Night Terrors
Ch. 1- Scream
A shrill scream echoed through the snow-covered streets of New York. It bounced off the dirty buildings, seeming to come from everywhere at once.
Becca sat up, panting heavily and sweating, eyes wide with horror. Her dream had left her with an unavoidable sense of doom, and she still could smell the blood. Cradling her head in her arms, she rocked herself while still under her white and blue covers. She shivered, though her covers kept her warm on the brisk Tuesday morning, May the third. 'Girls at the age of fourteen shouldn't have dreams like the ones I do… They shouldn't be haunted like that…' She thought, and then suddenly stopped rocking.
"Who screamed, though?" She whispered after a shudder. Licking her lips slowly, she went over her haunting dream.
Becca had been walking down a dark corridor. She had felt a cold breeze that was oddly fresh. Walking towards the current of air, she, outside the dream, had felt a sense of horror and smelt a waft of blood on the breeze. She had tried to stop her dream-self from continuing, but as she got closer, her fear seemed to drift away on the breeze. There seemed to be a horribly wonderful aura coming from inside a door, welcoming her with desperate cries. Too desperate. But she could not stop, and she threw open the door to find a girl standing in the middle of the room, facing away from her. The girl had perfectly golden hair being ruffled by the moist and sticky breeze, but she seemed not to care. Becca noticed that she was wearing her favorite outfit, light jeans and a black tank-top. She also wore a black necklace, which held a beautiful picture of a wolf carved in metal. Suddenly, as the girl turned to face her, she noticed that it was her. She wanted to run, but she was frozen in fear. As Becca looked at her face, she noticed something wasn't right but couldn't tell what. Her heart pounding in fear, she searched desperately for the answer.
Shocked, she had woken up. It had been her that had screamed. She looked up from wringing her covers, hearing loud footsteps. Sighing thankfully, she identified her parent's rushed running. Her door burst open and her parents were by her bed, leaving the door swinging. "What happened?" Her mother cried, seeing her distress.
"Bad dream… I'm fine," Becca murmured while her mom sat down on her bed.
Her father stroked her hair, and then commented, "You screamed. It must have been a night terror, regular dreams aren't that bad." Her father paused. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"No…" Becca whispered darkly, still shaken from her dream, or night terror, as her father called it.
There was an odd pause, then her mother sighed, "Good thing you didn't wake-"
She was cut off as Becca sat up then snapped, "My sister? Is that all you can think about right now? I just woke up, screaming! Every night I have terrible dreams that I shouldn't be troubled with! I am scared of blinking, and you worry about Mary?" She ended yelling terribly, her cheeks wet with tears. Her mother and father stared at her, shocked. She felt her blood rush to her cheeks and her face turn red. She had just told her parents the only thing that she hated more than her night terrors, her brother. Looking down at her sheets, she gulped. The seconds seemed like hours.
Her mother glanced at her father and he scowled, and then burst out, "Rebecca Jean Casey! Quiet down! You're grounded!"
A small cry echoed through the house. Becca's mother and father just stared at her, and then rushed out, obviously to her little brother's room. She balled her fists and ground her teeth, seething with anger. Suddenly the tears that she had hidden for two years, since her brother had been born, flowed out of her. Throwing herself around, she accidently threw off her blue cover and slammed into her white pillow. She yelled into her pillow as her tears soaked it. She cried for a whole hour, letting her anger leak out through her eyes. Slowly, her fierce sobs died away and then stopped. They were replaced by soft, whispering sighs as she slept. Becca had no dreams, for she slept too heavily.
It was good to be able to sleep for two hours without night terrors.
Ch. 2- Life
Becca woke up to the obnoxious and rhythmic beep of her alarm clock.
