The Amanda Project: Book One

The Amanda Project: Chapter Twenty-Two

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

I am running, running through the forest, but I am not me. Or I am myself, but somehow not me. I am covered in something soft and furry. I am in a fur coat. No, I am a fur coat. I am strong-my legs carry me effortlessly though I am running faster than I have ever run before. But I am not tired. I am whole. I am strong and brave. I am a bear, a gigantic black bear. I can reach up to the branches of trees and-

I hear screams. Terrified screams. Something is being terribly, terribly hurt. Only I can save it. My bear-self can save it. I'm coming, I think. Don't be afraid, I am coming. But I can't find whatever is screaming. I am lost in the forest. The screams are getting so loud; I can't take it much longer. Please, please. I am coming. Suddenly there is a clearing. Lights. I see lights. A road. A highway. Blinding lights swirl around and the screams are the siren of an ambulance and there on the ground is the crushed, bloody body of a tiny, white bunny. My bear-heart is pounding. I must save it. But I can't get to it. The forest is too thick and it is holding me back. No, please. No. I can help. I want to help. But I can't think. The sirens are too loud; the forest is too strong. Please. Please. I-

Brrring. Brrring. Brrring.

I bolted upright. It took me a long beat to realize I was at home, in my bed, and that my phone was ringing. How long had it been ringing? At first I couldn't get my legs to move the way I wanted them to, and I stumbled as I tried to cross the floor to where my phone lay on the edge of the rug.

"Hello?" My voice cracked. Through the wide-open shades that I hadn't bothered to close before I got into bed, I could see that it was morning.

"Callie?"

"This is Callie." I was pretty sure I didn't recognize the voice of the girl who was calling, but it was hard to focus through the dream that seemed to sit on my brain like a heavy, wet blanket.

"It's Nia."

"Oh, hi Nia." Sitting upright was helping my focus. For example, I could tell that Nia wasn't exactly thrilled to be calling me. I'm not sure how I would have felt under normal circumstances, but given that her call seemed to be what had taken me out of my dream, I was feeling grateful to her.

"So, did I wake you? Big night last night?"

I squinted across the room at my alarm clock. Eight twenty. Who called anyone at eight twenty on a Sunday morning?

"Um, not exactly," I wondered what Nia would have said if she could read my mind, if she could know how little I'd wanted to be at Liz's party. "Not so big."

"Sorry if I woke you," she said, sounding anything but.

"No, it's fine." I tried to sound more alert than I felt. "What's up?"

"Well, I was talking to Hal, and he thought we should get together and make a plan. Maybe check out those addresses."

"Yeah, that makes sense." As I spoke the dream panic became hazier, further away. I leaned back against my chair. It was light. It was day. Everything was all right. "Do you want to go today? This morning?"