, Meg."
Amelia started unpacking, and Lisa unzipped her bag, smiling at Amelia as she passed.
"Don't be fooled by her little Miss Sunshine Act," Meg stated, flatly. "Amelia is a real jerk once you get to know her."
Lisa frowned. She knew there was animosity on Meg's part towards Amelia, and Amelia seemed to want to be friends with Meg. She felt like she was missing a vital part of the puzzle, and without it, she could never figure out what was happening between Meg and Amelia. She knew they had a history, probably a dark one, but if she didn't know what it was, she was in the dark about their strange relationship, the horrible past that Amelia wouldn't explain and the event (or events) that had made Meg bitter towards Amelia and anyone associated with her.
"What happened between you two?" Lisa asked, thinking it would be better to just come right out and say what she was wondering.
Meg sighed. "Just watch your back around her. She may seem all sunshine and rainbows, but she has a few skeletons in her closet, new girl. Trust me, you don't want to see those."
Meg walked away, leaving Lisa even more confused than before.
"On the first day of camp, we make there," Justine announced, holding up a Dream Catcher.
"It looks like a spider web," Lisa pointed out.
"They're Dream Catchers," Amelia told her.
Justine nodded and began her demonstration of how to create one. "And then, you're going to add the bead, which is, of course, the spider."
Meg rolled her eyes and turned back to her project. She'd never been good at or very interested in making Dream Catchers, so her's always ending up looking like a twisted ball of string confined inside a woven ring with a randomly placed bead. Nothing like it was supposed to look.
Suddenly, her Dream Catcher was grabbed, and she looked up to see Amelia making it for her.
A lot of people would've seen this as a nice gesture, but Meg saw it for what it really was.
It was a trap to try and trick Meg into giving her a second chance, but Meg wasn't falling for it. She was sick and tired of being Amelia's punching bag, her stress reliever, her play thing.
Amelia had no right to toy with her heart like she used to, and Meg wasn't going to let her or anyone else hurt her like that again. She'd put her heart under lock and key, and she was not going to let Amelia find a way to unlock it. Amelia would surely break it the minute she had access to it again.
Meg heard a rustling in the bunk above her as she fiddled with the bead she'd cut out of Lisa's Dream Catcher (mean, yes, especially since Lisa had saved her life the previous year with her blood donation, but a friend of Amelia's was no friend of hers).
"Hey, new girl. You're not scared about being away from home, are you?" Meg asked the new girl.
"No," Lisa snapped in return.
"You know, there's a camp legend about the Dream Catchers. Twenty girls ago, a camper died," Meg said, standing quietly and rising slowly to peer at Lisa over the edge of the bunk, making the girl jump at her sudden appearance. "In her sleep," she added.
"Did she sleep walk into the lake or something?" Lisa asked, and Meg shook her head.
"Legend has it… she had nightmares," Meg continued. "Like wake up sweaty screaming kind of nightmares. She said she saw some kind of boogeyman, and every time she closed her eyes, he was there, waiting to grab her.
"She kept saying he was real, but of course, no one believed her until it happened."
"What?" Lisa asked, fear appearing on her face from the story, amplified by Meg's spooky tone.
"She stopped sleeping completely," Meg answered, "but that makes you go crazy. She wandered around like a zombie, and she started seeing things that were just so… awful. And then she couldn't stay up any longer, and she fell into a deep, deep sleep.
"The next morning, they found her. Just lying in her bunk, all glassy eyed, staring straight up at nothing. Dead."
Meg suddenly screamed, startling Lisa, and the new girl joined her in her shrieking.
The campers were awakened by the sudden shouts, and Justine rolled out of her bed, blinking the sleepiness from her eyes.
"Don't fall asleep or the Dream Catcher might get you," Meg cackled.
"Meg, why would you tell her that story?" Justine asked.
"Justine, is that story true?" Lisa muttered, petrified by the horrifying tale.
"What do you think?" Justine sighed. "You don't believe in the boogeyman, do you?"
"Justine, are you saying that a camper didn't die here?" Meg questioned.
