Killer

Chapter 11: Bad Dreams

The Blaze — Prelude

"Hello?" I called out into the darkness.

I could barely feel the stairs on my feet as I searched around the dark building. The door creaked when it flung open, and I could see what was in front of me. A naked girl stood there with a white blindfold over her face. The light behind her revealed the purple marks around her neck.

I stared in horror, she removed the blindfold off her face, and I was able to make out her physical features. She had matted dark hair and perfect light brown eyes. Her body was thin, and her skin tone in a darker shade. Her mouth distorted, and blood was pouring out of it onto her breast area. She looked like she was a part of a bloody situation. I felt sick and appalled in my stomach. I wanted to run and scream for help, but I couldn't.

It felt real.

I forced myself to take a few steps back, and the girl stretched her arms out. Someone was behind her, pulling something around her neck, causing blood to pour out like a pool from her mouth.

My back was up against something as I blinked hard. "What the fuck?" I whispered, feeling my cold breath. My body was too numb to run past the naked girl and her dark murderer. "W-Who are you? What happened?"

"You could've helped me!" She painfully choked out, splattering the crimson blood on me.

I cried. "What do you mean? I did help you."

"You could've helped me!" The girl screamed the aching words on and on as I covered my ears, begging her to stop.

All at once, my eyes flew open when that horrible dream ended. I sat up and looked around to find myself in my dark bedroom once more. The window to my backyard was cracked open, and the cool night air slipped through. On my nightstand was a glass of water as I took a large sip of it until it was empty, not caring how warm it was.

It was another one of my vivid dreams.

A terrifying one.

I sat my water glass down and touched my face to feel the cold sweat. I started bawling my eyes out until I could no longer cry anymore. It scared me so badly. The tape and that girl were having me on the edge of my sanity.

***

I couldn't think in Biology, feeling my head made out of a bag of heavy sand. Last night was awful—I didn't get any sleep because of my in-and-out nightmares about the girl from the murder tape. I couldn't tell anyone what was going on in my life, afraid they wouldn't understand, especially my mom and Tre.

Mr. Burke was teaching us about species and different kinds while I drifted off into a deep sleep. I could feel myself drooling warmly into the pages of my textbook. It wasn't until I felt a hand slid around my shoulders as I popped open my eyes to see it was Mila. Her brown hair was in loose curls, and she wore a white crop top with a pair of clean high-waisted jeans.

"Hey, Sunny," she smiled, shaking my shoulder lightly to keep me awake. "Do you want to work with us?"

I yawned, feeling my head on fire. "Yeah, why not." I was asleep when I saw everyone in our first period scrambling to tables to form a group.

Mila pulled up a stool and sat in front of me. I rubbed my eyes to notice Tre coming in to join us. "Are you okay?" He opened his textbook. His dark eyes were worried. "Why do you look super pale?"

I painfully swallowed. "I didn't get any sleep last night."

"How come?" Mila questioned, not having any idea since I refused to tell them the real reason why I couldn't close my eyes at night, knowing there was a dead body of a girl lying out somewhere.