Chapter One

I hope you like this.

I throw myself on the comfortable hotel bed. My back aches from the hour and half ride on the hard back seat. Head pounding from so many potholes. A side from that, I am utterly exhausted. Looking at my phone, I see that it's only 7:30 a.m. Great, that gives me enough time to sleep and think about what I'm going to do next. I kick the covers down to waist level and slide my limbs under it. Pulling them back up to my chin. I rub my face on the fluffy white pillows. I haven't had a good night's sleep in days. My mind wouldn't let me fall asleep, until three o'clock in the morning.

But once I finally doze off, I am soon awaken by the horrors of my nightmares. Gasping for air, covered in cold sweat and screaming to the top of my lungs. The dreams contain memories of the present day, but they are twisted and stretched into a gruesome mini horror film. For example, the latest nightmare was one of the worst. I was standing at the altar of a church, in a white wedding dress. Along with me was Bryant, wearing a midnight black tuxedo. We were just about to exchange our rings, when the light flickers off. Eye piercing darkness, I am pulled by a strong force backward. Hitting something hard and cold. The floor, maybe?

Still in darkness, a hand grabs hold of my neck. Squeezing so tightly, I feel my life slipping away. Right before my last breath, the hand loosens it's grip. Landing me back on the floor. I have no sense of direction, but I pull my myself to what's in front of me. I keep pulling and pulling until I feel something wet. The mysterious liquid is thick and sticky. And reeks of metal. I try not to think so hard about what it is, I just keep on crawling. After a few more minutes of crawling, my head hits something hard. Feeling the object with my hands, I imagine a doorway. Thanking god, I stand myself up. Gripping the doorknob, I force the door open.

Once the door is opened, I see someone I wasn't expecting to see. Jamie, one of my closest friends, is hugging and kissing Bryant as if her life depending on it.

"What the hell is going on?", I ask trying to keep my balance in my broken high heels.

She turns to face me. "It's about time you showed up", she says walking toward me. "I was starting to think something happened to you". The look in her eyes causes my skin to crawl. The look of a pure maniac.

It's something about the way she's speaking, that gives me an uncomfortable sensation. "Why are you here?", I ask leaning in the doorway.

"Let me explain", Bryant chimes in standing in front of me. "While you were crawling around on your stomach, trying to find your way out of darkness, Jamie decided to make our love official. Being that she's already pregnant with my baby, she wanted to get married". He stops for a brief moment to collect his thoughts. "But the only problem with that idea is... you".

"Me?", I question.

"Yes, you", he replies with a smile. "Being that I was supposed to marry you, I can't marry Jamie".

"I didn't ask you to marry me", I say out of anger. "You asked me".

"I know, but that was just for show", he says looking down at me. "I mean, look at yourself. You're a complete mess".

I look down at my wedding dress. It is covered in blood and black dust. I guess it got dirty from me crawling on the floor.

"So, in order to make the marriage complete. There's only one last thing to do", Jamie says taking a knife from behind her back. "Kill you". I woke up right before the knife can be plunged in my chest.

I hope that being in this new environment helps the nightmares go away. I close my eyes, and visualize happy thoughts. I am slowly dozing off, when the familiar a vibration erupts on my torso. Groaning, I pull the phone from out my hoodie pocket.

"Hello?", I say sitting up.

"Mavis?", an innocent voice nearly whispers in my ear.

"Zechari'ah?", I ask with slight worry. "Is that you?".

"Yeah, it's me", the voice says between sobs.

"Honey, what's wrong?", I ask as my heart pounds.

"Mavis, Dad's....", she trails off.

"Dad's what?", I ask now enormously anxious.

She takes a deep breath. Collects her thought and says "Dad's dead".

The phone slips from my grasp, falling in what seems like slow motion. Landing on the white carpet, a little bit of clutter. This must be a joke. This can't be real. It talked to him two days before, he was perfectly fine. Well, not perfectly fine. He had a little bit of a cold. Runny nose, small cough and a headache. Besides that, he was fine. This has to be a joke. This can't be real. I won't except this, I will close my eyes and shut the world out. Like a little girl, scared of the big bad world. I am running from reality.

"Mavis?", a muffled voice asks.

I snap back to reality and look down at the phone. It lies face down on the white carpet. I pick it you and say "Yeah, I'm still here " in a soft voice.

"The service is on Tuesday at six o'clock ", Zechar'iah says still sobbing softly.

"Okay", is all that escapes from my lips.

"I would like it if you showed up", Zechar'iah says. "Please come to the service. I can't do this by myself ".

My sister only said that line to me once in her life. When she was five years old. The first day of preschool, and she was nervous. Zechar'iah squeezed my hand the whole car ride there.

"I can't do this by myself ", she told me. "What if they don't like me?".

"Don't be scared", I told her. "They're gonna like you fine".

"How do you know?".

"Because I like you".

"You're my sister. You have to like me ".

I give her a quick hug and say "You better go before you're late".

"I'm scared ", she says squeezing my hand again.

"Come on", I say pulling her behind me. "I'll walk you in".

Now she is thirteen, begging for my help. Like her five year old self is about to surface. The little girl who was scared of her first day school. The girl that ran in my arms when I came to pick her later that day. She hugged me like she haven't seen me in years.

"I'll show up", I tell her. "I promise ".

"Okay ", she nearly whispers before hanging up.

After I toss my phone on the bed, my stomach makes a whale noise. That's when I realize, I haven't eaten since yesterday morning. And I'm starving.

I walk over to bathroom and stare in the mirror. A monster stared back. No wonder the cab driver couldn't keep his eyes off me, I'm a mess. My hair is poking out from every direction, I have green mucus in the corners of my eyes, lips and a pale face.

If I'm going out in public, I have to do some adjustments. I comb my mess of a hair, clean the corners of my eyes, hydrate my dry skin and apply tinted lip balm to my cracked lips. Next, I trade in my sweatpants and T-shirt, for black skinny jeans and a button down white shirt. Then, I pull on some knee high black boots. All that's left to put on is my leather jacket and red scarf.

Walking out the door, my phone begins to ring. "Hello?", I say shutting the door.

"Mavis, sweetheart, are you okay?", a voice replies. The voice that I once treasured and cherished, now irritates every nerve in my body.

"Don't call me that", I say dropping the key card in my purse. Then, I start to stroll down the corridor. "You know damn well that I'm you're sweetheart anymore ".

"Can you, please, come home?", Bryant asks sadly.

"Home is a feeling, not a place", I say pushing the bottom to summon the elevator. "Your apartment was never my home ". I hang up the phone and place the it in my bag.

Author's Note

I hope you like this chapter better than the last. Excuse my grammar problems.