S.M.S(Save My Soul)

Chapter 3:Nightmare

Throughout the day, Anji followed me around like the cunning b***h she was slapping me awake every time I started having flashbacks. I appreciated a wake-up call as much as the next gal but this was a bit excessive, I could tell she was having a field day by seeing me so miserable. By the end of the day, however, I was ready to commit murder and go to jail because she annoyed me that much just hearing her voice drove me insane and I already had a headache so that didn't help my mood in the slightest.

"Where are you going, we had so much fun today?" Anji giddily said as she stopped at my locker.

"Get lost," I muttered, she wasn't the only thing annoying me being on my feet for so long finally affected my wounds and I just wanted to lay down and sleep.

"Aw don't be like that after I was such a good friend to you today," she said with a wide smile.

"Angelica Bloom, if you don't leave me alone this instant I will beat the living s**t out of you do you understand me," I warned her coldly getting fed up with her, her smile dropped and she gritted her teeth.

"What crawled up your ass?" She asked with a scowl, "But fine be a b***h I was just trying to help." She rolled her eyes and did an iconic hair flip and left, her heels echoing on the floor.

Help? Help who? I doubt help was even in her vocabulary. With a sigh I started my trek home even though my body was aching, when I got home I was surprised to see my dad watching tv.

"Belle, why didn't you call me to come to pick you up?" He asked in surprise at seeing me.

"Thought you were at work and I'm not immobile," I said flatly.

"I'm taking a few days off, how was your day?" He asked.

"Great and yours?" I lied.

"Alright, I bought some pizza, the leftovers are in the fridge," he told me.

"Great I'll eat it later," I said and headed to my room, the moment my head hit the pillow I was gone in seconds. I was hoping for a dreamless sleep but even for me, that was asking too much.

I was floating in the middle of the ocean on my back, the clear blue sky a sight for sore eyes as I watched a bird fly by. Murky blue sea as far as the eye could see, the water was a bit chilly but so relaxing as I sighed. All of a sudden my peace was snatched from me literally as hands dragged me down by my leg, I screamed but of course, that was my first mistake as I inhaled a large amount of water that burned my lungs. No matter how hard I tried to remove the hands but more would replace them and no amount of kicking or screaming could save me.

'It's your fault, it's your fault' I heard echoey voices chant below me, as I looked down through hazed eyes I could faintly make out familiar faces like Angelica's, my dads and every face I've ever seen started popping up at the bottom of the ocean all chanting the same thing.

'It's all your fault' They chanted over and over the words rang in my head repeatedly driving me crazy as I tried to swim up to the surface but they held on tight to my leg pulling me down. It's not my fault how was I to know that they were watching me or that they were round the corner it wasn't my fault, hands so many hands pulling and tugging at me

"isn't it?" Angelica asked, appearing in front of me as we were at eye level, her face was distorted but I could tell that was her. It's not my fault, right? I didn't do anything wrong, it's not like I wore revealing clothing or depicted in any way that said I was asking for it.

'Didn't you like it?' Angelica asked in a menacing tone, just the question dove a dagger into my heart and I screamed my lungs out.

"Belle wake up!" I heard my dad shout as I woke up screaming with tears streaming down my face. The dream felt so real that I was still shaking from its effects as my dad held me and let me cry till I felt somewhat better.

"It's alright it was just a nightmare." My dad whispered, rubbing circles on my back, but it felt so real. I clung to his arm gritting my teeth to make my body listen to me. After a few minutes of trying to calm me, I sat back and wiped my face.

"You wanna talk about it?" He asked me concern written all over his face.

"No," I said, my voice hoarse from crying.

"That's alright maybe you could speak to someone else when you're ready ok," he said, squeezing my hands. To his words, I simply nodded. I didn't want to talk. It felt draining to even say one word. I left the room to go have a cold shower to wake myself up but no matter how hard I tried to not think about it the dream would flash before my eyes and my skin crawled as I felt like hands were touching me everywhere and before I knew it I was rushing to the toilet to empty the contents of my stomach.

The rancid taste of bile burned in my mouth as I tried to catch my breath. Once I was stable I cleaned my mouth and took a couple of breath mints, after cleaning the bathroom I changed into jogging tights, a tank top with some sneakers. I headed to the kitchen to eat a bit before taking my medication for the late afternoon all the while my dad was watching me like a hawk.

"Where are you heading?" He asked, noticing my attire.

"I'm going-" I stopped talking mid-air. I was going to say I was going for a walk till I realised the sun was going down and just the thought of going out without the full sun made my skin crawl.

"Why don't we go together?" He suggested with a warm smile, I maintained eye contact with him for a couple of seconds before signing and agreeing.

"Great, let me get ready then." He excitedly said going to his room to change, while he was busy with that I kept myself busy by scrolling through social media and seeing what my classmates were posting.

"Ready," my dad announced, getting my full attention, he came out wearing running shorts with a tank top that firmly hugged his well built 6'1 figure and some sneakers.

"Let's go then," I said, getting up and heading out the door.

We walked around the neighbourhood in comfortable silence before heading to the park and just enjoyed the scenery of families spending time together or individuals walking their pets. By seven we went back home and I spent the rest of my day binge-watching shows and completing my homework. As bedtime arrived I didn't want to sleep nor could I so I stayed up watching movies and reading till my morning alarm rang the next morning nearly giving me a heart attack.

