Sleepless✎

𝟏𝟐

ILARIA'S BODY SHOOK WITH COLD. Her barefeet walked on soft soil, moss - she was surrounded by trees. She was dimly aware that she had been clutching something but she couldn't bring herself to look down at her hands.

She walked and walked for what felt like miles, with no sense of direction - where was she going? The air felt thick with fear but Ilaria wasn't scared - no, there was someone else. Someone else was scared.

A scream pierced through the heavy silence of the woods she'd been walking in, Ilaria instinctly brought her hands up to her ears and came to a abrubt halt.

She swirled around on her spot, trying to make out where the scream could have came from, her heart was pounding, she was clutching the thing in her hands tighter.

To her right, hidden behind the branches of trees, Ilaria spotted a cabin. There was no light on, no sign of life.

She stared at it for a long time, the silence of the woods - that of insects crawling, owls hooting, trees swaying surrounded her. So when a girl banged on the window of the cabin Ilaria nearly jumped out of her skin.

The girl was banging her hand flat against the window, tears were falling down her face like rivers, her hair was knotted and fell in a wave of messy curls around her face.

Ilaria stepped forward but her vision was obscured by a man, she frowned and tried stepping around him but he placed his hands on her shoulders to stop her.

"what are you doing out here all alone?" he said, Ilaria tilted her head back to look at him but it was as though his face was blacked out, like she was staring at a gaping void.

"There's a girl" she muttered with a point at the cabin "in there, she needs help"

The man shook his head and let out a pitiful noise "no no, that cabin has been empty for years. You're dreaming." he said "you're dreaming of a princess in her tower, you like princesses." he said it so matter of factly that Ilaria felt a pit in her stomach, though she wasn't sure why.

Ilaria woke up with a gasp, her hand clawing at her top. She pushed herself up against her headboard and dropped her head on her knees.

She had been having nightmares but not like this. She'd have nightmares of Kenna, of her father but never of herself.

She ran a hand through her hair and pulled on it hard to wake herself up, she grabbed her phone off her nightstand, it was already 12pm in the afternoon.

Drowsily, Ilaria slipped out of bed and made her way downstairs- she felt like a robot someone had taken apart and put back together poorly.

The snow was still coming down hard and her house was eerily quiet, her mother was gone to work and Tate... Well one could never know where Tate was, he was always some place or another.

Ilaria let out a sigh, grateful for the solitude. Ever since she got Kenna's phone from Rose she had begun feeling so utterly drained, she hadn't spoken to Kai in 3 days nor to Rose.

Both of which had tried calling her multiple times. It was a bad habit of hers, to crawl in on herself and ignore the outside world.

As for the phone,it lay in her drawer, underneath a multitude of paper and books - a poor attempt at putting as much distance between herself and the inevitable.

She threw herself on the couch and grabbed her TV remote, just one more day and she'd get back to them.

I just need to breathe
She told herself and then I'll call them back.