Wicked Dreams

*Chapter One*

                                                                              *Sophia*

"Damnit," I mutter under my breath as I stare at the plates that just toppled off of my tray and onto the floor of the diners' kitchen. Sighing exasperatedly, I crouch down to pick up the broken pieces. As I continue to pile the wreckage onto my tray, I hear a low chuckle coming from behind me.

"Shut up Mikey," I respond, turning to give my friend and coworker a glare.

He continues to laugh, his chuckle turning into actual laughter, "I'm sorry Soph, but you are the clumsiest person I have ever met."

I turn back away from him and pick up the last few shards and take my tray to throw everything away. I brush a few stray strands of brown, curly hair out of my eyes as I notice another one of my coworkers, Liam, and Mikey conversing under their breath about my lack of coordination.

"So," I hear Liam say, "we're back to zero days without an incident? Who was closest in the pool to 10 days?"

I clench my fists and grit my teeth as I stare at them, "Are you fucking kidding me?! You guys placed a bet on when I would drop something again?!"

I can feel my face getting red with anger as I wait for an answer.

"Technically, we placed bets on how long you could go without dropping something, or tripping over something," Liam retorted, with a small smile.

"Fuck this," I say, removing my apron and pushing past them into the now empty diner. As the double doors close, I hear them laughing and yelling for Sheila, one of the other girls we work with. Apparently, she was closest and won the bet.

If it were not for the fact that my coworkers were my only stable family, I'd have punched them all and quit a long time ago. Grabbing my purse from my locker, I head to the main office to say good night to our boss, Amelia.

I crack the door open to see Amelia hunched over the computer, trying to make sure the order and inventory is done for the week.

"Hey Amelia, I'm heading home a few minutes early if that is okay with you," I say to her, causing her to look up from her computer.

Smiling at me, she takes her glasses off and gestures for me to sit down, "honey of course it's fine. You're always in early and you always stay late. You deserve to have some time for yourself."

I smile at her and stand to give her a hug. She is basically the only mother figure in my life. "Thanks Mia."

"It's not a problem dear," she smiles and goes back to her computer.

Climbing into my jeep, I smile at the diner that is my home away from home as I pull out of the parking lot and head home. Fifteen minutes and one stop for a burrito later, I pull into my driveway of my little one-story house. I sit for a moment and enjoy the view of it. It's not much, with its' one bedroom, one-bathroom, small breakfast nook/kitchen and a living room just big enough for a couch and television, but it was all I could afford when I arrived in town almost eight years ago with barely anything to my name. The grey siding on the outside needed a touch up and the small front porch definitely was overdue for some TLC but, that would have to come eventually.

After unlocking my door, I kick my shoes off in the entryway and head to my small kitchen area to enjoy my burrito. Just as I unwrap it, I hear the patter of feet coming from the bedroom towards me. I see a blur of grey jump onto the stool next to me as my British short hair cat, Nox, stares at me waiting for his piece of meat from my food.

"Noxie, you know that you can't have this food," I say, patting his head and scratching behind his ear, which earns me his loud purring sound. I sigh and take a small piece of meat out for him and set it on a napkin on the stool for him.

"That's all you get Nox," I say matter-of-factly as if I'm trying to convince myself that I won't give into him again.

Cleaning up my mess, I head towards my bathroom to change out of my work uniform. As I pull my shirt over my head, I try to avoid looking in the mirror for as long as I possibly can by taking the rest of my clothes off and turning the shower on for it to warm up. Knowing I can't avoid it any longer, I glance at my reflection. The bruises aren't visible to the naked eye anymore, but I know where they were, so I always see them. The scars, however, are still there, taunting me, reminding me of my past. The ones on the front are only a few inches long. They are scattered across my belly and thighs. But as I turn my back towards the mirror, I see the bigger ones that run from the top of spine area in the middle, with an area that dips back towards my spine then back out, ending at my right butt cheek, and the other that runs straight down from left shoulder to left butt cheek. They still form the R that he carved in my back. They are still as vibrant and red as if they were just done yesterday. Shaking my head, I step into the scalding shower to try to scrub away the memories.

Closing my eyes in the water, my mind starts to wander to eight years earlier. My life wasn't perfect, but I thought it was. I had just turned 23 and was finally done with college. I was going to return home with my degree in business and hopefully my parents would be proud of me. Hopefully Reece would be proud of me. After getting off the airplane, I was surprised to be greeted by Reece who was waiting for me to give me a lift to my parents. He was never easy to read, even after being in this relationship with him for four years at that time, I still couldn't read his expressions or demeanor.

I reached up on my toes to give him a peck on the lips which was barely returned.

"Hey babe," I smiled up at him, not getting anything more than a grunt in response.

"You ready to go?" he asked, emotionlessly.

I nodded my head and followed as he turned to head towards the baggage claim to get my other luggage. After finding my bags we headed out towards his car and shoved them in the trunk.

Shaking my head in the shower, I bring myself out of my memories. I can't relive that right now. If I could go back in time now, I would tell myself to run and not get into that car. If only I had known. I refuse to cry about it now. It's been eight years since then and I have grown and made a place for myself in this tiny hamlet I live in. Turning the shower off, I step out into the steam and dry off.

After wrapping my hair in a towel, I exit the bathroom only to find Nox waiting for me. Picking up my cat, I give him some scratches under the chin and head towards my living room.

"My sweet little Noxie," I coo at him as we sit to relax.

After an hour of mindless television, I go through to make sure each door and window is latched and secured properly.

"Okay Noxie, let's head to bed," I say as I scoop him up again and head towards the bedroom.

Setting my alarm on my alarm clock, I make sure my prepaid cell phone is plugged in and charging. I refused to get a plan through any phone company. With a prepaid phone I can't be tracked as easily. I'm sure they could track me still with a prepaid, but with me getting a new one every pay day, I hope it won't be as quick.