"Look," Justine told them, firmly. "That was a really long time ago, before any of us were even born. Besides, you girls have your Dream Catchers, right?"
The three girls (Amelia having woken up at the sound of Meg's shout) nodded.
"Good," Justine said. "Goodnight," she added, heading back to her own bunk.
"Sweet dreams," Meg mocked as she climbed back into her own bunk.
"I'm thirsty," Meg commented as she reached for her bag, only to roll her eyes at seeing her empty water bottle.
"Want some of mine?" Amelia questioned.
"Did you drink out of there?" Meg asked, looking for an excuse to say no.
"Do you want some of the water or not?" Amelia questioned.
Meg sighed before giving in. "Sure."
Meg caught the water bottle and sipped from it before passing it back and rolling over in her bunk.
"Thanks," she grumbled.
"Night, Anne," Amelia whispered.
"Night, Amelia," Meg mumbled back, and Amelia frowned at the lack of her nickname, but she decided it was good enough. At least Meg had responded instead of ignoring her.
Meg crawled out of bed the next morning and found Lisa tossing and turning in her bed, muttering and breathing heavily. Meg jumped, slightly, as Lisa bolted upright.
"Bad dream?" Meg mocked before leaving the cabin, wanting to eat breakfast before Amelia got out of the shower and arrived at the Mess Hall. She couldn't avoid her entirely, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to try.
Later that day, Meg lagged behind in the group as they hiked through the woods. She was thinking about Amelia.
On one side, Amelia acted like she really wanted to get back together, like she was really sorry, but Meg couldn't stop thinking about every awful betrayal that had occurred during their relationship.
*FLASHBACK*
Meg swallowed her tears as she watched Amelia kiss another girl right in front of her. She knew that Amelia had noticed her because Amelia had glanced her way and smiled, cruelly, at her girlfriend, who slowly started backing away.
Later that night, Meg shouted about how Amelia was cheating on her and how Amelia expected Meg to just sit there and keep her mouth shut.
Meg stomped towards the front door of Amelia's house (her parents weren't home), her bag in her hand.
"What are you doing?" Amelia demanded.
"What I should have done a lot time ago! Breaking up with you!"
Meg's hand had barely touched the doorknob when a hand grabbed the hood of her sweatshirt, and she cried out as she found herself pinned to the wall by Amelia with a knife at her throat.
"If you ever do that, you will never get the chance to walk out that door," Amelia murmured in a dangerously quiet voice. "Understand?"
"Yes," Meg squeaked.
"Good," Amelia whispered as she removed the knife and rested it on a nearby end table. She suddenly picked a trembling Meg up with one arm under her knees and the other around her shoulders. Amelia smiled like nothing had happened.
"Now, let's go to bed, Anne," she muttered, suggestively, as they climbed the stairs.
*FLASHBACK OVER*
After that, Amelia could pretty much do whatever she wanted. She hit Meg, punched her, kicked her, beat her as much as she wanted. She cheated on Meg with almost every girl in school, having sex with them while Meg was in the same house, even in Meg's bed sometimes. Meg never got a choice when it came to sex; if Amelia wanted to have sex, whether Meg did or not, they had it.
After that knife incident, Meg was too afraid to stand up to Amelia. She finally got out after months of trying to work up the courage. She changed schools and broke up with Amelia via text message. She told her parents to never speak to Amelia or let her in the house ever again; being the parents of the year (note the sarcasm), they didn't even ask, and when Meg asked her father to update the security system, he did. Meg changed her phone number and that was that.
Meg barely slept for months because she was afraid Amelia would find a way to break in and kill her, but months passed without a single word from Amelia, without a single appearance, and Meg finally felt free from her abusive ex-girlfriend. She wasn't stalking Meg or finding ways to send her threatening messages or tracking her down, like Meg had feared would happen. She finally felt free.
She was free from the horrible abuse. Did she really want to risk subjecting herself to the abuse again by forgiving Amelia?
"Meg," Amelia said as she approached with Lisa by her side. "I had the worst dream last night…"
The thundering of Meg's heart drowned out Amelia's voice. Whenever Amelia was too close, it sent or nearly sent Meg spiraling into a panic attack, and now her abuser was talking to her like they were friends.
