Layla was having another one of her dreams, and began breathing heavily. She tossed and turned, and suddenly stopped when the man who had been reoccurring in her dreams, suddenly appeared. The moment he started slowly walking towards her, her heart began beating faster, and slowly stepped back until she bumped into a tree. He had a look in his eye that made her nervous the closer he walked toward her not saying a word, and felt nervous as to what he was about to do. 

She was feeling somewhat excited to finally get a closer glimpse of him, yet scared. As he approached her, he reached his hand out cupping the side of her face, and stared into her eyes. She felt mesmerized by the brightness of his blue eyes, and began to relax the longer he looked at her. She felt as if he was putting her into some sort of trance, and tried looking away from him "Who are you?" she asked, quietly and nervously.

He tilted his head to the side, turned her face back towards him and spoke in a voice that had chills running down her spine "I'm just a vision of your imagination." he replied. Without saying another word, he continued studying her as his head nodded from side to side.

Wanting to know who he was, and why he only appeared in her dreams, she placed her hand on top of his and suddenly felt electricity run throughout her body, causing her to stutter as she spoke "You come see me every night, why?"

He slowly inched his way closer to her and as he moved closer to her face, her breathing hitched and her eyes closed, thinking he was about to kiss her "When you wake up, you'll remember nothing." he spoke in her ear, she opened her eyes and gasped when she noticed his eyes turn darker in color.

She began hearing noises from afar, and watched how his eyes slowly rolled up, and partially turned his head to the side, acting like he was listening to the noises. He looked back at her and leaned into her ear, causing her breathing to stop as he spoke again "Wake up."

She opened her eyes while gasping for air, realizing she once again was only dreaming. What the fuck? she muttered quietly It seemed so fucking real she whispered while sitting up, and leaned her head against the headboard. She remembered the dream she was having, and him telling her that she wouldn't remember anything. He may have told her that he was only a vision of her imagination, but she didn't believe him, she felt he visited her outside her dreams as well. She looked over towards the window, got out of bed and walked over to the window and looked out, trying to see if he was nearby and not a part of her imagination.

When she didn't see anyone, she stuck her head out the window "You fucking coward!" she yelled, hoping he would show his face, and not only in her dreams. But just like she thought, he didn't. Feeling frustrated, she stomped her foot and crawled back into bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering if she was being crazy, and that this person in her dream was in fact only her imagination. She closed her eyes determined to figure out how to get him to come back, and fell back asleep.

Days went by since she had the dream about him. She was supposed to be getting ready to meet with her friends, but couldn't get him off her mind. She sat on her bed thinking about him, asking for him to show his face one more time. She slowly got up, took a shower and began getting ready to head out.

She was getting ready to walk out the door when she smelled a familiar scent and quickly turned around "Hello?" she asked hesitantly, and began walking around, looking all around her as she walked. She didn't know what she was looking for, what the smell was, or where it came from, all she knew was that it smelled familiar and couldn't place where she had smelled the scent before. "You're here, aren't you?" she asked, as she continued looking around her while checking the rooms out.

Not getting a response, she shrugged her shoulders and headed out the door. She walked towards her car, and kept looking behind her as she walked until she ran into her car, her heart stopped and screamed, thinking she ran into someone. She snapped her head around, and felt like an idiot when she realized it was her car she ran into.

She drove to the local bar and met up with her friends, as she got out of her car, she heard her name "Layla!" her friend Alyssa called out, waving for her to come over. She walked over to her friends, giving Alyssa a hug as she approached her. "We thought about going over to Mason's house afterwards, are you in?"

"For what?" she asked, as they walked into the bar.

"Bonfire party." she smiled "Mason, Trevor, and Alex bought a ton of booze, and three kegs of beer. They're expecting a ton a people to show up."

"Wow, what are we doing here then?"

"It's the start of the party." she giggled.

They headed over the bar, ordered their drinks and hit the dance floor. While they were all dancing, a man walked up behind Layla and placed his hand on her shoulder "Would you care to dance?" he asked, as he leaned into her ear, causing her heart to beat faster and the hairs on her arms stand up. The sound of his voice was alluring, and sounded familiar to her. She quickly turned around and looked at him.

She tilted her head to the side and squinted her eyebrows "You look familiar, do I know you?" she asked.

"Dance with me." he insisted.

She looked at Alyssa, and handed her drink to her. "Will you hold this for me?" Alyssa smiled, took her drink and stepped close to her. "He's cute, invite him to the party." she said, before walking away.

He wrapped his arm around her, and held onto her hand as he pulled her tighter against him. As they danced, she couldn't keep his eyes off him. He looked like the man from her dreams, but there was something different about him, the color of his eyes.

Wanting to break the silence, she decided to ask him questions "Are you from around here?"

"Somewhat." he replied.

She swallowed hard, the way he was looking at her, was the same way the man from her dreams looked at her, and wanted to know who he was "What's your name?"

"Alaric."

"Alaric... that's different, my name is..."

"Layla." he says, cutting her off.

She stepped back and squinted her eyebrows "How do you know that?"

"Small town, plus I heard your friend say your name when I walked over to you." he winked.

She laughed it off, feeling dumb for even asking "Of course, forget I asked." As they continued dancing, she thought of Alyssa telling her to ask him to go to the party later, but decided not to and when the song was done, she stepped back "Thanks for the dance, I better find my friends."

