A Haunted Crime: Nightmares and Daydreams

Chapter 2: Habits

With her hands over her ears Andy ran with all her might to get away from the awful noise. She felt bad leaving Greg behind when she promised to not leave his side. But the sound was so harsh on her ear drums the only thing she could think to do was run. Turning the corner she felt her foot catch on something and she fell over landing on her stomach. Rows and rows of shelves lay before her, yet she stayed on the floor for lack of a better reason to get up. The noise stopped, all she could here was the sound of Greg's frantic footsteps, running throughout each isle looking for her. A faint yet distinct giggle came from somewhere above her head. She looked up to find a girl of about six years old. She had on a dark blue dress with four large while buttons on the chest and long billowy blonde hair. Andy could see completely through her. She stood up not taking her eyes off the translucent figure.

"Did you trip me?" Andy asked the girl.

The girl brought her tiny hand up to her mouth as she giggled, then nodded her head. Greg appeared at the end of the isle and yelled out for Andy to wait for him. But the little girl took off running down the isle and so did Andy.

Andy ran down the familiar isle's, chasing the little translucent six year old girl, who kept dodging her by running straight through the middle of the shelves. Andy ran harder and faster than she has ever run in her life. For a moment she thought she had finally got the little girl cornered, but once they got to the concrete wall, the little girl disappeared through the wall.

--

Andy awoke from that dream for what seemed like the hundredth time. Every time she gets closer to capturing the girl, but the closer she seems to get, the harder it is to run. Andy pushed the covers off her legs and swung them around to hang off the bed. She sat there rubbing the little bit of sleep she had from her eyes and looked at the clock. Five O'clock. She had one hour till she had to be at work.

Andy slid down off her bed and sent a shiver up her body as her feet touched the cold concrete floor. Andy, unlike the rest of her family, was a person of habit. She liked having structure and a plan for everything. Every day when she woke up she would walk into the bathroom, go number one, take a shower, examine the level of crap she looked like that day, brushed her teeth, feed her cat, eat a bowl of Captain Crunch, get dressed then leave the house locking the top lock as she exited. This habit seemed harder and harder to get through everyday, being that sleep doesn't come as easily as it once did. It had been about two weeks since Greg confronted her and told her they needed to go back to the house to make the nightmares stop, but something told her that going back was only going to make them worse.

She walked into the bathroom and immediately took to staring at her reflection. Her eyes were red with tired and the bags under them seem to get darker each day. She reached into the tub and turned on the cold water and undressed herself. She changed her habit to taking her showers every night before she fell asleep so she had more time in the mornings. Without turning on the hot water she stepped into the shower and sat down letting the freezing water wash over her body as a wake up call.

After several minutes, shivering like a mini seizure, she turned off the water and dried her self off with a towel. Feeling more awake she got dressed in her work clothes and threw her hair in a ponytail. Walking back out into her bedroom she noticed her cat, now laying on the warm spot she had once resided. "Lucky bastard." She said walking up the steps to the kitchen. She glanced at the clock on the microwave and it read five thirty-two. "Damn." Andy picked up the cat food and poured more than enough in Elvis's bowl and topped off the water. Glancing at the clock she wondered if she had enough time to eat a bowl of cereal. Deciding against it she grabbed two granola bars and left the house, only locking the bottom lock.

Andy made it to the lab with minutes to spare. Today was Andy's yearly review which she was not looking forward to. If she passed she would be giving credentials of CSI Level two. It came with a significant pay raise, but Warrick's idea of a review is looking over her shoulder every second, critiquing every move she makes. After stopping off at her locker she walked into the break room and headed straight for the coffee pot.

"Excuse me miss have you seen my sister."

"Shut up Nick." Andy retorted pouring herself a large cup of coffee and drinking it black. Nick was sitting at the table, newspaper spread out in front of him.

"You look like hell, I barely recognize you." He said, worry in his voice as she sat down across from him.

"I barely recognize myself." She admitted sipping on the hot liquid.

"You taking the sleeping pills." Nick asked with the same tone of worry. That was the only tone Andy heard from Nick now days.

"Yeah, but I think there just making it worse. It doesn't take away the fear. It just makes me more tired when I only get three hours of sleep." She said then covered her mouth while she yawned.

"Which one was it this time?"

"The little girl," Andy said rubbing her forehead. "I've had that same dream every night this week." The whole conversation Andy was looking in her coffee cup, but she knows her brother like the back of her hand. "Stop looking at me like that." Andy said still looking down.

"Like what?" Nick tried to play it off.

"Like I'm the victim, in one of our cases."

"I'm not looking at you like a victim."

"You look at me like you feel sorry for me." Andy said looking up at Nick for the first time. "This is hard enough without me having to see the pity in your eyes."

"I guess I just miss my sister. That's all." Andy looked up at Nick and took a deep breath.

"Yeah, I miss her too." She said looking back down at her half empty cup. "I don't know what else to do."

"I think you know exactly what to do." Greg said entering the break room. Andy rolled her eyes and watched Greg walked over to the coffee counter.

"No one asked you Greg." Andy shot with distaste. Ever since the incident she distanced herself from Greg. Being around him made her think about the house, he made it feel real. Yet, not being around him made her feel empty and alone. He was her candy and her poison.

"It is the only solution." Greg shot back at her.

Deep inside Greg knew Andy associated him with what happened last year, but the way he sees it, she tricked him into going back to that house. Not the other way around. All he wanted was to have a nice breakfast to apologize for the rude comments he made in the locker room. They had gone through a lot of shit together in what they thought was the house, only to wake up and find out they had been in commas for a quarter of a week and it had all been in their head. Whether it actually happened or it was just figments of their imagination, it kept him awake at night and he just wanted it to end.

"What if going back there just makes everything worse?" Andy repeated for the billionth time.

"Do you really think it could get worse than it already is?" Nick asked with a serious tone, "What if I went with you?"

"No!" Andy protested. She glanced over her shoulder before leaning in toward Nick. "I am risking my job thinking about going back to that place. I am not taking you down with me." Nick glanced from Greg to Andy then back to Greg.

"How you holding up?" Nick asked. Greg leaned against the counter holding a fresh cup of coffee. He too had bags under his eyes.

"I'm holding." Greg said. "It feels good to be able to talk about it ya know." The only people who knew about the dreams were the three people in that room and that's how they wanted it to stay.

"Hey Android, you ready?" Warrick said entering the room with a smile and rubbing his hands together.

"As I'll ever be." She said downing the last bit of her coffee.