"Olivia, slow down!"
Olivia could hear herself chuckle loudly as her father's voice echoed around the busy street, turning back at intervals to make sure her father was way behind her . She knew the rule of the game was to never fall behind during the early morning jogs. It was just like she had always imagined. Just like she had always remembered, the cool breeze in the air, blowing her weave from side to side and the smell of fresh leaves all around her. She stopped running for a while to catch her breath.

"Come on dad, don't tell me you're tired already." She bent over and with her hands on her knees, talking and breathing at the same time wasn't exactly her strong point. She had her eyes focused in the direction of the trees that had suddenly surrounded the area, forgetting to notice how the street she was in was beginning to become so cold and empty.

She turned to her wristwatch, a weak sigh escaping her lips. It was almost time for breakfast. She turned back to the trees.

"Come on Daddy, hurry up or mum is going to be really upset if we don't make it back in time for breakfast." She rose her voice loud enough so he could hear her.

What was taking him so long?

Olivia stood straight, her eyes glued to the empty pathway as a cold breeze began to sweep through her skin. She blinked twice the moment her consciousness met with the deafening silence. She couldn't hear him anymore. She couldn't hear his footsteps anymore. Olivia frowned, straining her eyes, taking a step to see what was wrong.

"Daddy?" Her voice was beginning to echo around now. Olivia held her breath as she could hear the wooshing sound of the wind all around her. Olivia could feel herself go so cold all of a sudden, rubbing her arms at intervals to keep them warm as she took closer steps to the trees.

"Olivia," she heard a whisper behind her, a cold voice that made her halt abruptly. Olivia could recognize the voice even with all those whispers she could hear around her. It was his voice. It was her father's, but she could sense it. Something was weird. She could sense danger. Olivia slowly turned even though every part of her body didn't.

Her eyes widened in surprise as she stared at the man standing behind her with a huge cut on his throat, she watched her father place his hand on his neck as a scary amount of blood gushed through it while he struggled to stop it and breathe at once. It looked like he was dying.

Olivia screamed at the top of her lungs, turning away to make a run from the horror before her eyes when she felt a hand grab her.

"Mum?" She glared at her mother who just stood beside her in a wet dress, dripping water from head to toe. She could still recognize her even with all that paleness on her skin. Her mother's grip on her tightened. "Mum, dad-" Olivia turned quickly to where her father was.

There was no one there anymore. No blood either.
What was this? What was happening?

She couldn't understand any of it. She could have sworn he was standing there, bleeding to death seconds ago. She slowly turned back to her mother who just glared at her. Something was wrong. Olivia was about to say something when she heard a loud horn. She could see the bright light coming from the headlights of a blue truck as it drove towards them with full speed. Suddenly, the environment changed and before she knew it, she was standing on a bridge.

Why wasn't he stopping?

Olivia wondered as the truck pushed itself closer to her. At this point she knew she had to get out of the way. Whoever it was in that car wasn't going to stop until he ran both her and her mother over. She turned to her mother and grabbed on to her hand, trying to pull them away to safety but the woman in front of her held on tight, refusing to move. Olivia could feel her heart racing as the truck got closer while she pulled harder but the woman didn't want to let her go. She didn't want to move either.

Olivia took deep breaths as she took a last turn to the truck which was now really close to them, and before she could say anything else, it ran into them both and threw them off the bridge and into the river.

One, two, three seconds....

Olivia rose her head from the water gasping for air, wiping the water away from her face so she could see clearly.

"Mother." She whispered to herself looking around the wide river but she couldn't see anything. She couldn't see anyone. Everywhere felt so lonely. Like she was the only one there. "Mother!" She yelled again and then again right before she felt her body go numb. She couldn't move. She was drowning now.

"Help me!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, trying to keep her head up while her body was sinking. She could feel the water in her lungs as she coughed for breath.

"Olivia." Rafael whispered her name as he shook her in an attempt to wake her from her sleep but she didn't seem to open her eyes.

"Help me!" Olivia kept yelling as she threw her hands and legs in the air, struggling to breathe, it was almost like she was suffocating.

"Olivia wake up!" Rafael tightened his grip on her pushing up closer to her just so he could have a better chance at reaching her but she just wouldn't stop fighting. She wouldn't stop screaming, she wouldn't stop crying.

"Save me! Save me! Save me!"

Rafael had never been so frightened in his life. He glared at her, holding on tight to her in his arms.

"Olivia, Olivia come on!" He kept shaking her, "Wake up!" He was yelling now. "Olivia!" This time he shook her hard making Olivia yank up from the bed with a loud scream and her eyes wide open, as more tears began to fall from her face.

