Changed Forever

Chapter 16- Nightmares

He grabbed my arm and flung me at a wall prompting me to cough up blood from the impact. I stood up with shaky legs as I stared him in fear. His eyes were filled with anger and hate as he looked at me and I wondered what I had done. His fingers reach for my hair and yank it hard. His fingers brush my scalp and I suddenly feel pain rush through my body as it felt like life itself was being taken out of me.It felt like there was electricity and fire in me burning through every living cell in my body.

"Give me what I want" his voice is filled with anger and the pain soars to a new level. Tears fall down my cheeks but I try not to make a sound because I know I'll get punished for that. I bite my lip hard, drawing blood as I try to hold back my scream. His hand moves to my neck and I feel it burn. His hands were hot and literally burned my skin as it made contact. I coughed out my blood as it felt my throat was closing up.

I begin to pant heavily as the pain gets worse and instinctively let out a scream I could no longer hold back. The pain became more intense and I lost all strength and fell to the ground. He looks at me with distaste and hatred. It seems like he didn't get what he wanted, whatever that was. He raises his leg and stomps hard on my left arm, breaking it. I let out a blood curling scream before feeling darkness overtake me.

——

I open my eyes again and my head is throbbing hard. It takes my eyes a few seconds to focus. I see a girl standing front of me, she has blond hair and beautiful blue eyes that look down at me in concern.

"Cassandra, it's okay now" she tells me softly. "Who are you?" I ask in a whisper but move back a bit. She doesn't seem dangerous but then again, it's better to be safe than sorry.

"I'm Sophie... Sophie Hunter" she introduces herself with a small sad smile that instantly eased my nerves. "You'll be fine, I promise".

—-

I wake up with a start, my breaths leaving me in shallow pants as I tried to steady it. My heart was beating at an incredibly fast pace and I tried to take deep breaths to fight off the upcoming panic attack. My hands start to tremble as I reach up to my neck. It doesn't burn it was just a dream.

Just breath. You're okay. You're safe.

I sit on my bed for a few minutes trying to recollect myself. I haven't had a nightmare in such a long time I had almost forgotten how terrifying it was. I'm mad at myself for not being able to get over my past. And I find it a little nerve wrecking to still be dreaming about the exact events that took place years back. I have a future ahead of me and I can't keep rereading the last chapter, I have to write a new one.

I get up from my bed making up my mind to act like nothing ever happened. This is what I've always done and it's what I would continue to do.

Just then I hear a knock on the door and I take a deep breath before heading to the mirror first. I look at my reflection. I look horrible with my bed hair and eye bags. Fortunately, the eye bags weren't that prominent as I shad managed to get a little bit of sleep the previous night. I use my two index fingers to pull my lips up into a smile. I step back from the mirror and force a smile again without pulling my lips up with my fingers this time. It'll do.

Fake it till you make it.

The knock sounds again and I throw open the door not forgetting to put on the smile I had shortly rehearsed.

From the other side of the door Anna and Drake looked me over in confusion and concern. "What's with the overly forced and creepy smile?" Drake asked worriedly.

Busted.

"I'm just exercising my lip muscles" I answer without dropping the smile which I'm sure creeped them out judging by the way Anna flinched and the way Drake took a step back.