FALLING FOR THE ICE KING

Chapter 12

Vivienne's POV

I’m wet and cold, so cold I feel it in my bones.

My teeth chatter and I move to pull the covers up over me, but when I grasp for them, they aren’t there. I open my eyes, look down at my hands, and I’m clutching at long grass.

I start to panic, but I manage to stand on shaking legs and bare feet.

I hear a noise. It’s quiet, far away in the distance. The muffled noises start to get louder. I’m dazed and confused as I turn around and that is when I see it.

A car, mangled and wrecked. There’s a person trapped inside, shouting, screaming, banging on the glass. I move towards it and place my hand on the door, ready to pull it open.

The girl in the back turns around and my sister’s face, stricken with fear, looks back at me.

“Alice!” I cry as I try to open the door.

It doesn’t crack an inch. I shout to her to kick at it with both feet, but it’s no use. I move away and begin to run around the other side of the car when it suddenly bursts into flames. I step back, the heat already too hot to bear.

Flames lick at the metal, it creaks and hisses. Alice’s screams turn into blood-curdling cries. It’s then I notice two other passengers are scrambling and clambering in the front seats.

They weren’t there before, but I know who it is. I choke on the thick smoke that has begun to bellow.

I can’t get close enough. Metal begins to crackle and pop. I feel arms grip onto my shoulders and hear my name being called over and over again… Vivienne, Vivienne…

“Vivienne, WAKE UP!”

I bolt upright with a sharp intake of breath.

Sia and Theo are standing over me, Theo’s face etched in concern, Sia’s eyes filled with tears. Theo leaves the room and comes back a moment later with a cold, wet towel that he passes to me. I bury my face into it, trying to steady my breaths.

It was a dream… just a nightmare. I repeat the phrase over and over in my head.

“s**t. Vivienne, are you okay?” Theo says.

I don’t speak. Can’t.

He calmly rests a hand on my arm.

“It’s okay, sweetheart. Does this happen a lot?”

At that, I turn to face him.

“Yes. Not every night, but often.”

I blink a few times, barely speaking above a whisper.

“Every time is different. The color of the car, who is seated where, who asks me for help first.”

My lip starts to quiver.

“But it always ends the same. I wasn’t even there; I didn’t see the accident.”

He thinks on it for a minute and stares at one of the photos on the shelf.

Sia looks helplessly between the two of us.

“Vivienne, the day my dad never came home is a day that I can never get away from. The stuff I do know kills me, but the unknowns, that’s what haunts me. Sia told me that you both read through the police report after the accident. Maybe you’ve held on to all the hard facts, leaving your mind to make up a picture, filling in the blanks.”

I nod, chewing on my lip.

“Will they ever stop?”

I ask both of them, knowing there’s no possible way for them to answer.

“I’ll go draw you a nice bath,” Sia says as she swipes at my tear-streaked cheeks.

Turning to Theo, she rises up on her tip toes and places a sweet kiss on his lips while holding his cheek and then he heads out of the room, while I numbly follow her into the bathroom.

“Were the photos a bad idea, Vivi? Do you want me to put them away for a while?”

That shuts my sniffling up.

“No, Sia, God no. I love them. I just get bad dreams sometimes. It is getting better, they’re happening less frequently. I haven’t woken up crying in a cold sweat for a few weeks now.”

She nods and hugs me tighter. It’s then that my head starts to throb. As we wait for the bath to fill, Sia passes me a glass of water and some pain meds and takes a few herself. Sia leaves me to it, and I get in the hot, soothing bubbles.

As the pain meds begin to do their job, my mind starts to wander back to last night. I haven’t had that much fun in a really long time. It wasn’t forced, there were no fake smiles or counting down the minutes till we could leave. Actual fun.

The hockey game was so high energy, I loved it. And Sia was right, Theo is amazing. He was kind, including me in stories of his family and funny stuff that happens with his crew at the firehouse. Sia and I ate appetizers and drank wine. Then I remember the shots and giggle at the fact that we both insisted it was the best idea we ever had.

And then, there was Damien. Those bright, almost turquoise-blue eyes, his dirty blonde hair that looked like he’d run his hands through it a few times. His massive, wide shoulders and the way his shirt, rolled up to the elbows, was showing off his tanned forearms, stretched taut over his chest. He’s a whole lot of sexy.

The water starts to turn tepid and so with a sigh, I stand and step up and out of the bath.

Eventually, when I’m dry and dressed, I join my new roomies. When I do, they’re in the kitchen, Theo holding Sia in an embrace, sweetly kissing her temple and hairline. It’s so cute and after last night, it’s plain to see he’s perfect for her.

They see me and ask if I’m feeling better, which I am, and then pass me a plate loaded with poached eggs and toast. Lots of toast.

We grab seats at the table and then Sia proceeds to tell me that we need to make a plan because while she is working all week, I need to be getting out of the apartment.