C H A P T E R  S I X - D R E A M

Alicia's eyes open and she gasps as adrenaline courses through her veins. She sits up and her eyes frantically searches her surroundings. Confusion and horror immediately fill her being as she realises that she is on her bed. Not only is she on her bed, she's in her bedroom.

She removes the covers from her exposed legs and runs to the large mirror situated in her room. Her eyes frantically searchers her face and exposed skin for any sign of bruises. She runs over to her window and quickly draws the curtain back. She slides up the window and pokes her head from it. She peers down and panic begins to overtake her. There her car stood. Parked In its designated spot. Completely unscathed.

There's absolutely no way. Alicia sits on the edge of her bed and rubs the sweat from her forehead as her brain begins to scatter. Had this all been a dream? It felt so real. She isn't able to wrap her head around anything that's been happening lately. She felt completely deranged and feared for what was to come.

An agitated breath emits from her pink plump lips. Disregarding the entire ordeal as a terrible nightmare, she lazily trudges over to her bathroom and begins to run herself a bath. All she needed was to relax and forget about her troubles.

As the bathtub fills, she strips herself of her sleeping shorts and top, fills the water with some vanilla scented bubble bath and climbs in. Sighing as the warm water instantly soothes her aching limbs, Alicia tilts her neck back and shuts her eyes as she feels the burn of her tired eyes begin to settle. The nightmare had taken most of her energy. She places her arms on the rim of the tub and lets herself drift into a somber state of utter relaxation.

Alicia sits at the back of a red pick up truck. She swings her feet back and forth as she stares in complete awe of the beautiful scenery before her. The truck was positioned at the top of the great Roslyn hill. Her hazel irises peered over the town and large mountains and she smiles brightly. She feels the truck dip slightly and she turns to see Michael sitting down beside her. He gives her a can of beer and she chuckles slightly as she takes it.

"You're so romantic." She says sarcastically as she playfully rolls her eyes.

Michael chuckles and shakes his head as he reaches behind him. He lifts the thin blanket and pulls out a brown picnic basket. He places it in between the two of them and raises his right eyebrow at his beautiful companion.

"You were saying?"

"Ha ha." She once again rolls her eyes and slightly nudges him. Michael laughs and stands to his feet. He swiftly brings Alicia into his arms and spins her around. She gasps as she drops the beer from her hands and wraps them tightly around the blondes neck. The can falls on the grass and begins to spill in the very front of them. Alicia frowns.

"Michael stop." She tightens her grip on his neck and flinches. "Stop Michael. You're at the edge."

Michael laughs as she places her face into his neck. Not at all wanting to look over the edge of the large hill. He spins her once more and she begins to get upset. Michael's laughter dies down and he stares her in the eyes.

"You really think that I'd drop you?" He questions as he slowly lets her down to stand on her converse covered feet.

She scowls as she turns and makes her way to the front of the truck. She heads for the passenger side door, but Michael beats her to it. He places his large hand on the door and grabs her waist. He backs her up onto the trucks side and she sighs as she is made to look up at him by his tender grip on her chin.

"Alicia." He calls out and leans down to place a tender kiss on the crook of her neck.

Alicia's breath hitches as she lets out a small breath. She bites down on her bottom lip and turns her head to look elsewhere. Michael smiles at her shyness and places her hand on her chin once more. He turns her head so that their eyes once again reunite.

"You mean the world to me. I'd never let anything happen to you and sorry if I scared you." He brushes his thumb over her bottom lip and her cheeks soon begin to burn a hue of strawberry red.

Alicia fights back the urge to smile and forces a small frown. "Don't do it again." She gets up on the tips of her toes and slightly brings her lips closer to his. He brushes his lips against hers and her eyes slowly close. "I won't." He speaks against her lips. His sweet breath against her face causes goosebumps to appear on her exposed skin.

He brings his body closer to hers and smashes his lips down onto hers hungrily. Alicia instantly follows the movement of his lips and wraps her arms around his neck. Michael snakes his hands down her back and runs them over her derrière. The movement of his hands halt at the height of her thighs and he swiftly lifts her up. Alicia wraps her long curvaceous legs around his waist and nibbles on his bottom lip as he walks them to the back of the truck.

She feels her back hit the hardness of the cool truck and swiftly runs her hands down the centre of Michael's cotton covered abs. Their lips once again meet for a more passion filled dance and Alicia grips the sides of his hips and pulls him downward to fill the empty space between them. Michael begins to grind his hips slightly and Alicia disconnects her lips from his to let out a soft gasp.

"Alicia"

"Alicia"

Alicia gasps and quickly sits up in the tub. She coughs erratically and wipes the excess water from her eyes and nose. Her eyes frantically move around the dimly lit bathroom and a sigh of relief leaves her lips. She had fell asleep and was only dreaming. She begins to shiver as the water had slightly cooled down and stands to her feet. She steps out onto the bathroom carpet and wraps herself in the large white towel that hung on the hook on the tiled wall.

