"How can you even think that!?" He towered over her, screaming his disgust of her twisted mind.

She sat on the floor leaning her back against the wall. She lifted her eyes from her feet and looked up at him, "I won't let this screw up my life. I've only just figured out what I'm gonna do with my self and I won't throw it away because of what you want." Her voice was quiet and it took all her energy to hold back the tears piling behind her eyes.

"What life?! Attempting to sell what you slap onto canvas while I work my arse off so we can live in this five star flat!" He didn't lower his voice.

"What I slap onto a canvas?! Did it ever occur to you that ever since I started 'slapping stuff onto canvases' I can say that for the first time in my life I'm happy?! Or would you have preferred that I stay in a high-paying desk job that makes me miserable?!"

"I would have preferred that you didn't turn your back on your dream!"

"This is my dream! And I can't let your wishes get in the way of it!" The tears had spilt out of her eyes and were rolling down her cheeks.

He took a deep breath and sat down beside her, "You think you're the the only one worried about this?" his voice was low and soft, the way it had sounded when she'd fallen in love him, "Hell, when you told me my whole life flashed before my eyes. But there are so many things we can do about this. Do you even realize what you're talking about?" He took her face in his soft hands and wiped away her tears, he kissed her damp cheek and pulled her bangs out of her face.

She let herself fall under his spell for a moment before pushing him away and shooting up to tower over him. "Of course I know what I'm talking about! And I know it's the right choice!"

"How can it be the right choice?!" He was yelling again, but she didn't fear him this time, she was so consumed by emotion that she had no room for fear.

She paced in front of him and put her hands to her throbbing head. "I'm getting a headache, I need to get out of here."

She took a step towards her jacket, but he stood up and acted as a barrier between them. "Fine then, no more yelling, just please stay here and we'll talk about this." His voice was soft again and he'd taken her hands in his.

"It's not the yelling," she jerked her hands out of his, "I need to get away from you."

It broke her heart to see his heart break. His head fell and he stepped out of the way. She grabbed her coat and headed for the door. She was through the doorway before she stopped, turned around, and ran back to him. She threw her arms around his neck, he lifted his head to kiss her passionately. After what felt like hours, they broke apart and she buried her face in the crook of his neck. Through tears, she told him, "I promise I'll be back in a couple days, I just need to figure this out for myself. You can understand that?"

"I can," his voice shook with tears.

"I love you so much, I know we can get through this," she wept.

He lifted her head and looked into her eyes, "I love you too, whatever we do, we'll get through it together."

She smiled through her tears and nodded. Pulling away from his embrace, she left the flat. Turning around to smile at him one last time.

Peach's shot out of her dream. She felt the tears that were still running down her cheeks. She thought that she was through with the nightmares. That she had gotten better. She hadn't had any nightmares in months. She'd had dreams…dreams of George. How long had it been? A week? More?

She heard the distant sound of feet climbing up stairs. Tonnie pulled back a curtain and walked over to Peach's bed, where she lay.

"I heard you wake up." Tonnie's voice was soft a she pulled strands of her friend's hair away from her damp cheeks, "another nightmare?"

Peach feared that if she opened her mouth she'd break down completely, so all she did was nod.

"I was so relieved when I thought they were over. But now they're worse than before."

"Me too," The moment the words escaped her lips, Peach was reduced to a puddle of tears. Tonnie gathered her in her arms and held tightly.

"I'm sure he'll come back." She cooed.

Peach only made another gasp for air and cried harder, "What's happening to me?!"

Tonnie took a deep breath. "I don't know," she lied.

She held Peach for a long time before she finally calmed down and pulled away.

"I think I need to get out of here."

------------------------------

Peach's eyes jerked open as the train came to a stop. She didn't bother to check how she looked. She felt like hell and knew that she looked it too. Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes she stood up with her one bag aver her shoulder. Stepping off of the train began to walk.

---------------------------

Mrs. Yarin looked at her daughter who stood in her doorway. She carried the look of a lost child and looked like she hadn't showered in days. She took in choky breath before saying, "The time of year's kind of gotten to me. I really needed to get out of the city."

They both broke down. Mrs. Yarin gathered her daughter in her arms. Through the tears, she guided her into the house.

-------------------------------

The house smelt unmistakably of peaches, coffee, and burning wood. The smells she'd grown up with.

The smell triggered warm memories of when life had been easier. Christmas morning, running down the stairs to find her father with a fresh cup of coffee and her mother with a decorative jar of peaches. Summers spent in the kitchen with her mother canning peaches. A family hug, smother by the two scents of her parents. All illuminated by the wood fire. Sitting at the table, sipping warm coffee and sinking her teeth into the soft flesh of juicy peaches, a warm smile grew on her face as she remembered.

