Shadows Peak |✔

Chapter 41: Sydney

My bare feet hit the ground as I ran. Leaves, twigs, and other debris struck nerves, each step increasing in discomfort, but I couldn't stop. I swerved in between the many trees, doing my best to avoid the bullets whirling past me.

"You can't run away from us!"

"We'll find you, and keep finding you until you give up!"

Their words felt like an inescapable curse vexed upon me, tightening it's hold the more I ran.

"You belong with us, Sydney!"

Bullets kept flying, their aim low, toward my legs. They were trying to stop me, not kill me, but I wasn't interested in either outcome. I jumped behind a tree to avoid getting shot, but there was no even ground waiting for me on the other side of it.

Suddenly, I was falling, sliding down a rough hill, deeper into the forest. When I stood up on my own two feet, my surroundings changed and the sound of running water filled my ears. Looking around, I spotted a barn surrounded by lush green fields of grass. In the distance, I noticed two horses gallopping toward a wooded area, and then my eyes focused in on the roaring river just meters to the side of me.

Rushing over, I knelt down and splashed my face to refresh myself. The water was cool to the touch, enticingly calling for me to dive in. And that's when I heard it. The sound of a gun cocking. It seemed I heard the clicking sound far too often, lately.

Panic set in as I searched for the source of the threat. I felt my heart drop six feet under when I saw it; the man I had shot two days ago was standing in front of the reason I had killed him, on the other side of the river. Casey was facing me, but his head was hung low and his hands were bound behind his back. The man was smiling, his mouth moving in a taunting manner. I couldn't hear what he was saying over the rapid river, but I knew it was not something meant to console or comfort Casey. He was gloating.

"Casey!" I shouted, standing to my feet. I wasn't surprised when my voice cracked. I had no weapon or means to save him. He was going to die right in front of me, that much was obvious.

I knew this was a dream, I could tell because I knew the mercenary was long dead, lifeless because of the lead I put in him, but I couldn't break free from it. Hitting my head, I tried to wake myself up, yet nothing happened and I was still looking at the man I cared so much for, moments away from death.

Determined not to watch, I turned away, but no matter where I looked, Casey was there in the very same predicament. Even when I closed my eyes, the scene still played. Accepting this wasn't something I could escape, I fell to the ground with no strength left to stand.

I wasn't prepared for what happened next even though I knew it was coming. The way Casey's deep brown eyes connected with mine reminded me of all the warm memories we'd made in just a handful of weeks. A small smirk started to form on his lips, but then they grew heartbreakingly still as a gut-wrenching boom rang through the air.

I knew I was screaming, but I couldn't hear it, the gunshot replaying in my mind over and over again as I watched his body fall, face first, into the river.

Sydney woke with a violent tremor, her hands shaking profusely as the night breeze blew her sweat-coated hair.

It was just a dream. He's alive. Casey's alive.