Running... running... running!
I can't turn back, I'm scared...too frightened to look back.
It's coming behind me, in a massive speed...I turned once, saw her blood-soaked red claws, and I was never able to look at it again.
I am exhausted, but I need to keep going if I want to stay alive...I must keep running.
"Ariel, you can not run faster than your shadow!" she yells from behind.
Ariel. Why did she call me Ariel?...She must have picked the wrong person. I considered pausing to explain myself, but I heard that strange voice in my head.
"Just run! Run! Do not ever stop!" the voice urges me.
I was panting and out of breath, but it kept chasing me...I had to find my way out of this place.
I turned back once more...oh noo, it was catching up with me, so I endured the pain and kept running.
She is now in its final phase, about to be devoured by it.
She makes an attempt to repel it, but it is clear that she lacks the necessary strength because it pushed her away with its claws.
My heart was racing when it took a step in my direction, and then it stopped in front of me. She was clenching her teeth, ready to rip apart my neck.
*No! * A scream escapes my lips.
*No*
*
*
Ashira's eyes snapped open, and she sat up straight on the bed. She was still breathing heavily, and the visions of the bloody claws continued to haunt her. She glanced around, seeing her brothers staring at her anxiously.
"Another nightmare?" Raphael inquired, and she simply nodded in fear...her brothers exchanged glances, and Jayden sighed.
Jayden poured a glass of water from her reading table and stroked her back, but she remained terrified...Taking out his handkerchief, Raphael dabbed at the perspiration beads on her forehead. Ashira was perplexed... was not she just packing? She sighed as she peered at the partially packed clothes; she had never left her room during that entire period, so how had she fallen asleep?God, please.
For a while, there was silence in the room.
"Maybe we should move tomorrow," Raphael said, his face pale as a ghost. When he heard Ashira scream from the sitting room, all the blood rushed to his head.
Tomorrow. I will never stay in this room for another night...NEVERR!...Today—no, right now—we had to relocate.
The other bus Jay ordered must have arrived and left while I was sleeping. "No, Raph...am fine, we could just get another bus," I said.
Glancing at his watch, Jayden said, "Princess, the bus has not arrived yet." "Perhaps in fifteen minutes."
WHAT?!? The bus has not arrived, which indicates that the nightmare lasted for thirty minutes. To me, it seemed like a full day.
"That is fantastic, I should keep packing." I got out of bed and hurriedly packed.
My brothers simply looked at me pityingly; she was not surprised, though, since she honestly believes she is going insane at this point.
"Ashy, how about you go have a therapy session?" Raphael was assisting me with packing my shoes and skincare products.
"Nooooooo", I strained to get the letter "o" out of my eyes, and I forced a smile, saying, "Am totally fine Raph."
Jayden. I knew he was more concerned than Raphael, but he did not know how to express it, or perhaps he did not want to show us his caring side...he was the boss, you know.*chuckles*
They were staring at each other very intently while we were packing a few small items in the sitting room, waiting for the driver. What the heck was wrong with these boys?
My brothers have this strange way of communicating without saying anything...of course, I begged them to teach me, but they said it was boys stuff, and when I insisted, Raphael started talking about wet dreams and spermatozoa crap, and *shudder* I just had to mind my own business. Well, are not boys strange?
It took the bus precisely twelve minutes and thirty seconds to arrive.I could not take my eyes off my watch, I was so ready to get out of this house. Raphael assisted the driver in loading our boxes into the trunk, and we set off.
Jayden was sitting in the front seat next to the driver.Raphael and I took the back seat.I would miss this city.The city of New Orleans.
*sigh*
"Do not worry, I promise you...this will be the last time we move."
Oh!! What does this brother of mine think of me, Raphael?A fool, perhaps?
I rolled my eyes...he told me the same thing last time we moved, and now we are moving again.
"Ashy, this is really the last time," he said, giving me a serious look.I hated it when he did that... It is extremely unsettling to see Raphael with such an expression because he was always the irreverent.
"whatever!"
We all remain silent for a considerable while..
"Where are we heading this time?" I inquired..
What my new home held, I had to know.
"Paris," Jayden uttered while maintaining his focus on the street.
I simply hummed.Who knows where we will go next? Perhaps another continent... Africa.