She walked away looking for her friends and found them at a table doing group shots "Hey! Where's mine?" she asked, shoving her way in between Trevor and Alyssa.

Trevor picked up a shot glass, handing it to her "Drink up" He placed his arm around her as they all did their shots and pulled her tighter against him "Who was that guy you were dancing with?"

She smiled "Why are you jealous?"

"Maybe, I've been trying to get you to go out with me for years and you keep turning me down, what's so different about him?"

"Maybe because you're my friend and he isn't." she giggled, walking away from him. He leaned his head back and sighed. He lowered his head and looked over at Alyssa, nudging her "I thought you were going to talk to her and insist she give me a chance?"

"Sorry Trevor, I tried. She claims she doesn't want to ruin a good relationship with you, if the two of you never worked out."

Trevor felt determined to get her to go out with him, and planned on getting her alone later. He looked across him, and noticed the guy Layla danced with staring at him. He didn't want to lose out on his chance with Layla to this guy and picked up his bottle of beer, slammed it and walked up behind Layla picking her up, causing her to squeal and laugh. "Let's go to the party now, I'll drive."

Trevor carried her out of the bar, and walked towards his car "Put me down dammit!" she yelled "What's your problem?"

"I don't have a problem, I figured you can leave your car here and ride with me over to Mason's."

She looked at her car, and over to the bar entrance and saw Alyssa and her friends walking out. Alyssa walked over to them, asking if she could ride with. Trevor sighed, hoping he would have had a chance to talk to Layla and opened the back door for her "Get in." He then opened the front door, waving for Layla to get in "Let's go."

She got in the car and looked behind her "What the hell is Trevor's deal tonight? He's acting very strange."

Alyssa shrugged her shoulders and smiled as she put on her seat belt "He likes you, maybe you should just talk to him later, and see what he has to say."

Layla kept looking over at Trevor as he drove, she thought he was cute, but she didn't think she could ever go out with him. He was the first one who befriended her when she moved to this town, and looked at him as her best friend. He was always there for her, and was there to comfort her when her parents were killed in a tragic accident.

Once they got to Mason's house, she and Alyssa walked out back to the bonfire. She started getting goosebumps and felt like she was having déjà vu. "I need a drink." she said to Alyssa, pulling on her arm and over to the table with all the booze sitting on top. "A strong stiff drink."

"I'll give you something stiff." she heard someone say over her shoulder. She turned around and Trevor was standing there, smiling at her. "That's not funny..." she retorted, pushing him away from her.

She quickly made herself a drink, and found a chair to sit down in. While sitting there watching everyone talk and have a good time, she looked over at Trevor and noticed him being quiet. She stood up and walked over to him, and sat next to him. "Sorry for being such a bitch to you earlier, I know you were just teasing me."

"I wish you would talk to me about us..." he says, taking a drink of his beer.

"Trevor, why ruin a good thing?"

He stood up and reached his hand out towards her "Walk with me." He grabbed a hold of her hand, and helped her out of the chair. He held onto her hand as they walked and started talking about their friendship. He suddenly stopped, and walked in front of her. "I wish you would give me a chance; we've been friends for what, eighteen years? You should know me by now."

"The thing is, I do love you... but, only as a friend, and I don't ever want to lose that."

He stepped closer to her, wrapped his arms around her, and hugged her. All he wanted was to kiss her, and see if something was there, he sighed and rested his chin on top of her head. "I don't either..." he said quietly, feeling hurt. He pulled his head back, looked at her, cupped the side of her face and caressed her cheek with his thumb, and leaned forward, kissing her. She was shocked at first, and was about to pull back but got the sudden urge to kiss him back.

She abruptly pulled away, wiped her lips and looked at him "Sorry Trevor, I can't do this with you." She quickly walked past him, and headed back to the bonfire, pissed at herself for kissing him back. She quickly walked past her friends partying at the bonfire, ignoring her friends when they called out for her.

She made herself a drink, walked over to the bonfire, and found a chair to sit in. As she sat there, all she could think about was the kiss with Trevor, the man she danced with, and the man from her dreams. She was in her own little world, avoiding everyone until she thought she heard someone screaming. She looked around, and saw everyone having fun until she heard the screaming again and spotted someone standing next to a corn field, watching them. She couldn't see a face, and tried focusing in on him.

Her heart began to race as she thought about her dreams and felt this was all too familiar, she stood up, dropped her drink and screamed as she ran away. She ran over to the cars and realized her car was still at the bar, and ran off again. Running as fast as she could, she stopped to take a breather and had to laugh at herself What am I running for? That was only a dream... she thought to herself There's no fucking way this is happening, it was only a dream she whispered.

She then started hearing branches breaking, and leaves crunching, like someone was walking towards her, and felt her heart drop into her stomach. She stood back up and ran, while running, she came across a rundown shed and tried getting in.

"Layla..." she heard a man say lowly. She turned around and saw him standing behind her.

"You again... am I dreaming?"

He placed his finger over her mouth and leaned closer to her "Shh, they'll hear you." he said quietly.

"You are real, aren't you?" she asked, as she removed his hand away from her face.

Sorry everyone that it took so long to get a chapter out, I've had one busy start to the summer, and lots going on. Hopefully this chapter was OK for you all, it's something new that I will try to write, and a little out of my forte.

I will try and update everyday like always, but with my busy schedule right now, I can't promise you anything.