The Dawn

Chapter 5

Ria's Pov

I ran, ran and ran. But the road was endless. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't reach the end. The road was thin, like a path, surrounded by a very thick, dark, forest. My pigtails flew haphazardly and my little pink sandals had worn out already. But I couldn't stop.

I wouldn't stop.

Behind me, I could hear breathing. But it didn't sound human. It sounded as if though a giant monster was breathing, excited to swallow up its victim, who seemed to be me.

Infront of me, however, a huge light blazed. A light so bright, I had to cover my eyes with the back of my tiny hands.

"Mommy!" I yelled. But there was no mommy. "Daddy!" I screamed again. But no daddy either. My breathing got heavier and heavier.

Suddenly I felt a great force push me forward. Forward towards the fire that was eating the forest. I struggled and screamed, trying to resist it but to no avail.

"No! I won't! Don't, please! Stop-" I screamed but the fire got nearer and nearer.

I felt my skin crawl before I made contact with it-

"Ria! Ria! Wake up! You're dreaming, it's okay." I heard Andrea's voice somewhere, urging me to wake up. My eyes flew open, my breathing heavy and sweat pouring down my forehead.

"Fire! Oh God! We're all going to burn!" I screamed, sitting up straight. "Get Devon, and- and Hailey-"

"Ria stop! There is no fire. And no one is going to burn." Andrea said calmly, holding me by the shoulders.

I look around. She was right. We were in what seemed like a hospital room, with the heart monitor and other stuff. I look back at my sister in confusion.

"What am I doing here?" I asked timidly. Suddenly, I felt really tired because of my fit a few seconds ago.

"Lay back. You aren't healthy enough right now to make such fast movements." She pushed me back and raised the bed into a sitting position.

I layed back on the now upright bed and rubbed my forehead.

I hadn't had this nightmare in years. Probably because I slept every night after popping a sleeping pill. The last time I had it was when we ran away from home and came to this country. At that time, I had been beyond frightened. I couldn't sleep again. Ever. Not without sleeping pills. It had been the first time I had fallen asleep in 6 days.

It was weird though. The only murder I had ever witnessed didn't involve any fires.

At all.

But in my dream, I would always see a fire and then someone pushing me into it. And in this dream, I would always be a little kid. I couldn't really tell what age, but based on my little hands and feet and my black pigtails, it was quiet obvious that I wasn't 22 in my dream.

The door opened and Devon walked in, followed by Andrew. Devon looked heavily concerned while Andrew looked tense.

Why would he be tense?

Devon approached my bed and sat down on the chair next to it. "You okay?"

I nodded. Andrew just stood at the side of the bed, an unidentifiable look on his. I caught him looking at me and noticed an emotion in his eyes. But before I could tell what it was, he quickly averted his eyes. I turned back to Devon.

"What happened? Why am I here?"

"You don't remember? You fell unconscious inside your office. I got worried as I was late to pick you up because of the storm and Andrew discovered you in your office like that." He told me.

I closed my eyes, but all I could remember was feeling sleepy while typing the-

"Oh no!" I screamed, flinging up again.

"What?! What happened? Are you hurt?!" Devon asked frantically as he caught me by the shoulders.

I looked at Andrew, panickstricken. He looked at me, trying to appear stoic but his eyes told me something else.

"The report! Did I save it? Oh please tell me I saved it! I don't want to re-type it." I groaned, rubbing my forehead.

Devon rolled his eyes and pushed me back while Andrea just shook her head. Andrew seemed to be returning back to normal because he seemed rather annoyed.

"Yes you did. I was checking that exactly when I found you unconscious on the ground."

"Wait so you didn't see me when you walked in?" I asked incredulously. I fell near the door didn't I? He should've seen me when he entered. Or anywhere else for that matter.

He rubbed the back of his head and grunted. "No I didn't."

I looked at him in astonishment. Devon looked at his friend as if he had grown a pair of horns on his head while Andrea looked like she was convinced that this dude was an i***t.

He looked at all of us staring at him in that manner and it seemed to agitate him even more.

"What? It's not like I was looking for her anyway. It looks like you're fine now," he turned to me, "I'll be going then. Devon." He nodded in his direction.

Devon shook his head exasperated.

With that, the cold i***t opened the door and left the room. I sighed tiredly and rubbed my face. "I was really looking forward to eating that steak." I whined.

"Don't worry. The doctors conducted a blood test on you. Once the results are in, we can all go home and have some of Andrea's delicious cooking." Devon reassured me with a smile.

"Blood test? But why?" I asked in confusion.

It was Andrea who answered. "Well you fell unconscious out of the blue. You weren't sick. Or exhausted. And the doctor said it wasn't a stroke or a concussion. So he suggested to conduct a blood test, just to be sure."

I nodded. I didn't remember anything except feeling sleepy. So I couldn't have had a stroke or something like that.