"Olivia." Rafael pushed himself closer to her to see if she was okay but she wouldn't stop crying. Olivia held on tight to her chest, crying as hard as she could. So hard that it frightened Rafael. He had never seen her cry that hard before.

"Hey," he reached for her arm. "Hey, you're okay." He tried to push her closer to him. He wanted to hold her but she just couldn't stop. Olivia's breathing began to slow down now. She was slowly loosing consciousness again as she slowly let go of her night dress and then fell back into Rafael's arms.

She fainted.

*************************************************
Rafael let out a weak exhale as he watched the doctor examine Olivia's heartbeat with his stethoscope. His examination was almost taking forever. They were both exhausted. It hadn't exactly been a while since she regained consciousness and when Rafael insisted to invite the doctor over, she made an attempt to stop him but he just didn't listen.

She knew how much she had scared him that morning, and from the way he focused on both her and the doctor, biting hard on his finger, Olivia could tell he hadn't still gotten over it.

The doctor exhaled, standing slowly, gaining both their attention now.

"Doctor," Olivia started just as Rafael took a step closer, her eyes glaring nervously in the doctor's. They watched a wide smile spread across his face.

"You both have nothing to worried about." He slowly turned to Rafael. "She's perfectly fine."

Rafael let out a loud relief exhale.

Thank God!

"Doctor," Olivia called for the older man's attention. "What about the nightmares? They are beginning to happen more often now. Isn't there something I can do to make it go away or at least lessen them for a while? Therapy hasn't really been working out lately for me."

"Well, I've come across cases like yours once or twice," he said handing his stethoscope to the woman in a white dress behind him. A nurse.
"Sometimes, nightmares like the ones you've been having could not just be scary dreams, they could be memories."

Olivia narrowed her brows.

"Memories?"

The man nodded.

"Repressed memories. Memories you forced yourself to not remember are trying to push its way back to your mind. It's like your subconscious is trying to get those memories back, trying to make you remember something. But memories like this are often triggered. There should be a reason or a recent happening that has caused your subconscious to be anxious about things that had happened in your past. In your case, the accident you were involved in as a child. The good news is, it's not permanent. Sometimes, patients cure themselves by embracing those memories, by remembering the memories they chose to forget and also by satisfying their curiosity by doing things that would remind them of the repressed memory, while others just wait it out till their subconscious gets tired of searching."

Olivia drew a deep breath, rubbing her arm. She was beginning to get so cold again. All the things the doctor said was beginning to make sense now.

"I'd prescribe some drugs to help you sleep better and relax, and also some books  that can help you understand this concept I just explained. But for now you should get plenty of rest. Don't do anything to strain yourself. I'd also recommend you stop by at the hospital for a few tests one of these days. It looks like you might be coming down with a fever from all the stress."

Rafael exhaled as he walked closer to the doctor.

"Thank you so much doctor for taking out your time on such short notice." He exchanged handshakes with him.

"Of course. Anytime."

The man slowly turned to his nurse and then nodded his head. She slowly reached for the small briefcase on the ground. Rafael walked slowly to the bed as the doctor and his nurse found their way out of the large room. He could see the way Olivia rose her head to his as he made himself comfortable right beside her.

He slowly reached for her hands. They felt so warm. He squeezed them.

"How are you feeling?"

"I just have a small headache. I'm sure it's nothing." She exhaled, looking into his eyes. "I must have scared you a lot these past few days." She placed a hand on his. "I'm really sorry I keep having these nightmares and making you sleep close to me and endure it all the time."

"You have nothing to be sorry for. It's giving me a lot of chances to wake up next to you so I can't complain." He let out a cheeky smile that made Olivia scoff and then chuckle softly after it.

"You know, I can stay back today." Rafael continued. "Stay with you, keep you company-"

"Why?" Olivia asked him. "I thought you have a busy day at the office? You still have that case you've been working on and you don't have enough days to come up with an evidence-"

"I honestly don't care about any of that right now. You're all that matters to me. I don't mind at all."

Olivia exhaled.

"It's just going to be for a few hours Rafael." She told him. "I'd be fine. Besides, Amy is going to be here the whole day to keep me company. You should go to work, find evidence that could help your case." She rubbed his hand gently.

"I'd be fine."

Rafael could still see the glimpse of fear and worry in her eyes. A glimpse of sheer sadness. He exhaled and then rose her hand to his lips. He kissed it softly, watching a smile spread on her lips. Rafael made a sigh of relief.

Was it really okay to leave her? To go to the office and leave her behind?

Even if it wasn't, he didn't want to argue. He knew he couldn't really do anything about it if she insisted.

Rafael nodded.
He just had to listen to her anyway.
He kissed her hand again.