Author's note: Thanks for all the lovely reviews!

Chapter 7

Emma tossed and turned feverishly, unable to fall asleep. Everything felt wrong. There was that weird tapping, the room was too hot, the sheets itched, and her clothes were too tight. Finally, she sat up and looked at the clock. 4 pm. Ugh. She was wasting so much time just lying in bed. Who cared if she was sick? All she wanted was to get her laptop and review the Archie case, but she knew Graham had hid it somewhere and probably had Henry guarding the door to make sure she didn't leave her room. Which meant that the only thing left to do was sleep. Maybe going to the bathroom would help.

She slipped out of bed and into the adjoining bathroom. She sniffed the air. Huh. There was that slight hint of rose perfume again. Weird. She didn't know anyone who used that perfume. Turning on the light, she stepped into the bathroom. And stopped short. The words YOU'RE NEXT were scrawled in dripping bloodred paint above the toilet. Figuring it was just her overactive imagination, she shook her head and blinked several times. The words were gone. She stared at her pale reflection, studying the dark under eye circles. Ugh. Emma ran her fingers through her tangled curls, quickly tying it back into a messy knot.

And then Emma saw it. There it was. There she was. Regina. She was standing in her bedroom, that awful smirk on her face. Emma whipped around, but there was no one there. She looked at the mirror again, and there was Regina. Her heart started pounding loudly. She rubbed her eyes, hoping it was just a trick of the light, but the Evil Queen still stood there.

Regina smiled slowly, as though she knew how much horror this was causing Emma. "You're next." She said simply.

That did it. Emma dashed out of the bedroom and into the living room. But the sight there made her stop short. For lying there in pools of blood, was her family. Graham, Henry, Scarlett, and her parents. Dead. Their judging, unforgiving eyes staring up at her. Dead. They were dead.

Emma opened her mouth and started screaming. Screaming as loud as she could until her throat was hoarse. But she couldn't stop.

~Long Gone~

Emma sat straight up in bed. The sheets were tangled around her and she was soaked in sweat. Her heart pounded so loudly it made her head throb.

Loud footsteps sounded in the hallway, and the door was thrown open. "Mom! Are you ok?" Henry came rushing in, Graham at his heels.

"I…" Emma looked around in confusion. It had just been a dream. An awful nightmare.

"We heard you screaming from down the hall." Graham approached his wife, all concern. "What happened?"

"Nothing." She said, looking down, unable to meet his eyes. Like hell she was gonna tell him about Regina. She knew it was just a dream, but something about it felt so real. Like it was a vision or something. "I just had a nightmare."

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked. "You look pretty pale."

"Nope, all good." She said breezily, burrowing under the covers again, trying to calm her pounding heart.

Graham and Henry looked unconvinced, but they backed out of the room and shut the door. Emma could hear feverish whispers through the heavy wooden door. She tried to listen, but exhaustion overcame her and she fell into a deep sleep.

~Long Gone~

"Emmaaaaa…." Said a soft voice. "Come out and playyyyyy."

Emma buried her head under her pillow, trying to drown out the voice. "You're not real, you're not real." She murmured to herself. "You're just a hallucination. A side effect of the fever. You're not there."

"Emmaaaa…" The voice said again. It was so close Emma could practically feel Regina's breath on her neck. "Come out and playyyyy…"

Emma opened her eyes, and there was Regina. Standing in the open doorway. She flashed a chilling grin that made shivers shoot down her spine.

"H-how did you get in here?" She asked, hating the way her voice shook. Worst of all was how scared Regina's presence made Emma. She remembered her first days in Storybrooke, where Regina was more of an annoying little bug rather than intimidating. The old her wouldn't be jumping at shadows and screaming at everything.

Regina simply smiled and walked down the hallway. Without hesitation, Emma scrambled out of bed to follow her. The room spun as she followed the Evil Queen's black pea coat.

"Come back here!" Emma growled angrily, but Regina didn't seem to hear her as she seemingly glided down the hallway.

"Come and playyyy…" Regina called from the front door, which was open for some reason. Emma followed her out into the pouring rain outside. Thunder crashed loudly. But Regina had disappeared; she was nowhere to be seen.

"Get back here!" Emma shouted, not caring if anyone heard. She shivered in the rain, wishing she was wearing something other than a thin tank top and a pair of Graham's old boxers. "You can't hide from me!" She coughed heavily, stumbling in the torrential rain, stumbling her way around. "Regina!"

"Graham! Look!" Henry said as he pulled back the curtains. "I think Mom's gone crazy." He said as his mother stumbled around in the rain, talking to the air.

"Emma!" Graham immediately threw down his paperwork and dashed outside, not caring that it was storming like a bitch. Outside, Emma seemed to be talking to someone. But no one was there.

"Em, who are you talking to?" Graham had appeared by her side.

"Regina!" She said firmly, pointing at the Evil Queen, who Emma suddenly saw was standing about ten feet in front of her.

"No one's there." Graham said slowly. "C'mon, Em. Let's go back inside. It's raining."

"No!" Emma said stubbornly. How could he not see her? She was just standing there, smiling and waving at them, that same horrifying, bone chilling look on her face. She wrenched away from her husband, taking several steps towards the Evil Queen. "She's right there!"

"I don't see anyone." A voice piped up. Henry.

"Well she's standing over there." Emma insisted. Behind her, she could hear Graham and Henry whispering. The words crazy and delirious came up.

"I'm not crazy!" She shouted. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see her parents appearing in the doorway, concern etched all over their faces. Great. "You're the one who's crazy! Regina's right there!" She screamed. "How can you not see?!"

"What's going on?" She heard Mary Margaret ask Graham.

"Emma thinks she's seeing Regina." Graham explained heavily.

"Regina?" David scoffed. "What have you done to my daughter?" He demanded angrily.

"She's sick." Graham answered. "Flu. High fever. She's just delirious."

Regina was getting farther and farther away. Emma chased after her, hating how slowly her limbs moved, as if she was underwater. She felt a pair of strong arms close in around her, dragging her away from Regina.

"No!" She squirmed, but they were so much stronger than her. "No! We can't let Regina get away! No!" She broke free from whoever it was and dashed after Regina. But she was no match for Graham and David, who caught up to her in a heartbeat. Together, they carried a struggling Emma back upstairs and into bed, screaming all the way up.

By then, her throat was hoarse from all the screeching. "Regina was there." She said as Graham tucked her back into bed.

"I know, love. I know." He brushed a stray lock of hair from her face. Emma could tell that he didn't believe her, but she didn't have any energy left to argue. Slowly, she drifted out of consciousness and into sleep, where she knew she'd be plagued with nightmares once more.

Author's note: Yep, looks like Emma's hallucinating. Or is she...? REVIEW!