So guys I don't know how I feel about this chapter...it took me forever to write that's about all I know about this chapter. Thank you guys for all of the reviews you guys are seriously amazing. (:

I don't own Austin and Ally ):

Not Letting You Slip Away Again

Chapter Two: Nightmares

Ally's POV

I folded my arms across my chest and shook my head disappointedly at the sight of Jason flirting with the girl he was ringing up. The girl walked past me with a huge smile plastered on her face clearly liking the attention she received from the dark-haired boy at the register. He offered me one of his signature smirks before walking out from behind the register and taking a seat on the piano bench. I followed him and listened to him play for a while.

"So how was school?" he asked.

"I don't really want to talk about it." I said taking a seat beside him. He turned to look at me, his pierced eyebrow arched. "Austin talked to me."

"He did?" Jason asked his sparkling blue eyes widening in shock. "Was my sister there or did you talk alone?"

"We were alone." I sighed focusing my gaze on the silver rings that decorated his fingers. "I'm going to have to give Dez a piece of my mind, he told Austin what happened."

"He would have found out from Sarah eventually, I did jump into your pool and try to resuscitate you." Jason said bumping his shoulder against mine.

"You may not have a gold exterior but underneath that punk heart of yours is truly something golden, Mr. Gold." I said getting up from the piano bench. "Your student is here for their lesson and I have a register to manage."

Sarah and Jason were alike in only one way, they had something about them that just made you like them, that's why I couldn't hate Sarah. They were just good people in general, that's why Jason had dived in to save me after I feel into the pool. I owe my life to Jason Gold, the dark haired nineteen year old with piercings and tattoos that happened to be the brother of the nicest girl in school.

I settled down behind the register and since the store wasn't busy I pulled out my econ book and started my homework. Trish walked in, not too long after I had started reading the assigned chapter, boasting about her new job that we both knew wasn't going to last. She talked and I listened while doing my homework every now and then I'd offer a few words. When she grew silent I looked up from my book to see what had caused her to stop talking, it wasn't a what it was a who. Austin had walked into the store.

"Hey Ally." He said with a smile.

"Don't touch or play any of the instruments." I warned before returning my gaze to my textbook.

"I'm actually here to pick up the guitar strings I ordered last week. Jason called and told me they were here." He said.

With an involuntary eye roll I closed my book and searched for his order. Surly enough it was there and stamped with the date of its arrival. I ripped the yellow order form off of the plastic bag and told him to sign along the dotted line. I placed the stings into one of our Sonic Boom plastic bags and blindly handed it to him.

"Ally can we talk?" He asked.

"I'm busy." I said.

"Yeah because there are so many people in the store." He said sarcastically.

"Have a nice day and thank you for shopping at Sonic Boom." I said in a monotone voice.

"Awkwardness." Jason sang after Austin walked out of the store without a single word. To the little girl he was teaching he said, "I'll see you on Monday."

"Tell me about it." Trish said. "Ally don't you think you're being a bit immature about this whole thing?"

"How would you act if I suddenly stopped talking to you?" I snapped and before she could respond I walked up to my practice room.

Austin's POV

The neighbors were all standing in front of their houses trying to comprehend what was going on. Sarah gasped at the sight of Jason talking to a police officer, he had a towel around his shoulders and was looking worriedly at the back of the ambulance. Per Sarah's request I stopped the car and followed her to where her brother stood. Jason was soaking wet and slowly it dawned on me that we were standing in front of Ally's house.

"What happened?" I demanded looking into the eyes of my girlfriend's older brother.

"You two need to leave." The police officer said grabbing my arm just as I took a step toward the house.

"Is Ally okay?" I asked Jason while trying to pull out of the officer's grip. Jason's solemn gaze fell down to his boots. "Jason is she okay?"

"I don't know." Jason answered.

Sarah and I were escorted off of the premises by another police officer before I could ask Jason anymore questions concerning Ally. I waited for Jason at Sarah's house but he never came back. For days I waited to hear what happened to Ally but I never saw her dad or her mom or Jason. Sarah seemed to know what was happening because Jason was involved but she didn't tell me whether it was out of respect for the Dawson's privacy or because she didn't want me to know the horrible truth I didn't know.

"Dez do you know what happened to Ally?" I asked my best friend who was still close friends with Ally.

"Yeah." Dez said looking grim.

"Can you tell me? I can't take not knowing." I said.

"Trust me you're better off not knowing." Dez said shaking his head.

"I need to know." I said desperately. Even though I hadn't talked to Ally in the longest time I still cared about her. There was a part of me that always wanted to know if she was happy, that if she was doing okay. She adapted to high school well from what I could tell, she had friends that made her laugh and was on her way to becoming our class's top student. As the years went by I realized just exactly what I was missing. "I care about her."

"You have a funny way of showing it." Dez said.

"I know."

"Her mother had a mental breakdown and attacked her. She was running away from her mom when she tripped, hit her head, and fell into the pool where she drowned. Jason heard all the screaming and found her mother in the downstairs bathroom, her wrists slit and barely breathing. He searched the house for Ally, blood was smeared all over the walls and the house was in disarray, before finding her at the bottom of the pool. He pulled her out of the pool and tried to resuscitate her." Dez said looking out at the beach. "She's alive though the doctors managed to revive her but technically she was dead for a while."

I dropped my face into my hands and realized that Sarah had been right in sparing me the truth, it was horrible.

Standing in front of Ally's house always brought back those memories along with many others but those were now tainted with blood and death. According to Sarah the Dawson's had moved out of the house and Mrs. Dawson was institutionalized. I could never imagine what it would be like to have one of the people who were supposed to love you the most come after you and try to kill you. Mrs. Dawson must have been too gone to not even be able to tell her own daughter apart from the hallucinations that Ally had told me haunted her.

Without a second thought I got back into my car and drove back to the mall, Ally was stubborn but then again so was I.

Ally's POV

I woke up screaming. When I slept I always saw her looming over me with this crazed look in her brown eyes and blood smeared all over her face and arms, she always looked ready to kill me or the hallucination she thought I was. Just like the day of the incident I'd run and she'd chase me and despite knowing that I made it outside I always thought that after I fell down the stairs it was the end. The dream would end just as I make it outside and trip over my own feet hit my head and fall into the pool where I drown.

The door to the practice room swung open and at that moment I didn't care that it was Austin. He didn't hesitate in coming over to me. Gently he brushed my hair from my face and the tears that streamed down my cheeks away with his thumbs. He started talking but I couldn't hear anything because I was reliving the nightmare, as if it were stuck on repeat. My eyes squeezed shut but behind my eyelids I saw my mom come at me with the knife.

"Ally it's okay." He said taking my face into his hands. My eyes shot open and without thinking I threw myself at him, needing to feel something solid and real, something that wasn't going to kill me. He rubbed my back and held me tight against him, "Its okay, I'm here and I'm not going anywhere."

So there it was please review.