Chapter Seventeen
July 29, 1999
5:01 PM
"So I got the steak but I couldn't find the red wine I wanted so we'll have to make do." Alex put his shopping bag up on the counter. "What are you doing?"
Sandra was bent over a mixing bowl, spatula in one hand, cookbook in the other, "Making dessert."
Alex leaned over her, looking into the bowl, whatever it was, it looked a little strange. "Is it supposed to look like that?"
Sandra shooed him away, "I turned on the barbeque for you, go cook something on it." She turned back to her creation.
It had been almost two weeks since Sandra had, had her strange nightmare and Alex had slept in her room. He had stayed in his room since then, not knowing that her nightmares had persisted. They were getting worse, enough so that she tried to stay awake most nights. She'd finished three novels in the past week, in her pursuit to stay awake. She wasn't sure if Alex noticed or not, since she did a pretty good job on her under-eye makeup and she always went to bed before him, keeping the light low in her room.
As she stared into the depths of the bowl, she tried to remember how many eggs she'd put in but her fatigued brain hadn't even processed that information. She cursed when she realized that she'd put way too much milk in and wondered even if there was a point in trying to salvage it.
She was tired of not pulling her weight in the cooking department, every night Alex made dinner and all she could do was stand a watch. Although she had learned a lot, she still lacked the talent Alex had, which was blaringly obvious now.
"How's it going?"
It was question Sandra had been dreading since she'd taken her concoction out of the oven minutes ago. Alex had already put the steaks on the grill and made the salad, he was now popping some baked potatoes into the stove.
"Um, well…Jesus Christ I suck at this." Sandra threw her hands up in the air.
Alex laughed and handed her a glass of red wine, "It doesn't look so bad," To distract her away from her disaster, it really was scary, Alex tilted his glass to the patio just outside the kitchen. "I think we should eat outside."
Sandra gave one last glance at her failed attempt to regain her cooking pride before being led out into the beautiful night.
They ate dinner, making causal conversation, which had been getting old after the first week but it was the still the effort that counted. They kept to current topics, not mentioning anything about their past or anything personal but since all they did was stay in the apartment all day, they really didn't have anything to talk about. In fact Sandra was starting to get a major case of cabin fever which was only amplified by her lack of sleep. It was a wonder that she wasn't raging around the place with a murderous case of PMS.
Later that night, sitting on the couch watching the movie, Alex noticed Sandra starting to nod off. It hadn't missed his attention that she hadn't been sleeping, though he had no idea how bad it really was. He lifted her up into his arms without waking her, carrying her up the stairs to her room and laying her down on the bed. She gently curled around him when he laid down next to her.
He knew he should probably leave but he couldn't bring himself to pull away, she seemed so fragile in his arms. Even without noticing, he moved his face so it was right next to her, breathing in her scent. He'd been careful these last few weeks not to make any physical contact, to ignore the sexual pull to her. It wasn't even just that though, he didn't just want to sleep with her, he truly just wanted to hold her, to feel her body against his. Still, he was enjoying all this time he got to spend with her, especially since he knew that it wouldn't last very long.
He finally pulled away, slowly and carefully sliding off her socks and jeans, and slipping her under the covers. As he headed to the door, he heard her moan softly to stay. He ran his hand over her cheek and slid into a chair next to the bed, grabbing the blanket off the bottom of her bed.
He had just slipped into sleep when he heard Sandra moan and when he opened his eyes he saw the blankets knotted around her and she was shifting back and forth frantically. Before Alex could get to her, she shot up and looked around.
She saw Alex moving towards the bed, "What are you doing here?"
Alex ignored the question, moving to sit beside, "How long have these nightmares been going on?"
Sandra suddenly became very interested in her bedspread. "Since we got here."
Alex let out a fierce groan, "Why didn't you tell me?"
Even though the images from her dream were still floating in her brain, she concentrated on Alex, which gave her a strange amount of comfort.
An image from her dream flooded her head and she felt tears spring in her eyes. Alex gently pulled her to him, rubbing his hand over her hair and softly told her that everything would be alright when she started to sob.
At the sound of her crying his heart seemed to break in two, it was the worst sound in the whole world and he wanted so badly to make her stop. But he wouldn't, she needed to get it out because she was holding something inside her and that was probably what was causing the dreams.
When she stopped, Alex held her face in his hands, tilting her head to his, "Tell me about them."
Sandra shook her head, she was afraid that if she did, they might come true. "I can't."
Alex gently kissed her forehead, "You need to talk about them otherwise they won't go away."
Sandra shut her eyes, trying to bring back the images. "It starts off in this room and it's really dark but I can see this light coming from this crack in the wall, the light's red. There's also this fog, it's really heavy and it makes it hard to breath. And I can feel someone else in the room but I can't see them. And then I can't open my eyes, I can't see anything and I feel this cold wind, rush over me. Then it's gone and I open my eyes and I see you." Sandra turned her head away from him not wanting to continue.
"Then I kill you."