Second Chance

Her

I looked at Detective Ray with sheer shock. I expected the owner of the number to be a pedophile or a stalker, not a police officer. None of this made sense at all. 

"What?!!" I exclaimed. 

"I'm gonna need to analyze this for any lead at all. This is insane." I thought he was shaking, but I could just be imagining things because of the way my hands are shaking. 

"I'm sorry Detective. I didn't realize this was your number."

"It's alright Liam, it’s not your fault. I just want to find out who this is."

"Me too. How long will the analyzing take?"

"About a day, do you need it sooner?"

"No a day's fine. Thanks."

"See you tomorrow."

As he walked out the door, I thought about all the possibilities that could make it his number on that paper. Everything I could think of seemed like it was something that couldn’t happen. He never said anything that could help me figure it out(not that I would want to be nosy or anything). I don’t know how long I sat there, but I was getting tired from all of this. I decided to just go home. I needed to sleep today off. I changed into my red and black plaid flannel pajama pants and a gray muscle tee, and went to bed. I fell asleep instantly. I knew that I was going to have the same dream, like I always do, so I just waited for the dream, I waited for the pain. The strange thing is, the dream wasn't the same. Not even close to what it normally is. There was no courtyard, no school, and no talk of the party. 

I'm not sure it even was a dream.

Instead I saw her, but she didn't look like herself. In fact, I didn’t even recognize her at first.

She was pale, paler than usual, and she looked tired. Her eyes that were always chipper now sagged, swollen, and puffy. The emerald green that always stood out compared to her pale features even looked dull. Snarls were everywhere in her hair. She was wearing the same thing she was wearing the last time I saw her- her favorite white t-shirt from Target, her once shiny gold heart locket, navy blue daisy duke shorts, and worn out navy blue Converse to match. Maddie waved to me, and just stood there. She said nothing, and I wondered if she was waiting for me to speak. To be honest, I didn't know if I should say anything. So I didn't. 

And then she was gone. 

I sat up frantically, soaked in sweat and panting, trying to get some air and slow my breathing. Looking down at my shirt, I realized how much that had scared dream, or whatever it was, scared me. Usually I only sweat a little bit, but I don’t think I’ve ever sweat this much, ever. Putting my sweatiness aside, I scanned the bedroom, looking for any lingering shadow, and I saw nothing. No sign of anything unnatural or out of the ordinary.

Why did she just disappear like that? Was this another dream, just totally different than the one that's been haunting me for 10 years? Am I going crazy? Is there something wrong with me? I can’t even think straight. What's happening to me?