Stricken

Zara could not sleep that night. She tossed and turned, tangling the sheets around her legs. When she finally dozed off, she fell into a nightmare.

The fog was so thick, Zara couldn’t see her hand in front of her. She turned around and around, unable to find a way out of the fog chamber. A bright light erupted in front of her face and she shielded her eyes with her arms. The motorcycle roared loudly, making the ground tremble. Zara turned away, but the motorcycle was there in front of her in every direction.

A figure slowly appeared on the bike. Zara’s eyes widened when she realized who it was. His platinum hair shone even in the dark; his blue eyes burned. She wasn’t sure if she should be thankful or scared, but the look on his face made her lean towards the latter. His gloved hand rose from the handle bars and reached out to her. Zara instinctively backed away.

“Come on, Zara. Let’s go for a ride,”his voice purred, a smirk creeping across his handsome face.

Zara wanted to ask him how he knew her name, but like before, she felt numb and lost when his eyes connected with her’s, and the only means of getting away from those feelings was to go to him. Her feet drifted towards him and her hand reached for his. He took her petite hand and pulled her towards him. Her hand rested on his shoulder as she got on the back of the motorcycle.

“Hang on,”he laughed and the bike jerked forward.

Zara gasped and clung to him, the wind whipping past her face, blurring her eyes. The fog was never ending. It went on forever, barring their way out. Suddenly the ground disappeared underneath them and the bike went hurtling of the cliff.

Zara sat up in bed, a strangled cry forcing its way out her throat before she realized it was a dream. She put a hand to her chest, feeling her erratic heart beat. Sun slanted in through her window and Zara glanced at her clock. 9:45.

“Oh, shoot!”She scrambled out of her bed and hastily got on her clothes and tried to smooth out her hair. Late for work? She’d never been late for work in her life! Even if it was just a crummy comic book store, Zara had always taken all her responsibilities serious.

Zara scrambled down the stairs and was half way out the door when Emily called, “Zara!”

Zara slowly backed into the house. “Emily, I’m late. I gotta go.”

“What am I supposed to do?” Emily asked, hopping off her chair.

“Uh...Stay here?”

“But I’m not supposed to be here by myself. Mom’s at work.”

“Crap,”Zara mumbled, then grabbed her sister’s hand. Apparently her mom had conviently forgotten to tell her that, and also her daughter had her own work to get to. “Come on.” Zara sat Emily on the back of her bike and got it going. They spun out of the driveway and into Santa Carla.

The sisters entered the comic book store. Zara looked around cautiously, not seeing anything of her employers. Good. She set her sister on the counter in front of the sleeping Frog parents and quietly tip-toed around the shop. If they weren’t here, maybe they wouldn’t know she was late.

Zara turned to head back to her sister and about smacked into two bodies. Edgar and Alan Frog stood shoulder to shoulder, arms crossed, with similar nonchalant looks on their faces.

“You’re late.” Edgar spoke first, raising his eyebrows.

Zara opened her mouth to explain. “I...just...misunderstanding at home, and–”

“Don’t worry about it. You’re off the hook. This time,”said Alan.

Zara sighed. “Thanks you guys. I won’t do it again.” She tried to step around them.

Edgar put his arm around her shoulders, much to her distaste. “Look. Zara. You need to learn to chill. Relax. Take a load off. Don’t take life so seriously.”

Zara ducked out from under his arm. “I don’t take life that seriously,”she defended.

The Frog’s shared a look and then back to her with an “are you kidding me?” look. Their employee rolled her eyes and went back to her sister. She could hear them following her. Why did they stalk her? She wasn’t that interesting! They needed to. Get. A. Life.

“Who’s the twerp?”asked Edgar, staring at the little cherubic being that had popped up on their counter.

Zara turned on them. “This ‘twerp’ is my little sister.” When the brothers looked at Emily, she smiled as broadly and innocently as she could.

“Why–”
“Misunderstanding at home, just like I said.”Zara interrupted Alan. She went behind the counter to her station at the register and leaned against the glass top. End of conversation.

Emily had found an interesting Fantastic Four comic to read and with the long, hot day wearing on, Zara thought of her dream. It gave her chills, but not completely unpleasant. Yes, she’d gone off a cliff, but she’d touched him.

I’ve lost it...The thought popped into her head at the thought of 'touching him' being a good thing.

Even if it was just a dream, it made her feel slightly content. Every time she heard a customer come in, she’d look up expectantly, but it was usually some oily-haired comic nerd.

But that was okay with her. Seeing him in the daylight would ruin the mysterious, chilling affect he had on her. He was an image of the night, Zara thought to herself. Dark, mystifying, beautiful. She’d already made plans that she’d go to the boardwalk again tonight and see if she could find him. She’d been successful the past few nights, why not a third time?

“You guys sniffing on news print or somethin’?”

Zara recognized that voice immediately. Sam.

Edgar’s voice came next. “You really think you know what’s happening around here don’t you? Well, I’ll tell you something. You don’t know shit, buddy.”

Zara rolled her eyes. There they went with the “vampire slaying” business again. Poor Sam. She’d heard it several times, but as for as long as she’d lived here, she’d never seen a vampire.