Nightmare

I threw my eyes open, sitting up straight in bed, a light layer of sweat covering my body, breathing hard as I gripped the sheets around me.

Another nightmare.

Another nightmare, and usually of the same kind. Ever since I had been a child, my dreams had always been cursed with horrible images. As a child, I was terrified to close my eyes, terrified of what I would end up seeing; as an adult, I expect to have these nightmares, but they still trouble me, still bother me, still terrify me.

Another nightmare, and usually the same kind. I dreamt of the dead. My dreams were plagued with the spirits of the underworld, always calling out to me, coming to me. I had seen the Sixth Sense, the movie from M. Night Shyamalan when it first came out, thinking it would help me with the whole 'dead people' thing, but it never really did.

All that did was scare me into believing that I would end up seeing these spirits from my dreams in real life for a few months after. My dad had taken me to psychologists and counselors to talk to someone who could possibly help me, but it never worked. They could never understand what I was going through. All they cared about was getting me to take medication, which I didn't want.

I sighed, realizing that it was only a dream, and that it wasn't my reality, allowing myself to calm down. Glancing around the room, I realized as well that what I remembered from the last time I was awake must not have been a dream, though.

I was still sitting in the black bed in the Victorian Goth-Punk Rocker styled room. That meant that the Zacky guy was real, the fact that he was a vampire was real, and that I was no longer home, but in some other fantasy realm.

Perfect.

I looked around, suddenly feeling the terror rising in me again. This was exactly like my dream from last night. This was the same room that it had all happened in. I looked over to see the fireplace lit, but no other lights on, casting its glow about the room, also bringing forth dark shadows around the room.

The same shadows that the spirits always come to me from in the dreams.

I backed up against the headboard, hugging my knees to myself, wanting nothing more than to disappear, not wanting to face the spirits that I had seen in my dream. I heard noises outside of the room, a scratching on the door, and I held my breath, hoping that they wouldn't know I was in here. The door swiftly swung open, hitting the wall with a loud clang, and I screamed bloody murder, just as I had in my dream, seeing the blinding white light out there, followed by the dark figure of another being.

"Starr..?"

I screamed again, trying to move away, keeping my eyes shut, when I felt cold hands on my arms, stopping me from moving. No. They had gotten me. The spirits had gotten to me after all these years, and my nightmares were coming to life.

"Starr?"

The voice was closer, and I tried my hardest to push it away, but it clung to me, pulling me back. I screamed again, trying to punch whatever it was, but that did nothing, as it got closer, pulling my body closer to it.

"Starr!"

I snapped my eyes open to see Zacky hovering over me, holding onto my arms, worry washed over his face. I looked around the room to see the lights on, everything lit up, leaving no shadows. I began to shake uncontrollably, my eyes wandering the room, expecting to see the spirit reappear and drag me away.

"Starr, calm down," Zacky told me firmly. "You need to calm down."

I stared at him with terror clearly expressed on my face. "Help me," I whispered, the tears starting to fall from my eyes. "Don't let them get me… please don't let them get me…"

Zacky just stared at me, looking as if he were in a state of shock, but quickly snapped out of that, bringing me closer to him, letting me rest against the pillows as he brushed a few strands of hair out of my eyes.

His cold hands felt good against my burning skin as I tried to calm myself, breathing deeply. I closed my eyes to try to help, but the moment I did, I saw the spirits again, jumping, my eyes snapping open again. Zacky held onto my arms, making sure I didn't get up, steadying me.

"Starr, are you okay?" he asked, his voice full of concern.

I just stared into his eyes, and slowly nodded, feeling tranquility return to me.

"What happened?"

"I…" I couldn't find any words.

"It's okay, you can tell me," Zacky rubbed my arm lightly. "You can tell me. I'm not gonna hurt you… what is it?"

I looked into his eyes once more, seeing the concern in them, slowly nodding again, agreeing to speak. "I suffer from nightmares, and I thought it had come to life just now."

"Nightmares?" Zacky echoed. "What kind of nightmares?"

I glanced around, once again, making sure there were no shadows. "I dream of the dead… the spirits…in my dreams, they come to me… they speak to me… but I don't know what they're saying… and… sometimes, if I don't wake up… they take me away. They take me away to their place. The underworld…" I shook my head. "I know it's just a dream, but… they seem so real… the dead come for me, taking me away to the underworld, but I don't know what they're telling me. I don't understand them…"

Zacky listened to this, then he looked away, as if things were falling into place in his head as he processed what was being said. He didn't speak for several moments, only staring at the ground with the same look as if he were in deep thought.

"How… long…" Zacky finally spoke, but he sounded as if he were choosing his words carefully, without looking at me. "Have you been having these dreams?"

"Ever since I can remember," I whispered. "I've always had these dreams… ever since I was a child… it's always been the same thing, every night… but I've never thought spirits were in reality. They always disappeared with my waking… this is the first time I've thought they were real, coming to life…"

Zacky still didn't look at me, his eyes remaining on the floor as he listened, lost in deep
thought.

"Zacky, what's going on?" I asked. "Who are you? Where am I? Why am I here?"

I let my voice crack, becoming as vulnerable as possible. I knew that I was way in over my head, I knew I was somewhere that I could never fully understand.

I knew that I was surrounded by darkness, a type of evil looming over me.

I knew this wasn't something good.

I knew my world was changing as I once knew it.

"What's happening to me?" I whispered, almost in a sob.

Zacky took hold of my hand, staring into my eyes. "You have to trust me, Starr… okay?" He reached up, holding the side of my face. "You're going to have to trust me… can you do that?"
The seriousness of Zacky's tone and facial expression terrified me as I looked at him. He didn't scare me, exactly; it was more along the lines of what he knew that scared me. The intensity of his eyes was obvious. There was important information that was locked away behind those eyes. And it all concerned me.

That was what scared me.

Zacky knew exactly what I was talking about; he knew what I meant by all this. He also knew the meaning of my words. He knew the meaning, and I knew that he was going to share that with me. But I didn't know if I was ready to know of this information. I didn't know if I could handle whatever it was that he knew about me.

"Zacky, you're scaring me…" I shook my head trying to move away.

He shook his head, taking hold of both sides of my face, making me look at him. "You need to trust me… you need to trust me that we are going to help you… that I am going to help you… okay?"

I was about to agree with him, seeing how serious he was, but then something else caught my attention. "What do you mean we?"