The ManInTheNightmares
1328 Words
It was after dark.
Liza washed the dishes.
Noah was sketching dino’s.
Ethan stood at the window.
Watching the rain fall.
At last the weather had quieted.
The town seemed peaceful.
Safe.
Then Ethan stiffened suddenly.
Liza dropped the glass plate from her hands.
“What’s that?”
Ethan did not reply.
His entire body was stiff as a board.
His eyes were fixed on something unseen.
Something he alone could see.
“Ethan?”
His breath was faster now.
He turned his head.
“Nope.”
The word was spoken in a strained voice.
Shattered.
Fear crawled up Liza's back.
“What’s happening?”
Then Ethan took his head in his hands.
He caught his breath.
Pain flickered across his face.
And then images burst in his mind.
Jet.
The alarm blares.
Smoke.
“It’s fire.
Someone yelling.
A woman's voice.
Desperate.
scared.
“Ethan!”
It was like a bullet in his head.
A line of dark long hair.
Green eyes.
Tears.
Then another picture.
Same Girl.
Crying.
Turning away and under the memory is a single emotion overwhelmed.
Betrayal.
Fury.
Heartache.
It was powerful enough to almost knock him down.
Liza lunged forward.
"Ethan!
His eyes flew open.
The room became visible again.
Noah stood close by.
Watching. Anxiously.
“Mummy?”
Ethan looked into Liza’s eyes.
His face was impossible to read.
His voice was a whisper overhead.
“I know you.”
The words drained every color out of her face.
Her heart dropped.
“No way.”
Ethan moved forward a step.
His eyes were full of confusion.
Pain.
Acknowledgement.
"I've seen you.
Liza was unable to breathe.
Not that she was afraid of the memory.
But afraid of what would come next.
Because the last time Ethan Brown saw her…
He loathed her.
And if the rest of his memories came back, he could hate her again.
There was a sudden knock upon the apartment.
Three loud knocks.
Everything stopped.
There was another knock.
This time harder.
More difficult.
Then a man called up from below.
“Ms. Perry?”
Liza’s stomach sank.
She recognized the voice at once.
The Bakerman.
The one with the picture of Ethan.
The hunter.
And from the sound of his voice he was not asking for permission any more.
And he knocked again.
Tougher.
Louder.
Harder.
“Miss Perry?
Liza’s heart pounded inside her chest.
Suddenly the apartment felt too small.
Too public.
Too risky.
Noah lifted his head from his coloring book.
“Mom?”“Mom?”
His small voice brought her back to reality instantly.
She smiled forcedly.
The kind of mothers learn to fake when they’re scared.
“It’s all right, honey.
But it wasn’t all right.
Not at all.
Another knock sounded downstairs.
Ethan was heading for the window already.
His face had changed.
The softness she’d seen in Noah was gone.
It was more sharp.
More aware.
More dangerous.
Almost instinctively.
It was as if some hidden survival mechanism had suddenly been roused.
Liza flew to the curtains.
She peered cautiously outside.
The same man, next to a black SUV.
Waiting...
Watching.
"Patient."
Like a huntsman.
A shiver went up her spine.
“You know him?” Ethan inquired.
"Not at all.
The answer was too soon in coming.
Ethan saw it.
His eyes narrowed a little.
Liza looked away at once.
She hated to lie.
Particularly to him.
But she had a feeling that the truth would only make things worse.
For the moment.
The man knocked once more.
“Ms. Perry. I know you are in there.
Liza’s stomach knotted.
How long would he keep trying it?
And if he caught sight of Ethan?
A hand touched her shoulder suddenly.
She almost jumped.
She was next to Ethan.
His gaze stayed on the stranger beneath him.
It’s cold.
In focus.
So focused.
A strange feeling came over him.
One he could not explain himself.
He didn’t know who he was.
He didn't know his past.
But every instinct in his body was screaming the same thing.
peril.
The man down stairs was a threat.
And Ethan knew this somehow.
He was startled by the certainty.
'Lock the doors,' he said softly.
Liza looked at him.
“What’s that?”
“Lock it all.”
His voice had a strange authority.
The kind that required obedience.
The sort of person who was used to giving orders.
For an instant, Liza saw the billionaire under the amnesia.
The leader.
CEO.
The mighty man of confusion.
Then the moment was gone.
And he was Ethan again.
Gone.
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Shattered.
Liza, suddenly, locked every lock.
Eventually the knocking stopped.
The SUV stayed parked outside for another fifteen minutes.
And finally drove away.
Only when the tail lights were out of sight could one breathe normally.
For either of them.
Liza sat up in bed and stared at the ceiling.
Her thoughts ran after each other in a never ending chase.
The outlander.
The picture.
Ethan thinking of her.
And worst of all, the…
The way he looked.
“I know you.
Those three words scared her more than the man outside.
Memory came back.
Slowly.
Bit by bit.
And if Ethan remembered it all…
He would never forget the woman he held responsible for destroying his life.
The woman he once looked on with disappointment.
The woman he left behind.
Liza shut her eyes.
But the memories came all the same.
Five years ago.
A boardroom full of people.
Reporters all over.
Flashlights.
Questions.
Allegations.
And Ethan,
In the middle of it all.
Mad.
Heartbroken.
Backstabbed.
She remembered all of it.
The costly black suit.
The tightness in his jaw.
The pain that created his anger.
But mostly she remembered the way he'd looked at her.
Like she was somebody else.
As if she had broken something of great price.
“You leaked those files”
His voice had been icily.
Freezing cold.
Liza had looked at him in disbelief.
"No."
“Cut out the lies.
"I didn't do it.
The accusation had hurt more than she'd ever admit.
Not because of the scandal.
Ethan believed it, though.
The man she had trusted.
The man she'd loved.
The man that had told her he knew.
His eyes had met hers and he had refused to believe her.
The memory still stung.
Even now.
Five years after.
⸻
Ethan was up, on the couch across the apartment staring into the dark.
Can't sleep.
Every time he closed his eyes, pieces came back.
Shards.
Images scattered.
Voices
Faces.
Feelings.
None of them made any sense.
But everything felt important.
Crucially important.
Again he closed his eyes.
And the nightmare began immediately.
There was a woman crying.
He couldn't make her out.
“Only fragments.
Black hair.
Eyes green.
Hands trembling.
Tears ran down her cheeks.
The sight pierced him through.
Why?
Why did her tears burn?
Why did it hurt so much to see her cry?
Said the woman.
Her lips were moving.
But the words were lost in roaring static.
And then the dream shifted.
The sadness was gone now.
Tough.
Aggressive.
Overwhelming.
Ethan was in an office.
He clenched his fists.
His whole body shook with rage.
It was the same woman in front of him.
The weeping woman.
And he hated her suddenly.
At least, he thought he did.
It was a fresh betrayal.
Shrewd.
Like a knife twisting in his ribs.
“How could you?
The words burst from him.
The woman winced.
And that was worse than the betrayal somehow.
Then the dream came to an end.
Ethan jolted awake.
Breathing hard.
His skin beaded with sweat.
His heart thumped violently.
The apartment was still obscured.
Quiet.
Safe.
But the feelings were there.
confusing the s**t out of him.
Torturing him.
"Who was she?"
Why did he remember her tears?
Why did he remember being angry?
And why had the woman in his nightmare resembled Liza Perry exactly?
- Writer
