One Step Forward and Two Steps Back

“Travis… help. Travis, please… Help me,” Lauren cried from somewhere in the house.

As he got up from bed, he heard beeping in the distance. The sound soon made its way to his room. Rushing down the hall to her room, he saw smoke rolling out from under her door.

“Travis. Help,” she struggled to say through coughs.

He fumbled with the doorknob. With his nervousness and heat making the handle too hot to touch, he pulled his shirt off and wrapped it around it. Tugging it open, he could still hear Lauren’s cries for help, but he couldn’t see her. The smoke was too thick and an orange glow made visibility next to impossible to see.

“Lauren… Lauren, where are you?” he shouted as he stepped carefully inside the door.

“I’m in the bathroom. Travis, please hurry,” she said.

Travis could hear the panic in her voice now. This made him push aside any fear of the danger around him and rush to the bathroom door. He ignored the fire spreading quickly a few feet away from him. This door handle wasn’t as hot as the other. Once he opened it, Lauren ran right to him and wrapped her arms around him. Her actions caught him off guard, resulting in both of them falling to the ground. His head hit the bed, causing him to start to lose consciousness quickly.

“Travis, no. Stay with me,” she said as the orange seemed to over take the room now.

Her hands went to his shoulders, trying to shake him to keep his eyes open. He could see her lips moving, but words weren’t coming from them. Bright flames appeared behind her. Seeing this brought Travis back quickly… but not quickly enough. First he heard a pop and then an intense flash of light. Lauren screaming soon followed. She fell backwards just as more flames multiplied around them. He didn’t care about the inferno that was just produced around them. All he cared about was if Lauren was ok. Once he sat up, his voice was stuck in his throat. She wasn’t there. He scrambled to his feet and looked around the burning room. There’s no way she could have just left like that. The fire free space around him kept getting smaller and smaller.

“Travis,” he heard from the direction of the door. The smoke and flames had become so intense that he couldn’t see a foot in front of him.

“Travis,” he heard again.

He couldn’t comprehend what was happening. That voice couldn’t be Lauren’s. Just as his thoughts duplicated, the source of the voice could now be seen as she made her way through the room.

“Travis,” she said again so much more calm now.

He started panicking. What was going on? She knelt down beside him and looked at him strangely.

“Travis,” she said in the same tone.

The room seemed to be spinning now. Long gone were the orange glow and the hundreds of flames that filled the room.

“Travis, wake up,” Lauren said as she started to shake him lightly.

He jerked himself awake. His breathing was heavy and sweat seemed to be pouring out from all his pores as if he had been through a fire. He noticed Lauren sitting on the side of his bed looking at him worriedly.

“I could hear you all the way from my room. What were you dreaming about?” she asked as she wiped a few droplets of sweat from his forehead.

It took him a few seconds to collect his thoughts. The dream seemed so real to him. Everything was so clear. Lauren’s voice. The room. The blaze. Everything.

“The house was on fire,” he said as he tried to slow his breathing.

“Aw, Trav…”

“You were trapped in the bathroom,” he cut her off.

She didn’t know what to say. All she did was stare at him, trying to push words out.

“It can’t be… night terrors?” she asked slightly confused. He just nodded his head. “Still? You poor thing,” she said scooting over beside him. She pulled his head onto her lap gently and started to stroke his curly hair. “They haven’t stopped?”

He just shook his head. No matter how hard he tried, he could not go back to sleep. He knew Lauren had. Her breathing was slowed and she had stopped stroking his hair hours ago. All he did was lie there, examining her flawless features. He never thought that in a five month’s time, she could look so much more stunning as she did before she left. A jealousy came over him. Imagining her and Luke together upset him more as he kept thinking about it. Sure he didn’t know Luke, but he had a good eye for people and their character. Luke was not a good character for Lauren.

He did try to go back to sleep. But every time he closed his eyes, the same terror accrued or an image of Lauren and Luke played through his mind. Eventually giving up, he carefully moved away from Lauren, who was still sleeping soundly, and retreated to the bathroom to take a hot shower. Finding some relief from the hot droplets of water running down his rough skin, his mind still wouldn’t rest on his terror. That was the first time he has dreamed about Lauren. He’s no psychology major, but he knew dreams had a message… most of the time. In the end, he concluded that this was a dream that didn’t fall under the category of most of the time.

Once he toweled off and slid a pair of shorts on, he walked quietly back out to his room to find an empty bed. As he made it through his room, a few sighs escaped him as he continued down the stairs. He quickly found Lauren in the kitchen. She had already cleaned up and looked to be ready for a full day of riding.

“Morning, sunshine,” she said sweetly with a smile.

“Since when have you been a morning person?” he asked as he sat on the counter so he could watch her cook.

“Since I am home and not in California,” she said in a jittery way.

“Did you have Rockstar already this morning?” he asked as a grin tried to fight through.

“Better,” she simply said. He looked at her sideways. “Have you every tried to mix RedBull and Rockstar?” she asked as her full smile showed through.

“Jesus, Lauren,” he said with a shack of his head.

She continued hurrying around the kitchen silently. Travis was amazed. Not only by her buzzed out state, but that she was actually making breakfast. He didn’t even know that she could cook.

“Eat up, boy. We have a busy day ahead of us,” she said while sliding a plate heaped with various breakfast foods towards him.

“You’re not eating?” he asked as she went around cleaning up the mess she left.

“I’m buzzed out on caffeine and sugar. Do you think I can eat?” she asked without stopping.

“But you should,” he said before shoving a spoonful of eggs in his mouth.

“I’ve heard that before,” she said as she rolled her eyes.

‘I come from a land down under
Where beer does flow and men chunder
Can't you hear, can't you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better…’

“What’d up Pupps?” Lauren said happily as she picked her phone up that was a few inches away from Travis.

He frowned as she walked out of the kitchen to the back deck. He wasn’t quick enough to glance at the phone before she picked it up to see who it was. What kind of name was Pupps anyway? As he watched her smile at the person on the other end, the jealousy came back. She stayed on the phone for a good fifteen minutes, a smile never leaving her face.

“Who was that?” Travis asked casually when she came back in.

“My Cali buddy,” she said with her same smile. He just shot a look at her. “It was Luke,” she sighed out.

“You with him now?” he asked with a hint of disgust in his voice.

“No… he just might come out here,” she said quietly.

“What? He is not staying at my house,” he said a little too loudly.

“I never said he was. Gosh, Travis. What a way to go into asshole mode,” she said as she pushed the back door open a little too hard.

He sighed as he watched her wheel her BMX bike out of the garage. He knew not to mess with her when she stormed off like that. Maybe freestyle would have to wait for a little bit.