Chapter Twenty-seven

Nightmares Return

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Serena got out of bed eairly that morning, unable to sleep because of a haunting dream. She looked at the clock and sighed. It's going to be a long day, it's only 5. She had been laying there for 30 minutes. But what bugged her was her nightmare she'd had. She had it Saturday night, and it came back last night as well. It was the dream that her and Darien had shared a few days ago with one difference. Instead of her and Darien walking, it was her parents. "I wonder..." She whispered, but stopped seeing her aunt move around her bed.

She decided to go out to the living room so she wouldn't desturbe anyone. Could my dream have been what happened to them? No, can't be. But then why do I keep having it. Two nights in a row with the same dream... She softly started to cry. "Could I have somehow prevented this from happening? Mom, dad, Sammy...I'm sorry, I failed you all." She whispered softly. "Why did you have to go, why did you have to leave me?"

"Serena?" Someone placed their hand on her shoulder.

She jumped at the voice. She turned around to see who it was. "Oh, hi Zac."

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you."

"No, it's okay I didn't wake you, did I?"

"No."
"Good."

"Are you okay?" He asked, taking a seat next to her on the couch, spotting the tear lines on her cheeks.

"Yah...I think...I don't know. I mean it's hard and I miss them dearly..." She started to cry again.

"I know how you feel, my parents died when I was younger too."

"How did you deal with all the pain, I mean...you were younger and you're perfectly fine now...I would've died if that happened to me when I was younger, I don't think I could've lived...it's already hard..." She trailed off.

"It was hard at first, but then when I went to the orphanage I met Darien and the others, and they helped me through it. It's going to be hard for a while, I won't lie, but it will get easier." He placed a hand on hers.

"But I feel like I could've...should've done something to prevent this whole thing."

"There was no-" He started.

"No, a few nights ago, I had this dream...well nightmare. Darien and I were walking in the park and all of a sudden, we were attacked. Well Saturday night and last night, I had the same dream, only my parents replaced Darien and I..." She sobbed, pulling her knees to her chest and burring her head into them.

"Serena, there was no way you could've guessed that anything was going to happen. He tried to comfort...and after a minute, it worked.

"Thanks, Zac. I'm probably just overthinking the situation." She smiled up at him.

"Anytime."

"So why are you up so early?" She asked, quickly changing the subject.

"For some reason, I'm always up early. I usually go for a walk or something."

"Oh, weird." She laughed.

"Well I'm off, try to get some sleep, k?" He said getting up to get his coat.

"Will do."
"Bye." Serena waved as he walked out the door.

I still can't help to thing that there was something I could've done. She sighed as she rested her head on the back of the couch, and slowly drifted back to sleep.

Zac came back about an hour later and saw her sleeping on the couch. She seemed to be shivering, so he grabbed a blanket and laid it on top of her.

After another two hours, Darien walked out to the living room just as Serena shot awake after having the same nightmare again.

"Are you okay, Serena?" Darien asked rushing to her side.

"What?" She looked over at Darien. "Oh, yah...I guess." She lied.

"What's wrong?" He asked seeing through her lie.

"Well I woke up a few hours ago, cuz of a nightmare. Remember that one we both had the other night?" He nodded. "Well it was that one, but instead of us walking, it was my parents. Darien, what if I could've prevented this...they'd still be here...what if..." She started sobbing again.

"Serena, you never in a million years could've prevented this." He said, pulling her into a hug.

"But-"

"No buts, you couldn't do anything. You're going to have doubts about that, but you couldn't. Believe me, I had doubts that if I had done this, or that, my parents would be in the room next to mine today."

She sat there and took in what he had said. "I guess you're right." She looked up at him a smiled. "Thanks."

"You know, I'm going to get sick of hearing that word." He joked.

She punched him in the gut. "Fine, I guess I won't try and be nice any more!" She backed away from him.

"I was just playing, baby. You know you can come to me anytime with anything." He said, thinking she was serious.

"And I was just playing too. You know I love you."

"And I'll always love you."

"So what do you have planned for the day?" Serena asked.

"Well the guys need jobs, so we planned last week that we'd go 'job hunting' today. Unless you want me here..." He added knowing how she felt.

"No, it's okay. I don't need to be by my boyfriends side 24/7 like I see some girls do. I was going to show Yella around the town, and take her for a surprise visit to all the girls. They love her as much as I do."

"Okay, good. I don't like to have someone hanging on my arm 24/7 either. I love spending time with you. But everyone needs to spend sometime with their friends and other people as well."

"Took the words right out of my mouth." She laughed.

"So what's the plans for the day?" They heard a voice from behind them.

"Mornin' Yella." Darien greeted.

"Good morning."

"Hey, I wanted to show you around town today, and maybe make a surprise visit to the girls, they'll be so happy!" Serena said, bouncing up and down.

"Oh, I miss the girls so much."

"And I'm sure they miss you too."

"Darien, will you be joining us?"

"No, my friends are looking for jobs today, and they wanted me to go with them."

"Oh, okay. Well I'm going to get ready." Yella waved.

"Me too. Love ya muffin." She pecked him on the lips.

"Love ya too, angel."