It made Meg feel sick to her stomach.
"For the last time, Amelia, I don't want to talk to you," Meg snapped.
"Meg, just give me one more chance!" Amelia begged.
"I gave you dozens of chances, and you blew each one. Don't expect me to give you another," Meg growled, finally snapping, and she stormed away, leaving Lisa to ask Amelia what had just happened.
Meg walked into the cabin after brushing her teeth and found it empty, except for Lisa and Amelia, who were sitting on Amelia's bunk and examining their broken Dream Catchers.
"I guess the Dream Catchers don't work so well, after all," Meg commented.
"Ours are broken," Lisa explained.
Meg didn't look surprised.
"You cut them," she suddenly spat.
Amelia remained silent.
"It's not like you didn't deserve it," Meg said, directing the statement at Amelia. "As for you," she added, turning to Lisa, "a friend of Amelia's is no friend of mine."
"What happened between you two?" Lisa demanded. "Was it really that bad?"
"No," Meg responded. "It was worse."
"What's going on here?" Justine asked as she entered the cabin and immediately picked up on the tense atmosphere.
"Meg cut our Dream Catchers," Lisa informed her.
"Meg," Justine said, firmly. "Kitchen duty for three days."
"What?" Meg asked. "For an arts and crafts project?"
"Meg," Justine said, firmly. "Go."
Meg huffed and stormed out of the cabin, Justine and Amelia following shortly after.
None of them noticed Lisa scowl in irritation and snip the bead out of Meg's Dream Catcher with a pair of scissors, stuffing the gleaming red 'spider' into her pocket.
Later that night, Meg heard giggling, and she rolled over to see Lisa and Amelia sitting on Amelia's bunk. Amelia was pressing gentle kisses to Lisa's lips and face, and Lisa smiled at her, kissing her back.
Meg smiled. Finally, Amelia had moved on and would stop bothering Meg, pestering the girl into giving her a second chance.
Meg rolled back over and tried to fall back asleep, wanting to already be falling into slumber before things went any further.
Meg sat up the following morning to see Lisa and Amelia laying in bed together, their legs intertwined, and Amelia's head on Lisa's shoulder. Both were yawning and looked like they hadn't slept a wink.
"Rough night?" Meg asked.
"We didn't sleep at all," Lisa confessed.
The cabin door swung open, and Justine grinned as she announced, "Up and at 'em, girls. Twenty mile canoe trip!"
Amelia and Lisa groaned.
"Girls, come on!" Justine called, standing over Meg's bed.
"Hey, Justine," Meg said with a slight mocking tone. "Did you know that Lisa and Amelia…"
Both girls stared at Meg in apprehension. Meg was angry at Amelia- and indirectly, Lisa- but she wouldn't rat them out, would she?
"… want to be first boat?" Meg finished.
"Great!" Justine exclaimed. "You two can lead the way. Come on, Meg; you can help me with the canoes."
Meg walked out of the cabin and stopped when she heard some councilors, including Justine, having a quiet conversation around the corner.
"Did you hear Lisa and Amelia got together?" one of them murmured.
"It won't last," Justine told them. "I know a rebound relationship when I see one. Amelia's using Lisa to get over someone else."
"Who?" a female councilor questioned.
Justine shrugged. "I don't know."
Meg frowned. Was Amelia really so broken up over Meg that she had to use another girl just to get over Meg?
Maybe Amelia really was sorry…
No. Meg wouldn't give in that easily. It was going to take a lot more than Amelia's regret and apologies to make up for everything she had done.
"Just one more?" a girl with her brown hair in braids begged as Justine's camp fire song ended.
"Yeah, Justine. Just one more," Meg repeated.
This was Meg's little revenge on Amelia, who was too exhausted to see straight and now had to sit through a camp fire when she wanted nothing more than to lay down and rest.
"Good to see you getting into the camp spirit, Meg," Justine smiled. "All right. There was an old lady who swallowed a spider. Come on, guys, sing along!"
The rest of the campers joined in.
