Chapter 5: Dream

Nessie

I sat there in my bedroom excitedly awaiting for Ethan to come and pick me up for our date. I had already finished getting dressed for the night. It wasn't very easy to find a nice outfit when you were six months pregnant with twins. Yet somehow I managed to put together an outfit that I thought was still half decent looking.

"Nessie Ethan is here!" I suddenly heard my mom screaming down the hallway. I got up as carefully as I could do so. Knowing me and my balance issues I would fall and land right on my pregnant belly.

Oh boy I wish someone would've warned me just how much harder it was going to be to move in the third trimester of pregnancy. When I saw Ethan though it didn't matter. He smiled at me like I was some kind of goddess when I felt thoroughly unattractive. He wasn't like most of the other guys I had heard about. Most teenage guys, it seemed, dropped their girlfriends like a hot potato as soon as she said the words "I'm pregnant," but not Ethan though. On the contrary he was very happy when I told him that he was going to be a father. But then again the guy loved kids. So maybe it should not have been that much of a shock. I'd known the guy for ten years already. We'd grown up together. I knew him almost as well as I knew myself.

"Ready to go, beautiful?" he asked.

"Yes,"

He grabbed my hand and smiled. "You're as beautiful as ever,"

I couldn't help but smile at him as we walked out of the house together. Somehow it seemed like he always knew what to say.

"Make sure you have her back home by midnight," my dad told him.

"Sure thing sir,"

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I was already pregnant. What else could happen if we remain alone together for longer than what my dad wanted? But I loved and respected my dad too much to say anything more on the matter.

I felt the cool breeze of the night hit my face. Out of the corner of the eye I saw something that made my head turn fast. I caught a glimpse of the reddish brown wolf I had seen several times throughout my life. The Wolf, as I often referred to him as in my mind, had appeared only a handful of times throughout my life. But it was impossible to forget this abnormally large reddish brown male wolf. Usually though he disappeared almost as fast as he appeared as if he were purposely trying not to be seen. I never mentioned him to anyone. Not even my parents. There were two reasons why I kept him a secret. The first is that no one would believe me if I told them I had come across a wolf the size of a horse. Second was because I always thought of him as my wolf. Therefore he was my secret to be kept. I always felt this odd sense of safety when I saw him.

"Nessie what are you looking at?" Ethan asked me.

I shook my head. "Oh, nothing. I thought I saw something but it must have been my imagination,"

"Well. You always did have an overactive imagination!" he laughed. I elbowed him in the ribs.

"Come on let's go eat already. I'm hungry so I'm sure that you must be starving,"

"You're always hungry! And yes I'm starving. I'm starting to think these babies inherited their father's appetite,"

"Ha! Ha!" he laughed.

We stopped at our favorite diner where we ordered shakes, cheeseburgers, and fries. It took us so long to eat all of the food that we ordered that we were almost late to the movie we had purchased tickets to see that night. We barely made it just as the previews were starting. People looked at me in disgust. I'd noticed that the larger my belly grew the more looks of disgust I would get. I could hear the comments people were making.

"Slut,"

"Whore,"

"Dumbass teenage girl,"

"Should've gotten an abortion,"

I looked over at Ethan who seemed unperturbed by the comments.

"What's wrong?" he asked me.

"I can't stand listening to people make these comments about me," I gritted my teeth.

"What comments? I don't hear anything?"

"I-nevermind," I was flabbergasted. It seemed that as of late my senses were getting stronger. I wondered if the pregnancy had anything to do with that. It was probably an hour later that I got up to go to the restroom.

Ethan got up and followed me. "You know you don't need to follow me everywhere I go,"

"I'm not following you. It just so happens to be that I also need to go use the restroom,"

I shook my head. "Well since you're not following me do you mind doing me a favor?"

"Sure anything,"

"Do you mind going to the concession stand and buying us some popcorn? And maybe some soda as well?"

"Of course. I'll meet you back in the theater shortly,"

He never returned. I wasn't worried at first. But after fifteen minutes of waiting and him failing to appear I began to worry. I texted him asking if there was a long line at the concession stand. I never got an answer. After thirty minutes I tried calling him. When he didn't answer that was when I started to panic.

I didn't even wait for the movie to end to go searching for him. I called out his name outside the men's restroom and didn't get a response. I went to the concession stand and asked the employees there if they had seen him. Once I described him I was told that he had purchased a bucket of popcorn, two sodas, and two boxes of candy over forty minutes ago. I had them contact security to see if there was any footage of him anywhere. There was footage showing him leaving the theater with someone. The footage quality wasn't that great to see who it was he left with. My mind was reeling. Ethan wouldn't abandon me like that. Something strange was going on.

I went outside. About half a mile away I came across a huge mess. There was popcorn, soda, and candy everywhere. Underneath the mess was Ethan's cellphone. The screen was severely cracked but I recognized that it was his. There wasn't any blood but something bad had definitely happened to him. I called the police right away.

I opened my eyes and blinked a few times. I didn't recognize where I was. Then all of the memories of last night came crashing down on me. I was in a stranger's home. Well, more accurately their bathroom. Last night when I came to use the bathroom I suddenly felt so tired. I sat on the floor and leaned back against the wall and closed my eyes. I didn't realize that I had actually fallen asleep in that position. Now it was morning.

I felt a pang in my chest as my dream came back to me. It wasn't a dream. It was a memory. A memory of the last night I had seen the love of my life. The police never found him. They closed the investigation and declared him legally dead. I refused to believe it. I wouldn't believe it until I was shown his stone cold body.

I got up carefully. My bones cracked as I stood up. I walked outside and was surprised by the absolute destruction I saw. It looked like a tornado had hit the place ten times over. The house was also strangely empty. I panicked and went on the search for Hunter and Faith. But I couldn't find a single trace of either one of my babies anywhere.

They were gone. Everyone was gone and they took my babies with them. I began to panic.