In Your Dreams

Chapter 4: Forest

            

"Run!"

Everything is a blur as we sprint down the hall, lungs screaming and wind whipping at our backs. We're outside, no inside, no outside—I can't tell, we're running so fast.

"Here!"

He grabs my hand and pulls me around a corner, squeezing in so that we just fit underneath a table covered in junk. We quietly catch our breath, straining our ears for any sign that we've been followed.

I don't know how much time goes by, but eventually we feel safe enough to crawl out. I lead the way to a back door and we step outside, where a blanket of dark clouds threatens oncoming rain.

Fear still nips at my back and I want to run far and fast. "There, those trees!" I point to the forest and he starts running, then stops to let me pull ahead, glancing over his shoulder to make sure no one's following.

Something isn't right. A stabbing pain stops me short, and I crouch in a path of moonlight. "One sec." I roll up my jeans. "My knee is bleeding."

"What?" He kneels beside me and gingerly inspects the area. "Ahh...Jess, there's something in there. But I can pull it out."

"What?" I cringe. "What do you mean 'there's something in there'?"

He doesn't look like he's planning to answer. "Listen, I think it's better if you don't look." He glances left and right. "We need to find you somewhere to sit."

A plastic red chair pops up next to us and I settle into it.

I close my eyes and breathe in the fresh scent of pine trees and flowers to distract myself from the tiny pinching feeling coming from my knee. "It's a good thing you're planning on becoming a doctor," I mutter.

He chuckles. "Even if I wasn't, you could still count on me to keep you safe." He lifts his gaze and there it is, the instant warm blanket/safe cocoon feeling I only get from looking at him. "There." He wraps my knee in gauze and pulls my jean leg down. "All good."

There's shouting in the distance.

I jerk to my feet. "Run!"

I'm sprinting, jumping over rocks and dodging branches. A severe heat seizes my back. A flash of light, a searing pain, and then I'm falling, falling...