It was a dark stormy night, and the winds threatened to destroy everything in its path. The wind was violent and the rain poured with a menacing vendetta. The trees danced to the tune of the wind, relishing in its compelling rhythm. Selena pushed through the storm against all odds, blood dripping from her arms and legs as she forced her way through the impenetrable storm. Her wounds were wrapped in cloth, but they were a stopgap at best. She found it difficult to maintain consciousness as she had lost too much blood. But one thing was certain, if she fell, it would spell her certain death.
Selena managed to get to the bank of a river which formed the boundary of two towns. It was a long walk, but she knew she had to get out of town for a while. Unfortunately, an army had gotten there too. "Identify yourself!!!" a soldier ordered, as Selena approached the town. She could barely hear anything at that moment, but she could recognize that she had wandered into the hands of the enemy. The shouts from the soldier dissolved into an echoing silence in her mind. Even though she didn't know what he was saying, she figured she was being asked to identify herself.
Unfortunately, that would only worsen matters for her. For if the enemy knew who she was, it would spell her certain death. So, she kept silent all the while as the soldier's rants sounded like slurs and nothing more. Just then, another soldier walked towards the previous one and engaged him in a conversation. After a while, he stretched his hand to Selena. "Are you alright?" he asked.
Selena was dumbstruck. Was it a ploy to lure her in or was she really saved? There was only one option, however. She was going to take her luck as it came and pray that she arrived on peaceful shores. With little hesitation, she took the hand of her saviour. She couldn't quite make out his face, but he was a presence that Selena could never forget. And as the hand pulled her up, it pulled her out from one nightmare to another.
***
Selena woke up with a fright unable to discern what her dream was about. Was it a past memory, she wondered? After all, she remembered little from her past. Most of what she knew was what she was told by her parents before they died. But it wouldn't make any sense for her dream to have been a memory. After all, she was only 22 years of age. When could she have served in the military? And it had been too long the last time she watched a movie so it certainly wasn't because of that either.
Selena scratched her head in annoyance as she could not make any sense of what she had dreamt about. "Alice," Selena turned to notice that her roommate was not in the room. "Again?" Selena scoffed. Alice's disappearance was far from strange. She would usually make last-minute plans to go to a party and Selena often found her missing from the house. But she rarely went two nights in a row, and considering that they had gone to one the previous night, it felt a bit strange.
Luckily, the two had a tradition of letting each other know of their whereabouts. It was something that Selena was insistent on because of how often Alice went out, especially at night. But she would have to get up for that and Selena screamed underneath her pillow. Finally, she dragged herself from her bed and made her way to the kitchen. It was one of the rare times that she did that not to get a midnight snack, but she always fell to the temptation regardless. And this time was no different.
"I'm going to Abbey's," Selena read the note on the fridge in the kitchen that had been left by Alice. "Hope she comes back with something," she added as she finally succumbed to the pressure of having a midnight snack. But just as she opened the door to the fridge, she heard an unusual creaking noise.
"Well that's worrying," she said as she moved the door back and forth. And then, it dawned on her. The noise didn't come from the fridge but from something else.
"Alice!" Selena beckoned but was met with silence. "Who's there?" Selena cried. Even though she couldn't see or hear anyone, every bone in her body screamed that there was an intruder in her house. And to her greatest horror, she was right. Out of the dark, a masked man armed with a knife lunged at Selena. She tried to jump to the side but he was faster than she could react and he stabbed her arm, sending her tumbling to the side.
"Help! Help!" Selena cried in hopes that someone would hear. But the masked man continued to walk slowly towards her. He wore a black tactical uniform and she couldn't make out any feature except that he was human. "What do you want?" Selena cried as she had a feeling that he was not there to rob her. But to her greatest surprise, he turned around and left. Shortly after, Selena lost consciousness.
***
The beeping sound of an ECG machine filled Selena's head as she slowly regained consciousness. To her surprise, she found herself in a hospital bed, and even more surprising, Adam was sitting right beside her.
"What… what are you doing here?" Selena asked.
"Relax. Don't try to get up. Alice found you bleeding at home and brought you here. She called the office to say that you wouldn't be able to make it and I came the moment I heard the news," Adam replied.
"Where is she?" Selena asked.
"She stepped out not too long ago. And I will have to as well. I just needed to make sure you were okay, but I'm glad it's not too serious."
"Well…"
"We'll talk about it when you're better. Right now, you need to rest. We'll involve the police only after."
"Alright," Selena weakly replied.
Adam leaned in and kissed her on her forehead making her go red. "Later then," he said.
Adam stepped out of the hospital with more fury than he had shown when he was with Selena. As he stepped into his car, Sanders was waiting for him in the other seat.
"Well, this confirms that she's not the one," Sanders said.
"Try that again without my permission, try anything at all, and I'll kill you," Adam snapped.