Daniella Rose

*Bonus Chapter

I found this in my notes last week.
It was written 4 years ago, and the grammar was tremendously bad. So to celebrate Daniella Rose's 4th birthday, which is coming up soon, I spruced it up and published it as a bonus chapter.

Enjoy!

. . .

Dreams are quick stories the brain makes up. You can never fully remember them, and they sometimes make little sense.

Dani never enjoyed dreaming, especially after what happened. Her mind has been plagued with thoughts of death, murder, and Atlas' cold green eyes. Strangely, peanut butter was also a recurring theme. When she would shoot up like a rocket in the middle of the night, the salty taste would always tingle her tongue. Dani didn't like peanut butter... She never bought it when she would go grocery shopping for her brother, and the last time she had it was over 3 years ago at Charlotte's house.

The mind can do funny things when you're sleep-deprived.

. . .

2:45 am
26 hours after the fire.
26 hours after watching Ashley burn to death.
26 hours after passing out in Atlas' arms.

Dani glanced down at the peculiar jar of peanut butter in her hands. For a strange yet long and gleeful moment, she felt confident. She hadn't felt confident in weeks. For a while now, her room has become her ultimate safe zone. In here, Atlas wouldn't be able to get her, her brother couldn't bother her, and the ghost of Charlotte felt too terrified to even enter.

But it was a simple jar of peanut butter. Something this meaningless shouldn't have meaning?

Why was it a jar of peanut butter?

Dani's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. She stalked over to the window and reflected on her cozy surroundings. "What the hell..." her voice trailed off. "My window isn't this big..." She paused, letting the jar touch the glass along with her hands. It was cold to the touch—freezing cold. Small clouds puffed up as her breath quickened.

The last thing she remembered was thinking about Ashley. Her screams of agony echoed through the fire-lit room. The heat and the carbon-filled her eyes and her lungs. The haunting voice of Atlas as he screamed her name as she raced back into danger to grab the envelope.

Now, she was standing in a giant cell-like place, with grey brick walls that held cracks and dust from the years they've been standing.

This was another dream. It had to be.

The entire room was empty except for a long mirror that she could make out behind her from her reflection in the window. It allowed the light to bounce around the old walls, yet its darkness fought back to take over the space. Still holding the jar, Dani pushed away from the window. Her eyes lingered on the mirror but widened as she saw something in her reflection—or rather, someone. They weren't in the room...

Dani gasped as she flipped to the window. Atlas stood there on the other side as menacing as ever. With his tall stature and thick black trench coat, an aura of darkness pooled around him. He took a step towards the glass—Dani took one step back. This continued until he pressed his hand up to the window and Dani felt the cool glass of the mirror on her back.

She gulped, glancing back at their reflection. She didn't look like shit anymore. Her hair wasn't burned off, and she didn't have any dark marks or scars. Her clothes were even normal—But Atlas....As he pressed harder on the glass, his skin melted like wax. It sizzled, melting the glass between his tips as the fat on his face dripped off his bones before Dani. She couldn't take her eyes off the dying boy as an Atlas-shaped hole etched its way into the glass pane. The jar of peanut butter felt abnormally heavy in her hands as his melting face reformed like Lego. He was in the room and there was nothing between them—nothing protecting Dani from him.

Atlas stalked forward. Rain hammed against the glass that was left on the skin-melted window. Dani contemplated whether she should run—but where? To him?

Atlas came closer. She could see the faint smile that grew on his reforming pink lips.

As he neared her, he spoke in hushed tones, "Daniella..." chills raced down her spine as her name echoed. "Why are you so naïve?"

"N-naïve—" her words were cut short as his finger pressed against her lips.

"Shh..." he hushed, "I just want to kiss you right now..... can I?" He asked politely.

Dani's heart stopped for a moment as she met his eyes. "Atlas—" she didn't want to finish that sentence, she didn't even want to look at him anymore. Agreeing to everything was a mistake. She should have let him tell the police—jail would have been better than dealing with him. Everything was just her fault and now she had to fix things. Fix everything and just start over—Starting with this dream. "Atlas—I'm. This isn't real," she replied, still holding the jar of peanut butter. "This is not real... you're not real?"

He looked at her. His gaze, passionate, morphed to furious in a matter of seconds. His face flushed red and suddenly he lunged forward, fists clenched together. Dani ducked, not expecting him to lash out like that, but took it as a new opportunity.

Her feet matched the pace of her heart as she raced towards the window, freedom in sight. But his war cry and the wet air that blew in made her slow her pace to a stop. She was running—running away from her problems as she intended. Running away from the guy that made her into a teen that killed not once, but four times.

Atlas was going to find her again—even if she hid for the rest of her life, he'll make sure he'll find her and let her fall six feet under. Running wouldn't end this... but something else would. Dani froze, only to glance over her shoulder. Atlas was hunched over the mirror, panting like a wet dog. His grunts sounded inhuman as his trench coat fell from his arms. Dani peered down at the jar of peanut butter. It now felt warm, like a sheet of freshly photocopied paper, which she used to love rubbing her face against in school. The jar's green and red labels merged into a picture—one she had never seen before. It was an androgynous figure... a person who held no discerning features... a blank slate. A new beginning.

Swiftly Dani raced up to the crying boy in the corner and brought the jar over his head to put him out of his misery, but just as she lowered it, her hands ceased as she met Gary's blue eyes. Atlas' face melted into Gary's. She hasn't seen him in so long. His blonde eyebrows, his slightly curly topped hair, and his crooked nose stared back at her. Warmth spread through the dull room as his arms reached up to embrace Dani—but before he could beckon her over, she snapped. Her hands brought the jar down hard onto his head. Its plastic turned into iron, which sent vibrations as it caved in his skull. Blood splattered out as Gary turned right back into Atlas. His thighs trembled as his knees gave out, but Dani wasn't going to show mercy to a dead boy. She brought the jar over her head again, letting out a siren scream before crashing down the metal —over and over again. Rage filled her eyes... rage filled her soul... she fixed one of her many problems... with murder... again...

. . .

"Ugh!" Dani woke with a start, hands shaking, still feeling the splatters of his blood caking her skin. She grabbed her face and wiped the sweat that was pooling down. She was drenched as if she had just come out of a swimming pool, and the heat of her blanket just made it worse. Her eyes surveyed her surroundings. She was back in her room—no grey walls, no rain, no iron jar of peanut butter and no Atlas, or Gary. It was just her, alone in her small bedroom, with the taste of blood and peanut butter on her tongue.