Between Shadows (Shadows Saga bk2)

Chapter 7- Going Crazy

Zander had let her out of the dream easily enough this time. Mara was still visibly shaken when she awoke, but luckily for her, Trixle was still asleep. 

She had gained some insight once again - Zander was most definitely evil, and he had no intentions of changing that. As well as the fact that he can affect her waking mind whenever he wanted. 

Mara cringed at the thought of how he could get inside her head so easily. She looked around the room realizing it was darker than usual and glanced at the clock. It was five thirty in the morning. 

Mara groaned at the early time knowing there was no way she was possibly going to be getting to sleep again any time soon. 

Mara's thought swept back to her dream with Zander, the way he had easily fooled her by thinking he had changed back to her Zander. She still felt like a piece of herself was missing, but for that short moment she had felt whole again. 

Zander had been her first love, or what she thought a love felt like, and the pain from his betrayal and transformation had struck Mara hard. There was a part of her that wanted her old Zander back, hoped he would come back to her. 

Mara brought the pillow up to her face, taking solace in its pliable softness. She could feel a familiar softness rubbing against her arm. The warm fur of her cat soothed her if only a little. 

Sasha just rubbed against her silently, knowing that when Mara was ready, she would speak. 

"Am I a fool for thinking that he could be saved?" She whispered to her cat.

"Being hopeful does not make you a fool, being blind to the truth does. You are not blind Mara, you are simply hopeful.

A single tear slid down Mara's cheek, glistening in the faint glow from what was left of the moon before it melded into the sky, disappearing into the oncoming sunrise.

The sound of Trixle stirring brought Mara out of her slump and she quickly erased any signs of distress from her face. 

The two girls got ready for class in relative silence, the whole time Trixle was dancing around any topic of dreams. Secretly, she wanted to know if Zander had done it again, but she was also afraid of what the answer could be. 

When Mara walked into the classroom she completely ignored Avaline sitting near the front. She never spared a glance in her direction as she made her way towards the back of the room taking a corner spot. 

As the room filled Mara made herself seem as unapproachable as possible. She wanted to deal with as few people as she could manage. Each person around her made her feel like she was suffocating. 

Mara absentmindedly jotted down notes, paying little attention to what was going on in class. 

A foggy haze moved through Mara's brain that made all attempts of concentration futile. She thought she saw shadows darting across the room from the corner of her eyes. Slight tricks of the eye, when she looked their way, they disappeared. 

It felt like tiny insects were walking up her arms, little prickling sensations traveling across her skin. And despite being in the back corner, it felt like there were eyes constantly watching her. 

Mara gripped the pencil in her hand tightly and shut her eyes trying to make the sensations go away, but the harder she tried, the stronger everything got. 

Soon she felt like she was sitting between two restless shadows, they were bouncing around, always just out of sight. 

A whispered sound that resembled laughter ran inside her head, causing Mara to cover her ears.