It's Not What It Looks Like (Recently Completed)

Chapter 13.2

Colette

It starts as a normal dream. I am in my old room back in Father's mansion. Then a fog appears out of nowhere so thick that I am unable to see anything. Slowly, an outline of a man walking towards me appears. As he comes closer, I fell a chill spread around me. I take a step back while he takes one towards me. I take another step back and this time it's not just one man. There are four of them now walking towards me. As they come closer, the fog clears I recognize them. They are the men who were hired to murder me. A shiver passes through my spine as they smirk evilly. Subconsciously, I understand that it's not real and it's only just a nightmare. I know that I have to wake up for all of it to go away but as hard as I try I am unable to do it.

In the nightmare, I look around for an escape and see that I am not in my room anymore. I am in the game room in the basement. I try to make sense of it and in my few moments of distraction the four men have miraculously multiplied into a cavalry. I feel my heart pounding in my chest and distantly hear someone asking me to open my eyes. But as hard as I try I am unable to wake up from the nightmare. 

As I fight to open my eyes, the army of men starts to march towards me. I walk back hurried and ask them to stop but they dont. Soon my back hits the wall restricting me from moving any further. I feel claustrophobic as they move closer. It gets difficult to breathe and the lack of oxygen starts a burn in my chest. I beg them to stop but they only smirk. When they are a few feet away, they finally stop, letting me pull in a few necessary deep-breathes so I don't pass out. As I try to even out my breath, I feel someone shaking me and asking me to wake up. I finally anchor to the voice to guide me out of the nightmare. 

Just when I feel my eyes flutter, the army of men part like the red sea and I see Father at the far end. The wind is knocked out of me and I struggle to breathe again. I start screaming for help as he treads toward me in quick strides. I turn around and claw the wall trying to escape in any way I could but I am unable to. After several repeated attempts, I turn back and find that Father is right infront me. I press against the wall hoping it will swallow me. Then, everything around me slows down just to terrorize me even more. In a slow-motion, I watch as Father brings up his hand to touch me. Just before I can feel his hand on me, I am pulled out of my nightmare and I am back in the hospital bed trashing and terrified.

It takes a few nurses and Zach to hold me down from my attempt to flee. While they hold me down, a doctor tries to calm me down, instructing me to take deep breathes to slow down my pounding heart. It takes a few minutes to make sense that I am not in the nightmare anymore and to here what the doctor says. When I finally calm down, I see at least a dozen people in the room and doorway staring at me. Seeing their eyes boring into me, I recollect the nightmare and start shivering again. 

"Out! Everyone Out", Zach shouts at everyone somehow understanding my discomfort. Once everyone leaves the room, the anguish that I have been feeling since Zoya walked in, takes over me. A sob breaks and I cry my heart out unable to keep my composure anymore. Zach is next to me immediately pulling me into his arms and telling me that everything will be alright and he is here for me. Hearing his words makes me cry harder. As much as I want him to be there for me, I have to let him go. I cannot be that person who stopped him from achieving great things. After everything he has done for me, it is the least I can do. I can't live with myself if someday he looks back and regrets this moment when he comforted me. That would be horrible at so many levels. Also, I don't want to be his pity project. I need to go away from Zach and the very thought hurts every nook and cranny of my body.