"There was an old lady who swallowed a spider that wiggled and wiggled and tickled inside her. She swallowed the spider to catch the fly. I don't know why she swallowed the fly. Perhaps she'll-"
Their singing was abruptly cut off by a scream, and Meg turned to see Lisa asleep and fighting against some unseen foe while Amelia tried to calm her down.
"Lisa," Justine said, rushing over to shake the girl awake. "Lisa, you're dreaming. Wake up! You fell asleep."
Lisa's eyes shot open, and she reached a quivering towards her mouth, pulling something that was a silvery white color out of her lips.
"Is that a spider web?" one girl asked.
"He was in my nightmare," Lisa murmured, still disoriented.
"Stop it, Lisa," Justine snapped. "There is no such thing as the boogeyman. No more scary stories, all right?" she told all of the campers. "It's almost time for lights out. Get your stuff."
"Amelia," Lisa spazzed as Justine walked away, grabbing Amelia's hand. "He can get us in our dreams. We can't go to sleep!"
"You two are being ridiculous," Meg told them. "It's just a camp legend."
"Is this a legend?" Lisa demanded, pulling up her sleeve to reveal four long cuts stretching across her wrist, almost like claw marks.
Meg had to admit that was creepy, but she still didn't believe in all this Dream Catcher nonsense.
"Look, if you two are going to stay up all night, I'm sleeping somewhere else," Meg told them.
Her opportunity to put some distance between herself and Amelia until she could sort out all her feelings and thoughts.
Meg slept on the floor of the Mess Hall that night, but she was jarred out of her sleep by an ear splitting screech. The young girl sprinted out of the building and followed the scream until she reached Cricket Cabin.
Meg opened the door, wondering if someone was hurt or dying, but she honestly wasn't too surprised to see that it was just Lisa having another nightmare.
Meg sat on Lisa's bed and shook her awake, scrunching up her nose in disgust as Lisa poured buckets of sweat, and Meg wiped her hand on her shirt as Lisa sat up, gasping for air that she couldn't seem to find.
"Meg," she gasped. "What are you doing here?"
"I could you hear screaming all the way in the Mess Hall," Meg responded.
"Amelia," Lisa whispered. "He has Amelia! We need to help her."
Meg sighed. "No way."
After all, Amelia always put in Meg in danger with each beating. Why should Meg help Amelia now?
"Meg, Amelia is in a danger. She could be hurt or worse! I am begging you to help me," Lisa pleaded.
Meg looked into Lisa's eyes, and after a moment, she knew that Lisa was telling the truth. Either that, or she was an impossibly good actor.
Meg sighed, a plan forming in her mind, and she fought down the urge to smile as she spoke:
"I'll go," Meg relented, "but only because Little Miss Sunshine might actually be lost."
Lisa nodded her thanks, handing Meg a flashlight, and they slipped out of the cabin and into the night.
About half way down the trail, Lisa spoke:
"Look, I don't know what happened between you and Amelia, but she is really sorry, you know."
"You don't know anything, new girl," Meg spat.
"Maybe not about what happened, but Amelia is so broken up, it's not even funny. Give her a second chance. Get back together with her. You won't regret it."
"I thought you two were dating," Meg muttered.
"We were until I found out she was using me to get over you. I'm not mad at her or you, but I think you're both being stupid. Would it kill you to give her a second chance?"
Meg snorted. "It might."
"What?"
"Lisa… I was in an abusive relationship with Amelia. You don't want to know how many times her beatings put me in the hospital. Maybe some day, I can forgive her, but it will take a heck of a lot more than some apologies and guilt trips to make up for everything she has done," Meg said as they entered the cave.
Before Lisa could respond, they got a good look at their surroundings.
"Woah," Meg muttered upon seeing the spider web stretching from one side of the cave to the other.
"Woah, indeed," Lisa murmured.
"Meg!" Amelia called from deeper inside the cave. "Lisa! Someone!"
Lisa and Meg followed the voice until they found Amelia trying to tug her boots off of the sticky spider web. Lisa tried yanking Amelia free, but she wound up over balancing and the two girls toppled to the web, their clothes becoming glued to the material.