The door opened and the doctor walked in. He had thick rimmed glasses on his face and a white lab coat. He held some blue coloured papers in his hands. Probably the results to my blood test.

"Good evening. How are you feeling right now, Miss. Cooper?"

I nodded. "Better."

"That is great. Does anything hurt? Your head in particular?" He continued, scribbling something on, what I just noticed he also had, a clipboard.

"No. No it doesn't. I feel like I just woke up from a deel sleep."

"Well you can say that again. You've been out for a whole day now." He told me.

My mouth dropped open. "A whole day?! I was out for a full 24 hours?!"

I looked at Andrea, who was standing off to a side, listening to what the doctor was saying. Her eyes looked tired and she had bags underneath her eyes. No wonder she looked like she had seen better days.

The doctor nodded. "Now tell me. Did you have anything to eat or dink before you passed out? Anything at all?" He asked, looking extremely serious.

I tried to remember if I did. I remembered talking to Devon about dinner and then delivering coffee for Andrew and Parker...

"Yes I did. I had coffee." I told him. "But I made it myself," I added in confusion. Surely, nothing could've been mixed in there right? If it had, I would've been the one to do it.

By now, Andrea and Devon were listening to the doctor very attentively. Even I was looking at him, anticipating whatever he was about to reveal next.

"I found traces of Flunitrazepam(Rohypnol) in her blood. It was in heavy concentration and I'm afraid she nearly overdosed on it. That is why she's been out for so long."

I scratched my head in confusion. But that's the medicine I take at night. My sleeping pills.

"That is the medicine she takes when she goes to sleep at night. She has a severe case of insomnia so she was prescribed this very medicine." Devon voiced my thoughts out to the man in the white coat.

"So how many pills did you take that day to cause such an overdose?" The doctor asked me.

"But I didn't!" I protested, "I only take one pill, one night. That's it. I never take any medicine during the day and why would I take on job?"

"Sweety, you were stressed. Maybe you took one and forgot. You always have a spare bottle in your bag right?" Andrea said, pointing to my black purse sitting on the hospital stool.

I scratched my head in confusion.

Why would I pop one during office timings? That too when I was in the middle of typing such an important report?

Thinking about it made my head hurt so I didn't say anything. Devon paid the doctor who just told me to pop another pill after another 24 hours. I groaned and slipped out of bed to put on my clothes which Andrea handed to me. I looked outside and saw that it was nighttime already.

I groaned. How am I supposed to sleep tonight?

Devon and Andrea offered to take me to their home saying V was anxious to meet me. But I just wanted to go back to my apartment. After much persuasion, they dropped me off saying they'll have V spend the night.

I stumbled into my bedroom and switched on the lights. The room was neatly arranged, as opposed to the mess I had left last time while leaving for work. Looks like Andrea did some cleaning while she was here to pick up my clothes and put back the old ones. I dropped my purse on the chair, too tired to tuck away any other mess.

I jumped into the shower and took a much needed long hot shower. At some point during my bath, V knocked on the door and told me she would fix me something to eat. I yelled a thankyou and continued to drain any level of stress I was feeling with the water.

I think I stayed in there for a full hour before I stepped out and slipped on a comfortable night gown. Then I walked outside my room.

Andrea had made sandwiches and ordered pizza for dinner and also put on a movie for us to watch. But she wasn't anywhere in sight.

Before I could say or react, she appeared from behind the fridge, saw me, gave a squeal, ran across the apartment and trapped me in a bear hug.

A suffocating bear hug.

"I'm so glad you're okay! I came by a couple of times but you didn't wake up and then when you did I had to stay and babysit Hailey."

"Can't- breath-" I wheeze.

She let go of me and looked at me worried. "You are okay now right?"

I nodded. "I seemed to have taken excessive pills."

She looked confused. "But you've been taking them a long time now. How come you overdosed now and never before?"

I shrugged. "I guess I took one and forgot." I plopped down on the couch and picked up a slice of pizza. V went in and brought out the blankets. She spread them over the couch and slipped in beside me.

Both of us ate, watched the movie and talked for hours before V fell asleep. As I wasn't allowed to take a pill tonight, sleep was completely gone.

I watched the movie in full concentration and hours passed. I finally twisted my head to check out the time on the clock hanging above my kitchen counter.

12 a.m.

I stretched. It's going to be a long night for me. V was heavily snoring so I tucked a cushion beneath her head and tucked the blanket over her. Then I muted the T.V and picked up our plates and leftovers to drop them off in the kitchen. As I was turning the dishwasher off, a thought suddenly entered my mind.

I quickly abandoned everything and raced back into my bedroom. My purse that I took to work that day was still on the chair. I quickly opened it and emptied it's contents on my bed.

No pills.

Because I hadn't taken the bag I usually take to work the day before yesterday.

And I had forgotten to put extra pills in my bag that morning.