Chapter 21
~.~
Based off of a nightmare I really had just had last week. Takes place when Ruby is eight months old.
I'm in a hotel or motel with my real parents.
It's then I see him: my crazy ex-boyfriend from high school, the one I dated before I dated Hiccup.
My crazy ex is the one who, when I broke up with him through email (cowardly, I know), threatened me with "when I see you again, you'll regret it".
I tell my mom I think he had almost hurt me.
I'm then running through the hotel/motel. I spot Drake Bell for some reason. Then I see my ex again, but a chubbier version of himself. He has a pair of really sharp scissors. He had stabbed Drake and was coming after me. I'm fighting him and trying to not get stabbed.
I'm begging him not to stab me in my right side because of my fear. He complies. I'm eventually strong enough to point the scissors at him and they scratch his chin, breaking the skin. I keep fighting and I'm breathing really hard and…
I bolt up in bed, breathing really hard. I look to my right to see Eret, still asleep. Penny jumps on the bed, nudging at me.
"I'm okay, Penny. Just a bad dream."
I get up, throw a blanket around me, tell Penny to stay and quickly but quietly head out to the fire escape on the side of our apartment building.
What if he remembers his threat and comes after me?
What if I'm not strong enough to stop him?
Why didn't my real parents call the police after he threatened me, when I was 16 and he was 21?
What if he hurts me like Drago did?
What if he hurts Ruby? Or Eret? Or my adoptive family?
I start sobbing at those thoughts. I don't notice someone sitting next to me, wrapping their arms around me. Twosomeones.
"Shhh. It's okay, sis. We're here."
I begin to recount the nightmare to my adoptive siblings.
"You abandoned our daughter? How could you?" I look up and see Eret through the open window, holding a crying Ruby.
"I had a nightmare, Eret. I needed to be by myself and think."
"That's not an excuse."
"Eret, you don't know about the nightmare she had. It's the first one she's ever had about him…about her crazy ex."
"What crazy ex?"
"You never told him?!" My siblings exclaim.
"I didn't think it mattered. It's been six years since…since he threatened me."
"Of course it matters, sweetheart. He was 21. You were 16."
"My parents should've called the police. But, no, my dad just had a stern talk with his dad."
"My love, why didn't you tell me about this?"
"It's so stupid, me getting scared over a threat."
"Sweetie, you didn't just get scared. You practically got PTSD."
(No lie.)
"My love, I'm sorry I snapped at you. And I know you'd never abandon our daughter. I was just…just…"
"Afraid that I'd leave you so you had to take care of our daughter alone?"
"Yeah. I'm sorry."
"I forgive you."
I head back inside to my husband and daughter after telling my adoptive siblings goodbye. After telling Eret about the nightmare and about my ex, we head back to bed.