Meg looked up at a clicking sound, and her eyes widened as a monster- the Dream Catcher- rounded the corner.
He was even more horrible than Meg could have imagined. He was an enormous spider, towering over her, with furry legs and an utterly white face. His eyes had a grayish film over them, like he was blind, but she knew he could see just fine as his eyes automatically zeroed in on them. His teeth were as sharp as daggers, ready to tear into the girls.
"Meg!' Lisa cried. "Help!'
Meg looked at Amelia, their entire relationship flashing in front of her eyes. The abuse, the pain, the betrayal. Amelia never helped her once. Why should Meg help her now?
"Meg!" Amelia sobbed. "Anne, please, I'm sorry."
Meg cracked. She had to try and help them. She was a better person than Amelia. She was always saying Amelia was a bad person, an abuser who wouldn't regret leaving Meg for dead after a severe beating. And if she left Amelia, not to mention Lisa to die, what did that make her?
She would not become Amelia (or at least who she used to be).
Meg yanked on Amelia's hand, and her back started to become unstuck, but the Dream Catcher cackled and pushed Meg from behind, his claws scratching her back.
Meg hit the web.
Meg screamed as he approached, but her screech was interrupted by a soft beeping.
"The alarm!" Amelia cried.
"We can wake up!" Meg laughed in relief.
Lisa's eyes suddenly grew wide with horror.
"You can't," she said to Meg. "You're sleeping in the Mess Hall. You're not in the cabin."
Meg screamed in terror as she realized that she could not awake up, and Amelia's hand latched onto her's.
"I'm not leaving you," Amelia told her. "Lisa, make sure I stay asleep. Don't wake me up until you wake up Meg!"
Amelia was going to stay with her. She'd rather risk her life than lose her again?
Meg swallowed. Amelia had changed. She remembered her thought from that morning:
It was going to take a lot more than Amelia's regret and apologies to make up for everything she had done.
The famous saying actions speak louder than words rang through her mind.
"Amelia, you don't have to do this!" Meg cried.
"Yes, I do," Amelia replied. "Go, Lisa!"
Lisa vanished.
"Amelia, you're risking your life here!" Meg cried.
Amelia smiled. "It's not the first time I've saved your life."
Meg frowned. "What?"
"After your surgery, I was the one that gave you blood. I didn't want you to know, so I used the name of a girl who had moved in down the street. The fact that it happened to be the same Lisa we met here at camp was a total coincidence.
"I do care about you, Meg. I'll do anything for you, even die."
Meg blinked. "I'm sorry I've been so stubborn."
Amelia nodded. "I'm sorry about everything I ever did to you, every time I hurt you. I love you, Anne. I always will, even after death."
Meg opened her mouth to respond, but before she could speak, Amelia, the cave, the Dream Catcher, it all vanished.
Her eyes flew open, and she found herself staring at Lisa,
"Amelia!" Meg screamed, and her feet beat against the ground as she bolted through the camp and nearly kicked down the cabin door. Some campers blearily opened their eyes, but Meg ignored them as she approached Amelia.
She shook Amelia, calling her name, but the girl didn't wake.
"No!" Meg sobbed, shaking Amelia, her hands touching the girl's cheeks. Meg's tears hit Amelia's face.
"Please, wake up! I need you! I forgive you! I'll give you another chance. Please, Amelia."
There was still no response.
Meg leaned forward, her forehead resting against Amelia's and her hands cradling the girl's cheeks.
"I love you, Lia," she whispered, her breath ghosting over Amelia's lips.
For a moment, there was only the sound of Meg's crying.
And then…
"I love you, too, Anne."
Meg pulled away, and she sobbed, this time in relief, when she saw Amelia's eyes staring back at her, a smile tugging at the girl's lips.
"Amelia!" Meg exclaimed, and the girlfriends embraced, never wanting to let the other go.
"I forgive you," Meg whispered. "I forgive you, Lia."
It takes a lot of strength to say sorry, but it takes even more strength to forgive.
Please leave a review! Thanks for reading!