She couldn't understand why she had that kind of dream. And with Michael of all people. The dream felt extremely strange. It felt less like a dream and more like a revisited memory. She stands in front of the mirror within the bathroom and combs through her wet black tresses. She brings the comb to the front of her hairline and tries to comb her disheveled hairs to the back.

As she does so, she halts and flinches slightly as a painful sting appears on the very top of her forehead. She drops the comb onto the cold tiled floor and quickly examines the front of her head. Right at the beginning of where her hairline starts was a small yet deep cut. She frowns and touches it once more. She again flinches as it begins to burn. Where did this come from?

As she fingers over the cut gently, she spots something on her finger in the mirror and quickly looks down at her right hand. Right there on her index finger is a bright red slender cut. She stares at the cut in confusion and begins to think over where the injuries could have came from. She thinks back to the car accident and her dream and shakes her head in complete disregard of the thought.

•

Later on in the day, Alicia makes her way into Chelsea's bar. She walks over to one of the stools and smiles at her friend as she pours another customer a drink. Chelsea winks over at her and after a couple minutes, makes her way over to her.

"What you coming up in here so late for?" Chelsea questions and she raises her brows. She takes a quick shot and Alicia chuckles.

"It's not that late." Alicia waves her off. "Just wanted to see you is all Mrs alcoholic."

Chelsea smiles and holds up the vodka bottle in her hand. Alicia quickly raises her hands and shakes her head.

"Please no. Give me a beer."

Chelsea shrugs and quickly grabs a beer from the glass fridge. She opens it with a bottle opener and places it in front of her. More people begin to fill up the bar and Chelsea sighs tiredly.

"It's packed tonight so I won't be able to talk as much." She sadly frowns.

Alicia shrugs. "No biggie. I'll be good."

And with that, Chelsea makes her way down the bar and begins taking orders. Alicia slowly sips on her beer and turns around in her stool. Her eyes roam over the party goers and within seconds halts on a blue eyed blonde. Alicia slowly places the beer down on the bar table behind her and squints as she keeps her eyes on the young woman who was positioned directly opposite her on the other side of the room.

It's as if the young blonde is able to feel the hazel eyed beauty strong gaze on her, because she quickly looks up and their eyes connect. Horror is all that is shown on the blondes face and she instantly gets up from her seat and quickly heads for the exit. Alicia doesn't hesitate one second to follow the woman and hurries on behind her. As the blonde heads for her vehicle, Alicia catches up and grabs onto her forearm. The woman turns and harshly shoves Alicia back.

"D-don't touch me." The woman stutters out as she avoids any and all eye contact with Alicia.

"I'm sorry." Alicia backs up and holds up her hands defensively. She scratches the back of her head as embarrassment soon begins to overcome her. "I didn't mean to startle you. It's just you look so familiar."

The woman shakes her head and turns to head for her car. "I don't know you lady."

Alicia isn't able to get her face out of her head. She knows that face. She's seen it before. She follows behind her slowly and watches as the blonde struggles to find the keys within her large black bag.

Then suddenly, it clicks. Alicia gasps and the woman instantly turns around. The look of complete shock and horror that is written on Alicia's face scares her. She nervously bites her lip and then continues to look for her keys.

"You're the woman." Alicia gasps once more. "The woman from my dream."

The woman ignores her and continues to rummage through her bag. Alicia isn't able to take her eyes off of the nervous woman.

"You're the reason I went crashing into that tree...you were standing in the middle of the road." Alicia tries to put the pieces together.

What are the odds of me dreaming of this woman and then seeing her the very next day?

"I don't know what you're talking about lady. Please leave me alone." The blondes breathing is disheveled as she searches her bag more desperately.

The woman is finally able to get her car door open once she's retrieved her keys. She climbs into the passenger seat and before she is able to close the door, Alicia is standing beside her.

"That wasn't a dream. You made me get into that accident." Alicia angrily shouts.

Tears begin to fall from the woman's eyes as she shakes her head. She tries to close the door but Alicia is still positioned in front of her. Alicia holds onto the car door and rips the blondes hand from it.

"Tell me the truth. I know I'm not crazy. Everyone's lying to me." Alicia screams out again in complete desperation. "Tell me I'm right."

Her eyes begin to water over. The thought of her actually being completely insane and verbally attacking a random woman ran through her mind. This is crazy. I'm crazy. What am I doing?

"I'm so sorry Alicia." The woman cries.

Silence. Alicia stares at the teary eyed woman with a blank stare. As the woman continues to cry, she slowly backs up and allows her to shut her car door. The woman instantly drives off and Alicia stands still. She watches as the car drives out of the parking lot as thousands of emotions begin to fill her being.

She didn't know what to make of what had just happened. One things for sure is that she wasn't insane. She was moments away from apologising and finally coming to terms with her mental illness. That was until the crying woman called her by her name.

Michael did know her. His brother tried to kill her and so did whoever that woman was. She was going to get to the bottom of this.

__________

Apologies for the wait!

Thoughts?

Things are finally close to being revealed. Things are about to get so crazy. Thank you for all the support this book has gotten. I appreciate it.🩷