On The Sidewalk Bleeding

Chapter 19

So... 6 and some months later... Here it is, sorry about the wait guys!

Chapter 19

Payton

Don't you just love thunderstorms? I do. I love the angles of the lightning and the cracks of thunder that go with them. I love the sound of the pounding rain and tracing one raindrop down the window at a time. I love the way it feels like the sky sympathizing with both m sadness and anger, bottling up its emotions until it didn't know what to feel anymore so it just let it all out.

Curled up in the bay window in my room with a pillow and blanket, tracing the raindrops, that was exactly how I had felt. I didn't know what Kyle and I were, and in the past two weeks, I hadn't gotten a chance to talk to him. Since we had started school, the both of us had been swamped with homework, and he had football practice in all his free time, even during the hour that we got for lunch. Of course we texted every so often, but it was never anything more than a good morning, how are you, or a good night text. It didn't help that I had to see girls throwing themselves at him in the halls, and it definitely didn't help that I was a raging bomb of hormones ready to explode due to my period at the moment.

My 6:30 am alarm goes off and I can do nothing but sign. Just another day in hell I suppose. But then again, I've been up since 3, so I could probably sleep for half an hour until my back-up alarm goes off.

I waver between being awake and sleeping. I don't trust myself to go to sleep fully anymore. I don't trust what could happen. And even if I were to go to sleep, the nightmares would continue to pull me under. The school shooting dream just won't go away, and it makes me scared that it's a sense of déjà vu.

I try as hard as possible to pull myself awake as I feel the fingers of sleep gripping at my eyes and pulling me in farther and farther, deeper and deeper.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

This isn't the same as the others.

It's cold, dark and damp. I'm surrounded by trees and snow, high up, on a mountain probably, because the air is so thin. Or maybe something won't let me breathe.

I'm in nothing but shorts, a tank top and hiking shoes. It's almost like I should be on a summertime hike right now, but since when does anything ever go right in nightmares.

Behind me, I can hear the crack of a branch and the crunching of snow as footsteps fall. I turn, slowly, surprised to see myself staring back at me. I stare, not blinking and so does she. As I turn my head, she turns hers too. I raise me hand and so does she. I close my eyes tightly, hoping to wake up, hoping that I won't have to see something that I know I don't want to see. Opening them, my mirror image is nose to nose with me. I can feel her breath on my face and I can see the pupils in her coal black eyes, eyes that I didn't notice before.

How did she get over here that fast without a noise?

When she speaks, her voice comes how raspy and low at first, but then works its way into a full blown, shrill shriek. "Run! Run away! Before he finds us and kills us! Run before the fire consumes you!"

Not knowing what else to do, I listen to the voice, running for my life in a random direction. Mirror me runs beside me, not making a noise or leaving footprints in the soft snow, not even panting from lack of breath.

I turn to look behind me and I'm no longer running on the mountain. I'm in the school cafeteria. There is still snow on the ground, a few inches at least.

I turn and see students talking and laughing in their little groups. But then the talking turns to whispers and the laughter turns to screams. It's happening again.