"Is everything alright?" asked her father.

Placing her coffee cup on the table she made a quick nod, "yeah, I'm doing okay."

"Work's good? You're getting lots of customers?" her mother jumped in.

"Yeah, more than I can handle actually," she assured her.

"You're not too stressed?"

"No."

"Then why did you come here?"

Peach picked at some chipping paint on the pastel blue table, "The nightmares came back."

Her parents let out worried sighs. They stood up and walked over to her, to sandwich her between her two favorite scents.

------------------------

"You did it?! You did it without telling me?! How could you?!"

"Don't you realize that I'm hurting too?! I'm so disgusted with myself! All I want to do right now is crawl into a hole die!"

"I can't believe this. I thought we'd agreed against it. We were going to do this together."

She paused before answering, "You'd agreed to it. You never listened to what I wanted! I wasn't ready. I was way over my head and you just kept pushing me under. I had to make this decision without you."

He didn't answer he just turned around and made for the door.

"Where are you going?!" she cried.

He turned to look at her, "I can't be around someone who would do what you did." With that, he turned and stormed out the door.

"Wait! Wait! Please!" she ran to the door, but he was already gone. She crouched in the doorframe and cried for hours. She didn't stop when Tonnie walked in. She dropped the groceries and ran to her side when she saw her. Clinging to Tonnie, Peach whispered, "I told him."

"How'd he take it?"

She took in a deep breath, "He said that he couldn't be around me because of what I did." She cried harder.

Tonnie held her for a long time, right there in the hallway, people passed and she heard Tonnie scream at them to go away. After Peach had calmed down a bit, Tonnie propped her up and said, "You can sleep in loft again if you want."

Peach sniffed and nodded. Tonnie supported her and led her up the spiral staircase.

-----------------------------

Peach's eyes shot open. The smell of her old pillow entered her nose and she remembered where she was. Her cheeks were yet again damp. She was surprised she had any tears left to shed. She had cried so much in the last month. Every night, she relived another moment of the nightmare that had fallen so heavily and suddenly onto her shoulders. She knew the story perfectly, she had seen it, felt it, lived it. But still, every night came as a complete shock to her.

She didn't want to fall asleep, there was one chapter left to go. The hardest chapter, the chapter where everything that had happened, everything she had done hit her. And it always hit her hard, knocking her to down to rock bottom in one hard, swift blow.

She didn't want to go through it, she'd never sleep again if that's what it took. But it would always be there in the back of her head. She would always know.

Maybe

She thought,

Maybe, if I go through it willingly. If I force myself through it again, in my conscious mind, I can dream tonight.

So, she sat up, closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and remembered.

----------------

Taking a deep breath, she turned the key and opened the door to the flat she had called home for the past two years. Turning the key, she opened the door, stepped in, and nearly fainted at what she saw. Nothing. All of his photographs. Gone. His music collection. Gone. The bookshelf. Empty. She ran to the bedroom. Thrusting the closet open, she found all his clothes absent. She closed her eyes and a tear ran along her cheek. She wiped it away and turned around. Only to find the breath sucked out of her. Her paints scattered the floor, across the wall he'd painted one word.

KILLER

----------------

She shot her eyes open. She fell onto the floor in heap. Sobbing. Thrusting all her emotion into her tantrum. She rolled on the floor and wailed loudly.

What did I do?!

She screamed inside her head.

You're sick! Sick! Nothing will change what you did!

She told it to herself over and over, until the words lost their meaning.

It's your fault he's gone! Gone! Gone! Gone!

Gone. The words didn't have an effect on her. Was it so horrible that he was gone? Would she rather have him with her?

She rolled onto her back. She thought about how she'd felt when he left. How she'd wished she'd never met him. What about George? George had left. But she would never forget their months together. Even if they were never a couple, she had loved him. She'd loved him like she'd never loved anyone before. The pain of losing George was worth the memories. Daniel wasn't worth this. Daniel had left thinking only of his own pain. Not of her, the girl he was supposed to love.

She wasn't crying anymore. She didn't feel like crying. The pain had ceased. But it hadn't ceased like it had when the incident had first occurred, gradually slipping out of her mind. She the way she had whenever she was around George. Totally and completely happy. She'd done it. All by herself. It didn't matter that it only lasted a moment. That a second later she remembered George's absence. She didn't depend on anybody but herself. She could do fine on her own. Maybe she would go back to London. Maybe she would start another painting, an independent, happy painting. Maybe she would dream.

And it was with a smile on her face, and a clear head that she lay on her pillow and fell into a dream of fiery red hair and laughter.

Hours later, she awoke to the sound of her father's voice, "Peachie! Tonnie's on the phone!"