Chapter 10

Josh groaned. He murmured inaudibly as he tossed back and forth in a restless sleep.
"Got to…save her…"
He continued to toss. Pretty soon the sheets on his bed were tangled and they threaten to strangle him, as did his nightmare.
"No! Come back!" he muttered.
Outside his beach house the sky opened up and rain began to pour down.
"Rachel…Rachel come back please! Rachel!"

Just a streak of lighting ripped through the sky. It was followed by a loud roll of thunder. Josh jerked and opened his eyes. He looked up at the ceiling for several minutes while he let the feelings from the nightmare he had slip away. Finally he sat up in his bed and looked around. Everything was normal. Everything looked the same as it did when he had gone to sleep. The sheets were a little damp though from all the sweating he had done.

"You ok Hermano?"
Josh jumped at the sound of the voice.
"Oops…"
"Bro, what did I tell you about just popping into my head?"
"Sorry Hermano…."
Josh sighed.
"It's cool Berto. How long have you been there?"
"I've been here a little while. I was watching you sleep."
"Getting a little creepy there aren't you bro?" Josh asked with a small smile on his face.
"I notice you were having a nightmare…"

The smile quickly vanished off of Josh's face.
"Yeah well you know how it is. You know you shouldn't watch that horror flick before you go to bed. But you just can't help watchi…"
"I heard you call out her name," Berto interrupted.
Josh sighed.
"I don't want to talk about it!"
"Maybe you need to Josh. You're letting this eat you alive."

Josh scoffed.
"Why should I care what she does? With her not around I have to put with a whole lot less crap."
"Stage 2. Denial," muttered Berto.
"Are you analyzing me again? I told you not to do that!" Josh shouted.
"Stage 3, transferring anger to another person or thing."
"Stop it!"
Berto bit his lip.
"…I'm sorry," he said after a moment.
Josh sighed.
"Yeah, me too Bro. I just…."
"I know… I miss her too."

Josh ran his fingers through his damp blond hair. He was silent for several minutes as he mulled over the contents of his nightmare.
"Do you think she's ok?" he asked Berto quietly.
Berto smiled slightly.
"I'm sure she is hermano. I mean she's Rachel. I haven't seen a goon yet that could stand up to her."
"Yeah, you're probably right," he sighed, "I'm just…so worried about her. And what about us? What about N-Tek? What's going to happen if we can't get her back?"
"I don't know," Berto answered honestly, "One thing is for sure. Rachel's mom wasn't playing around."

Just then Josh's phone began to ring, however Josh made no move to answer it.
"Uh, aren't you going to answer that?" asked Berto.
"What for?"
"Oh I don't know… because it's ringing."
"I don't feel like talking to anyone."
"But what if it is…" Berto's voice trailed off.
Josh knowing what he was going to say had already sprung across the bed and picked up the phone.
"Rachel?"

There was silence on the other side of the phone for what seemed like an eternity. Finally the person on the line began to speak.
"Well I guess I know now why you haven't been answering my calls."
Josh immediately recognized the familiar voice on the other line. He smacked himself in the head and cursed lightly under his breath.
"Laura…I…I'm sorry I haven't called you back. I just…"
He didn't get a chance to finish before the line went dead.
"Dammit…"

Josh hung the phone up and lay back down on his bed.
"Great! Just what I needed, MORE problems."
"Don't you think you should call her back or maybe go over there?" Berto suggested.
Josh stared at the ceiling.
"Nah. I can't deal with it right now. I've got too much on my mind. Besides, I should probably give her some time to cool down, don't you think?
"Whatever you say Josh. You're the pro."

A sudden yawn stifled Josh's retort. When the yawn had passed he rolled from his back on to his stomach and laid his head on his pillow.
"Say bro," he began sleepily, "Is there any chance I could get some more sleep. You know, without the creepy stalker stuff."
"Oh I don't know Josh. I just love you so much I don't think I can go without you for even an hour," Berto replied sarcastically. "You're all I have."
Josh smiled in spite of himself and everything that was going on around him.
"Ha! Love you too bro. Switching bio-link off."
He switched of his connection to Berto and closed his eyes. At least this time if he dreamt of Rachel again he would get to do it alone.

Ok. So I decided I wanted to continue this story. At first I was going to completely redo it, but since the reviews seem to suggest people liked it the way it was I decided to leave it as is. Well all except for chapter 10. I hated the second half of chapter 10 so I kept the second half and just extended the first half. Hope you enjoyed.