The First Drop Of Rain

Chapter Twelve

"Just hold on Arabella. Just hold on! We're almost there!" The voice called to me as I watched the woods zip by, the color of red hair fluttering over my eyes, it wasn't my own, this red was deeper and more golden where mine was copper and brass. The sun sparked off whoever was carrying me and I felt their grip tighten. "Don't give up sweet girl please!" I tried to roll my head over to look whoever was carrying me in the eye but just as I began to turn my gaze the world began to fall away and I was falling through the blackness grasping out trying to catch anything to slow my fall. A scream tried to rip from my lungs but something grabbed my throat and cut it off, stopping my breathing all together.

My eyes shot open and I sat up in my bed and met a pair of eyes staring directly back at me. They were red eyes just like in the hospital, but this wasn't a man standing before me, this was a woman who looked like she was forged in fire and brimstone. Her eyes cut through the dark and strangled words were the only that could break up through my throat. "Who are you?" I fumbled my hands around looking for my phone without breaking eye contact until finally my hand found it, and the moment I turned my flashlight on however she was gone. I sat there in my bed breathing heavily and shaking with my flashlight still pinned to the position I last saw her. I wasn't sure how long I sat like that unable to control my racing panic before I heard my window slide open.

"Ara?" Suddenly I felt the grip on my arm and it broke me from my paralyzed state, I snapped my head over and saw Edward's eyes filled with concern. I had no words, I just kept shaking my head. "It's okay, it's okay." He climbed into my bed and held me in his arms, that was when I realized I had started crying. "What happened?" He asked quietly as he brushed my hair back from my face. All I could do was meet his gaze and think of what I woke up to see.

"It... it was so real." I whispered as I buried my face in his shoulder. "I swear it was as real as in the hospital. How?" My words were muffled by the fabric of his shirt as I wept. I felt like such an idiot for crying like this, such a baby. It had to have been a dream right, just a remnant from my mind standing there before me. I would have known if someone was in here before. "Wait!" I gasped as I pulled back from Edward, my mind now racing.

Something was wrong in my room. What was it?

I climbed from my bed not caring to grab my crutch nor what Edward was doing. I flipped the light on and stood there staring at my room. "Wait Ara your dad he-"

"No he won't he's well into being passed out with half a bottle of scotch left in his hand right now, he doesn't have work tomorrow." I cut him off and waved my hand dismissing his worry. I stood there scanning my room looking for something, anything.

Come on Arabella THINK!

Then I saw it, I made my way over to the desk and began rifling through my items. "What are you looking for." Edward said, the concern on his face growing as he watched me search for an item that was no longer there.

"My hospital band, the one I was wearing when that one with the red eyes attacked me. I put it on this table and I never touched it after. It should be here and it's not." I felt hysterical at this point but I just kept searching, digging through the wastepaper bin, the hamper, and even all the books on my shelf to ensure I hadn't used it in place of a bookmark. Eventually I was sitting on the window seat out of breath with my leg throbbing and tears rolling down my cheeks. Edward crouched in front of me holding both my hands in his.

"Whatever is going on we will figure it out." He looked deep in my eyes and rubbed circles on the back of my hand with his thumb, an oddly soothing gesture that, until now, I had only read about in books. "Now come on, back to bed." Edward picked me up and laid me back into my bed, shutting off my light and plugging my phone in.

"Wait," I grabbed his hand before he slid away. "Have you done this before?" I asked, thinking about that night I woke up seeing eyes strikingly similar to his.

"Just... once or twice."

"Is that how you knew something was wrong tonight?"

"Yes. I saw your flashlight and heard your heart beating so fast and I knew something was wrong." He awkwardly fidgeted fingers almost out of habit.

"Thank you." I said, still holding the cuff of his jacket, he was wearing the same tweed one as before, you would believe he never left if you thought too hard about it. However I was not one to think too hard about it, so I pulled his arm a little harder, knowing no amount of force would make him move if he did not want to do so. "Stay." My voice but a whisper. "At least until I fall back asleep... please."

"Okay," he nodded and climbed onto the bed next to me, holding me in the circle of his arms as I rested my forehead against his chest.

"Thank you." Slowly but surely I drifted back to sleep, back to the dream of the woods and the woman with red hair carrying me, though she did not speak and I still couldn't move my head to see her face.