Nightmares Chap 1

         Chap 1.

         Fire danced in my peripheral vision. Blood stained the floor and seemed to glow in the light of the flames. The person in front of me had his back to me. There was a feeling of deja vu. I'd seen him before. But where? Suddenly he turned. It was a sudden, rickety movement. Like the kind you see in horror movies. He looked straight at me and I suddenly knew where I'd seen him before. It was so many years ago since I'd last laid eyes on that face. Those blue eyes that stared at me, bored into mine with loathing and hatred. That face. Distorted by fire. How I hated that face. It scared me. Panic began to rise in my chest. My heart racing. When he suddenly lunged at me, I flinched.
         I woke up.
         Screaming.

         Arms were encircling me. Someone spoke but I couldn't make out the words. Was there a child in the room? It sounded like a child. I felt like a child. Crying and whimpering like a five year old that's seen monsters under her bed. Slowly reality came back. I felt the wetness on my cheeks. Tears were streaking down my face. Hands stroking my back. Convulsively I hung on to the person doing her best to calm me.
         Juliana. My Jules. My best friend. My sister of a sort.
         “Sshhh. Easy Keily. It was just a bad dream, that's all.”
         Jules took my face gently in her hands stroking away wet strands of hair and trying to wipe away the tears.
         She took my hand, her fingers softly encircling mine, and climbed out of the bed.
         “Come. You need something else to think about.”

         “What time is it?”
         A mug of steaming coffee was placed in front of me on the kitchen counter, it's aromatic fumes chasing away the nausea the nightmarish pictures had given me.
         “Around five am. Almost time to get up anyway.” Juliana answered as she sipped on her own coffee.
         It was still pitch black outside but the happy chatter from the early morning news program on the TV made it feel less like midnight.
         “Brr, as if it's not cold enough already...” I heard Juliana mutter from her place in front of the TV. “Might cheer you up though.” She turned to me and smiled.
         “Hm?”
         “Snow's coming. Followed by a quite dramatic drop in temperature so it might stay a while.”
         “Are you getting at something with this?” I shot her a suspecting look from the corner of my eye. She looked entertained by something. What was it?
         “Just saying, If you feel like running naked in the woods, no one will be able to see you!” Jules snickered.
         Aha.
         It was an old joke between us. We had known each other since childhood and Jules was the only person who knew exactly everything about me. I could tell her everything. She was like my own walking talking diary. It was rather practical, I never had to scribble in a book.
         When we'd been kids I'd had a hard time controlling my gifts and often got warmer than was natural. Without problem I'd rolled around naked in snow, leaving nothing but water behind. Jules had always joked about how that was my right element. Not fire. With my pale, almost white, skin and white hair I'd fitted right in. Like a rabbit in its winter clothing. I was practically invisible, Juliana had told me. One time we'd been playing hide and seek in the woods close outside the city. Juliana had been the seeker and as a joke I had stripped out of my clothing, hiding, melting in with the snowy surroundings. It had taken her almost an entire hour to find me.
         I couldn't help but smile at the old memory. Childhood had been a good time. Best of my life actually.
         It was before the event's that had thrown my world into chaos. Before the event's that now caused my nightmares.
         Nausea was building up again and I had to force myself to swallow down the bile that rose in my throat.
         Slowly the sky lightened as the hours progressed. Our coffee mugs were empty and I had placed myself on the edge of the coffee table watching TV as Juliana occupied the shower. Thankfully Jules always showered quickly and soon I could finally wash off the stench of fear from the nightmare.
         An hour or so later we hurried out to the car, somehow managing to be late. Flinging our book-bags into the backseat we sped of towards the university area of Kachada City. The Kachada University of Arts. I was dead nervous. There were no butterflies in my stomach. There were bats.

End Chap 1.