I groaned and turned it off telling myself just five more minutes even though I knew that wasn't going to be the case, I was currently watching 'From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series' when my alarm went off but I was too engrossed in the show to care about getting up. I started the show last week and I was already on the last season and everything was just getting to the c****x so of course, I didn't want to get up.

"Staying in today?" My dad asked coming into the lounge which I made my makeshift room for the night.

"No," I said, not even looking in his direction as Richard transformed.

"Then get ready or you're going to be late," he warned me and left to make himself breakfast.

"Five minutes," I muttered under my breath as he left, how could such perfect beings such as the Gecko brothers exist how I wish I was in that show. Before I knew it five minutes turned into thirty minutes and I began rushing around like a headless chicken as I gathered my things and rushed out of the house.

"Hold on, you haven't eaten yet." My dad said holding an energy bar he handed me, "Let's go." He said.

"Is this going to be a regular thing now?" I asked with a raised brow as I took the energy bar and walked to his car.

"Pretty much." He smiled and drove out of our driveway. He started looking back and forth from the road to me like he was trying to say something but couldn't start the conversation for no reason.

"If you have something to say, say it now before you kill us." I impatiently said.

"So I had a call from a very concerned parent last night," he began as he drove to school.

"And?" I wondered what this had to do with me.

"They informed me that their daughter saw you having a meltdown and you could barely hold a pen properly," he lowly said gripping the steering wheel tightly, that small action put my nerves on edge as I shrunk myself in my seat moving as far away from him as I could.

"So?" I nervously asked, eyeing him cautiously with my one hand on the door in case I needed to make a quick escape even though the car was moving.

"So that worried me to an extreme extent, I told you to call me if anything happens now why didn't you?" He practically shouted, making me flinch, "I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you, it's just how am I supposed to help you when you don't even tell me what's wrong?" He sighed sadly, noticing my rigid posture.

I kept quiet, not sure what to say as I tried to calm my rigid heart. The car felt too small. I opened the windows fully trying to get as much air as I could.

"I booked you in to see a psychologist, Lauren recommended the guy and I think this is the best course of action at the moment because I do truly want what's best for you," he spoke sounding like a concerned parent, I scoffed rolling my eyes wondering where was he when I needed him before why did my sudden near-death finally wake him.

If none of this would've happened he would still be that cold distant dad who didn't give me a second of his day. It's quite funny if you think about it, parents could be pathetic. So now that he could see I was damaged he wanted to help me heal and seem like a good parent to everyone, I don't know whether he was doing this for the sake of me or just for appearance.

"What?" He asked me.

"Nothing," I muttered fuming inside.

"Lauren is having a closed family and close friends funeral in two weeks and she invited us to attend," he told me, shaking me with the news, that was so soon I don't think I was ready for that nor did I even think she would invite us. Just thinking about it made me nervous. I could already imagine her family hating me for surviving and not Kyle, I groaned inwardly my mind all over the place.

"And I think we should visit grandma this weekend," he added, eyeing me at the corner of his eye. Does he only have bad news for me? I think I enjoyed it better when he didn't talk to me or acknowledge my existence. Visiting grandma was always a drag. I mean I loved her but she just pushed so many of my buttons.

"She needs a new tv anyway," I told him.

"I wonder why didn't Lila inform me?" He questioned with a frown.

"Well because you told her you wanted nothing to do with grandma," I reminded him.

"Right," he shamefully muttered as we stopped at my school, I unstrapped my seatbelt and opened the door.

"Belle," my dad called me.

"Ya?" I asked, making eye contact.

"You're a strong independent woman and don't you ever forget that," he proudly said with a wide grin, my heart fluttering as I froze feeling like I was about to cry, that was the first time he looked so proud of me.

"Thanks, Dad," I said smiling. He looked shocked to hear me call him that but it made him even happier.

"No thank you and don't hesitate to call for anything and I mean anything ok," he reminded me.

"Ya ya I will," I said playfully rolling my eyes at him, he chuckled as I closed the door.

"I love you," he spoke seriously, staring into my eyes.

"I know, I'll see you later than" I awkwardly said waving at him.

"Text me when you're done and I'll come to pick you up ok," he shouted as I turned around gaining the stares of a few students heading inside.

"Yes, I will, "I grunted and walked into the school with my head down. Once I reached my locker no surprise Anji was hanging around there with her goons. It was like she lived just to torment me.

"You look like hell," she greeted me with a plastic smile.

"Same goes to you," I said even though she looked quite beautiful with a small amount of makeup, with a cute flowy mid-thigh high waisted skirt, a crop top and low black heels. She always looked fashionably good. It annoyed me to see her flaunt herself like a golden ray of sunlight.

"So you free this weekend?" She asked impatiently like every second she spent talking to me was making her even less popular.

"No," I flatly said, narrowing my eyes at her, she fake pouted and hung her lip.

"Come on, really are you sure?" She asked.

"Yes," I deadpanned, getting annoyed with her little puppy dog eyes no matter how cute she looked.

"That's a shame a couple of us were going to the movies and have a little get together afterwards if you change your mind let me know," she said in a sweet tone nearly making me gag. She took out a small white piece of paper and handed it to me, when I didn't take it she stuffed it in the open crevice of my shirt.

"Call me if you change your mind." She waved over her shoulder as she left with her gang.

I knew what she was trying to do was curse me into the mouth of the beast. No thanks, they probably wanted to prank me or just make fun of me the whole day and video it to share online, teens these days are unbelievable. I sighed and headed to class not wanting to slack off since I already missed half a week of work.