Nightmares

Chapter 1

Twigs snapped under her feet, her breath coming out in short bursts. She whipped her head around and saw the black silhouette of the hooded figure, a shotgun barely visible cradled in his arms. Her feet hitting the earth below her, never slowing. She could feel the air whistling past her ears. The heavy footsteps of the person following her stood out clearly against the dead silence, a silence you could only hear if you were far from civilization. Suddenly, the constant drum of the figure's feet hitting the cold dirt stopped, and fear trickled down her spine. Scared for her life, she stopped too, knowing that this person would not stop hunting her until she was dead. She frantically looked around trying to find her hunter, but no one appeared. Deciding to break the silence, she called out into the night air with a shaking voice.

"Just get it over with!" the woman yelled into the silence, knowing whoever was chasing her was close enough to hear. Nothing happened. Not sure whether or not to be relieved, she slowly started moving towards the spot where she had last heard the stranger, hoping to get away unscathed. Her brain told her to turn and run, but her legs didn't follow. She slowly eased forward, tense with fear. She heard a twig snap behind her. She thought that she was fast enough to get away, but she was wrong. A rough hand went over her mouth and she was thrown to the ground. She tried to scream but couldn't manage to make a sound. They were lying on the ground all tangled up, the person was very strong.

" I got you so good!" she heard a familiar voice say from the person tangled up with her.

She was suddenly overwhelmed with confusion. Who was behind her, and why did the voice sound so familiar? Were they my so called killer? Are they now in danger because of me?

" Who are you?" She demanded.

"I'm Jared, you didn't know me from my voice?" He said with a fake tone, feigning hurt.

She understood now, this was her friend Jared. He must not know about the murderer after her.

"Jared! There's someone after me, they want to kill me. Please, you have to run! Please, just run!" she cried to him, desperate to save him even if she couldn't save herself. He looked at her worried and shocked, frozen on the spot. Then after a second or two, he got up grabbing her hand on the way. They ran as fast as they could in the direction of her car, nearly tripping over each other in the process.

"Go ahead of me. You can't save us both. You are way faster than me, you can make it." I pleaded, hoping that he would agree.

"I won't leave you, we can both make it." Jared answered.

"We both know that that isn't true, go. Please." she begged him. "We both don't have to die, just one of us, and he was after me in the first place. Please..." she trailed off trying to get him to understand her plea.

"No..." he cried at her. "I love you..." he let his voice trail. She knew that he wouldn't go voluntarily so she shoved his hand off her arm and pushed him forward, stopping her own feet so that he could have a head start.

"I love you too." she exclaimed back at him, crying, while her killer caught up to her, holding her wrists. "I love you." she whispered again, though he could not hear her.

She would fight hard against the person holding her wrists tightly, for Jared. Her killer brought out the shotgun and she twisted her arms as hard as she could. She had thrown him off guard, well she was guessing that it was a man, he was very strong. She tried to run again, but he grabbed her ankle, yanking her back. She fell hard on her face, yelping out in surprise and pain. She knew that he wouldn't let her slip out of his grip again, but she tried desperately anyway.

Then she heard the click of the gun, and time seemed to slow down. She thought of screaming but she didn't want Jared to come back, he needed to be long gone when the shot was fired, or else he would come back in revenge. She didn't want that, he would get foolish. She could twist around, making it hard for him to hit her clearly and wasting a bullet on the ground. That seemed like a good idea, it would buy Jared some time anyway, she could just faintly hear the car engine, he was just leaving. So she twisted around to face her killer, him being unable to stop her as his arms were already occupied by the gun. She refused to stop doing this for a while, making it as difficult as she could for the figure. It almost seemed like they were dancing, she moved just a second before he did. He was following her steadily and he got lucky, hitting her in the shoulder. She stopped, crying out in pain, and he finished her life by hitting her straight in the chest. Over the pain she could faintly hear the engine slowly getting quieter, hopefully that meant that Jared was getting farther away. Her pain was beginning to be too much for her, so that her senses were slowly getting less aware. She felt so tired, so she closed her eyes and suddenly the pain was gone. She had lost.

James woke up, drenched with sweat. He panted, throwing the blankets off of his legs. As he tried to remember the events of his dream, he ran his hands through his short, brown, curly hair. Looking over at his alarm clock on his nightstand, James sighed, deciding to get up. He swung his legs over the bed, got dressed, and walked out of his room. The floor in the unfamiliar house was cold, and creaked with James' every step. He wandered around the upper floor of the small, lonely house. He could hear his uncle Robert beginning to shuffle around downstairs, most likely making breakfast. He was humming some song James didn't recognize.

"Hey, James! What do you want for breakfast man?" Uncle Rob called up the stairs to the ever silent James, who walked out the front door without saying a word.