She awoke with a choked gasp her hands quickly flying up to her neck as if to pry away some unseen fingers crushing the breath from her body. Her bright brown eyes darted around the room to every ambiguous shadow looming in the corner and her heart beat loud in her ears. The soft murmur and rustling of sheets from the other side of the room caught her attention and her eyes snapped to it. Almost immediately she breathed a sigh of relief, her heartbeat slowed, no longer a deafening rush in her ears. After-images of the dream still drifted through her mind and she shook her head to clear them away.

Her eyes roamed over the two distinct forms nestled in the bed just opposite hers seemingly undisturbed by her sudden awakening. A soft smile turned the corners of her mouth up as she lifted a hand to run through her hair. She watched the two sleeping forms for a few more moments before she slid out of her bed and quietly to the floor. Her forehead and back were covered in a layer of perspiration causing her thick cotton nightgown and hair to cling uncomfortably to her skin.

Her feet padded softly across the hardwood floor to come to a stop before the only window in the room. Her fingers slid under the sill and with a firm push she lifted it open. The window groaned quietly in protest and she winced as the silence throughout the house only magnified the sound. Once it was fully open she closed her eyes for a moment and allowed the cool breeze to wash over her warm skin. She stuck her head out of the window and rested her palms against the sill and made to hoist herself out when a soft voice rang out stopping her.

"Emi? What are you doing, Emi? It's still dark out." She bit down on her full bottom lip for a moment and stepped back pulling herself back into the room as she turned to face the owner of the voice already knowing to whom it belonged. Behind her sitting up in bed was her youngest sister watching her with large curious eyes the deepest shade of blue.

"Nothing Kaylee, go back to sleep." She responded as she walked back across to the room and at the young girl's side to tuck her back into bed. Kaylee lay back down without any fight but she watched her eldest sister's face intently.

"Emi it's still dark out. Are you leaving again?" Emi chewed on her bottom lip but didn't say anything. She brushed her fingers through Kaylee s golden hair that fell in loose ringlets to her shoulders before smiling warmly at her.

"Only for a little bit. I'll be back before mother and father wake. So please go back to sleep Kaylee." Emi leaned forward and planted a kiss against Kaylee's forehead before straightening up and returning to the window. She could feel Kaylee's gaze on her back as she went but she did not pause to look back over her shoulder at her. She knew she would fall back asleep in a few minutes after she'd gone. She easily pulled her self through the window and her feet found the familiar footholds along the side of her house on their own and she began her descent downwards. It took her less than half a minute for her feet to reach the dew laden grass from much practice. She smoothed her nightgown down and with a quick glance around turned and briskly walked towards the tree line not far from her home. Emi picked her way through the trees, careful of where she stepped to save her bare feet the trouble of pricking themselves on something sharp, ignoring the wide path not too far from her right.

The path soon disappeared from view as she pushed onwards her eyes sweeping the area before her in search of something. It didn't take too long for her to find what she sought. She quickly turned onto a much smaller path her pace picking up as soon as her feet hit it. This was not the first time Emi traveled down this path alone in the dark; she traversed it often to reach her special spot. She never feared being attacked by any stray animal sure that she could defend herself and thus never wasted any time feeling nervous walking in the woods at night; but as she walked on an unsettling feeling settled in the pit of her stomach and made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. She frowned and glanced around nervously. She was much too close to her goal to want to turn back now but as she continued on the feeling grew until she found herself forcing each foot in front of the other concentrating on each movement to prevent herself from running full speed back to the house.

'This is ridiculous! There is absolutely no reason for me to behave like this!' She yelled inwardly at herself. She lifted her eyes from her feet as she half stumbled into a small clearing. She stood up straight and lifted her head banishing her worried feelings to wherever they had crawled out from. She had finally reached her destination - a small spring circled by a few feet of grass on all sides deep within the forest. So what if she easily could be stalked from the safety of the trees and never know she was a target for some attack...No! None of that, it had been awhile since she had last come here and she wasn't going to waste all her time thinking of exciting ways she could be left for dead before she had an inkling of what was happening.
She strode over to the small pool's edge and tested the water with the tip of her toe. The temperature was cool but not freezing, just as she preferred it on nights like these. She pulled her nightgown over her head and neatly folded it and placed it with care off to the side before she slid into the spring.

The water lapped against her skin as she waded out into the very center of the small pool, the water ending just below her collarbone. Tiny goose bumps formed along her skin making her shiver slightly. She tilted her head back and let her chocolate hair disappear beneath the surface of the water. Emi leaned back and brought her head back up enough to let herself float freely along the top of the water. Her eyes never left the sky which was already brightened by the coming dawn. As she floated along the top of the water, hair fanning out around her like a halo, her mind drifted back to her vivid dream. It was not the first time she had had that dream, in fact she seemed to have it quite often - more so as of late. With the increasing frequency that the dream occurred she couldn't help but wonder if it was supposed to mean something, and if it did what?

Emi's eyes grew wide with surprise and her body grew tense as a shiver went down her spine. She quickly righted herself in the pool and looked around warily. She could have sworn she heard a low mumbled chuckle from somewhere within the trees, and not far from where she currently stood. She scrambled out of the water and clutched her nightgown to her still looking around. She bit down on her lip as if to decide if chancing pulling her nightgown over her heard was worth losing sight for a few seconds as she did so. A faint blush stole over her cheeks and modesty won out as she donned her cotton gown. Once every limb was in place and the nightgown hung as it should her eyes darted back up and immediately connected with another set of eyes across the clearing.

Any noise was lost in the back of her throat as she stumbled backwards out of surprise. A mistake on her part as she felt herself lose her footing she snapped her head around to watch as she tumbled right towards the water. She shut her eyes and prepared for the impact with the water but it never came. She lifted her eyes and realized a pair of strong arms wrapped around her waist holding her over the water. The owner of the arms chuckled low under their breath.

"Ah Emilia, Emilia. I did not expect to see you here so soon."