My eyes widened as the man before me crept closer and closer. He had something in his hands, but I wasn't table to tell what it was. All I knew was that it was bad and that made the whole situation worse.

He chuckled evilly and lunged forwards, causing me to scream and close my eyes while my hands flew to my face.

I had no idea what was going on.
Was I awake? Was I asleep?
Was I dead, or alive?

There were so many questions swimming inside my brain, but they all stopped where they were when I heard him say my name.

"Isabella," the pharmacist whispered, but it didn't really sound like him.
The voice was clearer and less scratchy.
Who was that?

I slowly opened one eye when nothing had happened. There was no one there.

"Isabella," the voiced whispered from behind me, this time in a breathy tone, like the person was exhaling air from their lungs and causing fog (?) to swirl around in the air.

I spun around, my breaths coming heavily from fear, but there wasn't anyone there either.

It looked like I was alone in the dark room with shadows cast eerily across the walls despite the lack of torches or any source of light.

"Isabella," it was stronger this time, more confident and clear.

I wasn't able to identify where it was coming from, exactly, but it was there. It was definitely there.

I slowly turned back around and saw none other than the man in a spot that I could've sworn was empty just a second ago.

He was scarily close to me. So close that I could easily count his short, black eyelashes.

Of course, since I hadn't known he was there, a scream elicited from my lips again and everything went black as I heard a chuckle.
"You will be mine, little Princess."

• • • •

"Isabella!"

My eyes snapped open at the echoey sound of my name.

White.

That was what I was seeing and I was relieved to find I wasn't in that place anymore.

I realized I was laying down so I quickly sat up, only to be met with four concerned faces.

Out of instinct, I jumped, but didn't scream as I realized it was just the Flynn-Fletcher's.

I was still breathing heavily and I couldn't help but wonder if this was some sort of dream as well, if that's what the other previous events were.

I quickly glanced around in search of the man, to make sure he wasn't there and was reminded that I was in our hotel room in Paris.

Outside, I could see the dark night sky, seeing that it was probably late in the evening. Maybe 9 or 10:00 pm.

"Isabella, are you okay?" Someone asked so I turned to look at the speaker which happened to be Linda.

I was silent.
"...maybe," I replied hesitantly as I tried to slow my breathing.

"You screamed," Phineas pointed out. "did you have a bad dream?" He asked.

I would have answered immediately, but the sad part was...I didn't know.

"It depends..." I searched each face sitting near the foot of my bed, but found nothing out of the ordinary.
"Is this a dream?" I asked.

"I hope not," Lawrence chuckled. "I payed good money for this vacation."

I nodded silently as I tried to make sense of what had happened.

"What happened?" I asked the boys.

I knew that they wouldn't be able to tell me what happened in my...dream(s?) but maybe they could tell me what happened before them.

"In your dream? Well, only you would-"
Phineas started.

"No, before that." I corrected.

"Oh, okay." He replied. "Well, we came back here and you were crying so Ferb and I were trying to help you feel better, only I wasn't really able to help so I got up and went to get you some water,"

So far, I remembered everything he was telling me, which was good I guess.

"when I came back," Phineas continued. "you had fallen asleep while Ferb was comforting you, so we put you on your bed and everything was fine until you screamed. We guessed you were having a bad dream so we tried to wake you up." He finished.

Because I fell asleep, that meant I didn't kiss Phineas, which was disappointing, but also all the other stuff didn't happen in real life.
I didn't fall off a huge structure into hell, or magically get transported back to Danville. I never went anywhere, which was a relief.

"Sorry," I smiled apologetically at Ferb who just gave me a thumbs up as if telling me it was fine.

"And I'm sorry I worried you guys. I'm okay now." I admitted, even though I still felt a bit on edge.

Why was I so afraid of that guy?
I don't have to be afraid. There's nothing to be afraid of, but here I am, scared out of my wits! I'm probably overthinking this.

"It's alright, Isabella." Linda smiled as she got up and grabbed a book from next to the television, probably so she could continue reading it, and Lawrence went to the bathroom.

I glanced at the clock on the nightstand next to me. It said 8:34 pm.

"Hey," Phineas said softly, to get my attention.

I turned my head to look at him as if saying I was listening.

"do you want to tell us about your dream?" He asked.

I immediately shook my head.
"No." I answered quickly before rethinking. "Um, maybe later." I corrected.

Both boys nodded.
"Okay, well, Ferb and I were watching a movie. So, feel free to join us if you want." Phineas invited before he and Ferb left as well to go to their own, room.

I sat in my bed for a moment more before jumping from under the blankets and walking into the boys' room.

When I walked in, both boys were on Phineas' bed watching some old spy movie that was playing on tv so I went over and crawled to the head of the bed and sat between them, smiling when Phineas took my hand and setting my head of Ferb's shoulder.

I was at home with these boys.
They made me feel so safe and protected.

"I love you guys." I whispered.

Ending?

I'm at our new house right now, scraping carpet insulation off the floor and let me tell you, it is not recommended. My wrist hurts from using the scraper thingy.
I'm taking a break now so I can update some stuff, then I'll probably go find lunch and get back to it.

I hope you're having a better day than me! 😂😁😩
~Joy