Bad Dreams ||The Haunting of Hill House||

🕸CHAPTER TWO🕸

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Lana's Dance Studio
Portland, Oregon
Now
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The music echoed off of the walls and filled my ears. I let my body be controlled by the melody, my movements flowing like a river.

Despite the fact that it was two in the morning, I felt invigorated. I felt energized, as I used my stress and restlessness to fuel my dancing.

Just as I had hit a pirouette and was about to spin, my cell rang. I descended down from the tips of my pointe shoes and landed in third position.

I walked over to the speakers and turned off the music.  I glanced over at where my phone was plugged in and saw that I had a missed call from Nellie.

"I wonder if everything is alright?" I murmured, before calling her back. Listening eagerly to the familiar rings, I tapped my foot impatiently as every worst case scenario danced through my head.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Nell! It's Lizzie!" I said, sighing in relief that she'd picked up. "I saw that you'd called, is everything alright?"

"Yeah, I just really wanted to talk to my big sister." Her voice sounded shaky, but also lighthearted, as if she was afraid but was trying to mask it with a smile.

"Are you sure that you're okay, Nellie? What's wrong? You sound like something's wrong." I pushed further, worrying about my little sister's well being.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm completely fine! It's just.... I had this really bad nightmare, like the kind I used to get when we were kids."

"Wanna talk about it?" I asked, despite feeling that I already knew what it was about.

"It was the Bent-Neck Lady." She admitted, her voice shaking slightly. "It just felt so real, Liz! I haven't had a nightmare that realistic since...."

"Since we were kids." I continued, after Nellie had trailed off. "Are you gonna be okay? Where are you, Nell?"

"I'll be fine, Lizzie." My little sister told me simply. "I'm home right now."

"Are you sure that you're gonna be okay?" I asked Nellie with a furrowed brow. "I can catch a flight and be at your apartment by tomorrow."

"I'm sure, Liz." Nell laughed through the phone. "I just really wanted to hear your voice. It's been a while since we talked and I just really wanted to talk to my big sister."

"How about this Friday, I fly over there and we can spend the weekend together? A sister adventure?" I suggested with a smile. "I could even try to talk Shirley and Theo into coming, huh? How does that sound?"

"I'm sorry, Lizzie, I really can't." She told me solemnly. "I'm gonna be really busy for the next few months."

"Damn, that sucks." I stated with a disappointed sigh, before asking. "Rain check?"

"Definitely, a rain check." My little sister laughed, her voice echoing through the phone. "I gotta go, Liz. See you soon, yeah?"

"Absolutely, I'll call you later, Nell."

Without another word, she hung up the phone. I stood there with a concerned look on my face. 'If Nellie was really okay, then why do I have a feeling that something horrible is about to happen to her?'

I bit my lip and glared at the phone in my hand. So completely lost in thought, that I didn't hear someone come into the studio.

"I thought I'd find you here."

I jumped and put a hand over my heart, startled at my husband's sudden appearance.

"Don't do that, Eddie! Geez, you scared me half to death!" I scolded, sending a disapproving glare at the blonde man.

"Sorry, Doll." He chuckled with a grin, before his expression became serious. "Another nightmare?"

"It's like no matter how far in the past that hellhole is, it will continue to rear its ugly head and remind me of everything that I want to forget." I groaned, walking over towards the mirror and sitting down.

Resting my head against the warmup bar, I closed my brown eyes and took a deep breath. "Why can't that place and everything that happened to my family there, just stay in the past?"

"Because it's a part of who you are." Eddie told me with a comforting smile as he sat down next to me on the wood floor. "It's what made you so strong."

I tried not to scoff at that and my husband apparently saw it, because he then continued with his speech. "Seriously, hear me out! If that hadn't happened to you, then you wouldn't have gone to group therapy and we wouldn't have met."

"Don't say I'm wrong, because you know that I'm right." He stated with a grin.

I chuckled and rolled my eyes, before resting my head on his shoulder. "How the hell did I get so lucky to be married to someone as amazing as you?"

"Um... you went to a trauma group therapy and met a discharged military captain that was fueled by PTSD and a fucked up knee. Who, after three weeks of silently ogling you like a creeper, finally asked you on a date to my niece's dance recital and you miraculously said yes."

I laughed as Eddie recounted how we met, before I planted a loving kiss on his cheek. "Did I mention that I love you?"

"Hmm... no. I don't believe you have mentioned that today." My husband joked with a grin, touching his forehead to mine.

"Well, then I love you so much, Darling." I told him with a content smile on my face, as I looked into his deep blue eyes.

"I love you more, Doll." Eddie whispered, before connecting our lips in a sweet kiss. My lips formed a wide smile as we both pulled away from the kiss.

"We should head home, you've got work tomorrow and I have a class to teach at eleven."

"Sounds like a plan, gorgeous." My husband said, before standing up and holding his hands out to me. I accepted them, and Eddie pulled me up to my feet.

I turned off the sound system and grabbed my bag, as we head out the door. Switching off the lights, before locking the door to the dance room.

After shutting off all of the studio lights and locking up we headed back to the apartment, which was a only a block away.

However, during the walk home I kept thinking about Nell and couldn't shake the feeling that something horrible was going to happen.