A Rainy Day [COMPLETE]

Chapter 25

Bright colors and flashing lights pulse through the air, as my body spins to the different attractions. I find myself wandering aimlessly around a theme park when all of a sudden a man blocks my view. A small smile pours onto my lips after realizing it's him.

I scurry up to Luke with my flustered face and wrap my arm around his. My eyes furrow as I glimpse at the person's face. A distorted blur hides the identity of the stranger beside me as I step back to discover red eyes glowing in my direction.

"Who are you? Where's Luke?" My bottom lip twitches as the question moves from the corners of my mouth. I lost him. How could I lose him? You can't lose a man like that. It's just not possible.

My head twists from side to side in search of him. Someone's hand taps my shoulder and, in response, I snap my head around, hoping my eyes would meet his again. To my disappointment, I encounter a familiar face that I hoped to never meet again.

"Hey Dan, do me a favor. Stop being so useless and get me a beer." A large man with stubble on his chin orders me. I see the cockiness in his smirk as the smell of whiskey and cigarettes forces itself up my nose.

"Uncle Ben?" My voice shakes at the mention of his name. Someone else taps me on the shoulder as I whip around to spot a woman with crimson hair. A deadly glare captures her eyes as my heart stops beating.

"It's been too long. Why haven't you come to visit?" she catechizes with the sense of uncontrollable authority lingering in her face. "We should catch up." Her lips turn into a slight grin as her nose scrunched up.

"S-Scarlett?" This can't be real. Can it? What did they want from me? My heart feels as if it's going to leap out of my chest and drop to the concrete.

"Wh-how did you find me?" I ask eyes flickering back and forth.

"We'll always find you, Dannielle. You can try as hard as you want, but we'll always find you," Scarlett walks up to me as my uncle grapples me by the hair. I wince in pain before true terror overcomes my body.

"What are you doing?!" I cry out, hoping to grab someone's attention, but no one is listening. No one will help me. I was alone, once again, all by myself, and completely useless.

"Please, stop!" I scream. A muffled voice immerses the air as I try shaking out of his hold. The voice murmurs continuously around me weaving in and out of my head. I search around, struggling to figure out where it's coming from. The more my mind pays attention to the voice is the more I begin to realize that none of this is real. Scarlett, my uncle, and all the memories are being forged from the depths of my imagination.

My eyes jolt open, sensing a feeling of warmth around my skin as a drop of sweat slips down my forehead and the darkness sinks into my sight.

What happened?

My eyes adjust to the dark room. I glance around to notice I'm sitting up in my bed. It doesn't take me long to register where the warmth is coming from. A gasp manages to slip through my lips, out of fear, as the person squeezes me, drawing me in even closer. Relief lifts my heavy heart as I take in a steady breath.

"Are you okay?" he asks. The smell of his body wash drifts off into the surrounding air. Skin touches skin as I drop my head on his shoulder. My arms wrap around his shirtless back, choosing to ignore the fact and try to relax.

"It was just a dream," I answer inaudibly. I feel his reassuring breath hit my neck as his arms manage to tighten their hold. I dig my face deeper into his skin and wait for my heart beat to slow down. The last of my tears slip away from the prison of my eyes, running their way to Luke's shoulder.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he offers with a soft tone that drowns in my mind.

No. That was all I could think. There was no way I could tell Luke why I had that nightmare. It shook me to my core just thinking about it. The people I met, who I never wanted to speak to again, and the feeling of defenselessness. Things might turn out for the worst if he ever found out.

"Are you scared?" His suggestion incapacitates my thoughts and causes the overwhelming pressure to return. I wait for the pain to pass but it only grows worse, beating with every shredding second. A minute rolls by and the ache still refuses to leave my heart.

Why won't you leave? My chest tenses and all I can do is wait for it to pass. I struggle to hold off the stabbing torment inside of me. Heavy breaths flee my stiff lungs as I try to keep it together. Just a little longer Danni. I reassure myself. I feel my eyes twitch, following the beat of my rapid heart. Shivers crawl up my spine like termites as my shoulders scrunch underneath my neck. My heart beats against his so strongly that I doubt he has the tolerance to ignore it. I'm breathing without actually feeling like I'm breathing and feel like he's squeezing me so tight that all of my emotions might just explode.

"Yes," I blurt out and swallow harshly. Within seconds, the pain in my tortured heart vanishes. I gasp and carry in some air, not realizing I was holding my breath. Luke's breath hitches the moment I answer before falling back to a relaxed state.

"It's cold in here," he mentions after a little while.

"A little," I agree, letting the air hit the skin on my arms. My eyes follow the movement of his back as it rises and falls from the breaths he takes. His comforting arms unravel around me as my mind screams for him to come back. My body lets him go as my mind begins to roar in agony.

My head drops the slightest bit in rejection until my legs fly off the bed. Before my sense of time has the chance to catch up, I'm carried through an open doorway and set down on his bed. I remain still, not knowing what to do with myself. Thousands of thoughts are ambushing me like a deadly virus living in a healthy human body.

Useless... is all that comes to mind. How could I let that happen? It's only been a few weeks and I've already made a fool of myself. Was I screaming just a minute ago? Or maybe crying?

Stupid, idiot, meaningless, embarrassment. Tears are about to form in my eyes but I'm not about to make an even bigger fool of myself. I'm not going to stand by and humiliate myself twice in one night. Luke strolls around the bed to the other side and slips under the covers. I feel his unbreakable gaze on me the entire time as the moonlight shines on my skin.

"You don't have to do this," I say, touching a warm part of the sheet, where I assume Luke was sleeping only a minute ago. My body steps back to the floor only to be coerced back onto the warm mattress and have my face disembark into his chest. The warmth of his body radiates back into my skin, while his arms hold me close. My lips curve into a small smile as he drags the blanket on top of me.

The light breath flowing from him, hits the top of my head over and over again, causing a feeling of calmness to wash over me. I shut my heavy eyes and lean in closer to his body, drifting off into a deep sleep.

A/N

I feel like a lot of people reading my book might have a few questions. To start off, CONGRATS. You've made it this far. I appreciate every single person who was able to make it to this part of the book. I haven't written any author's notes because I thought it would be better just to start here, with the people who are interested in the book.

This chapter is (a lot) shorter than most of my other chapters, so I do apologize for that. Some of my readers have also been asking things such as "Where does the kid fit in?" and other questions. I am happy to announce that after all these chapters I have written that I am going to delete this book.....haha just kidding. (I've put way too much dedication into writing A Rainy Day). But anyway, after this short chapter things should start picking up a little bit. I usually update every other day or whenever I can, but I will mention in an A/N if I'm going to be in any sort of time crunch with school. So thank you so much, again. I really love all the people who read A Rainy Day and comment.

—Brave Angel