Love, After Dark

Chapter 17

I lay on my back staring at the ceiling, wide awake. The room was too quiet. Too big. The shadows felt deeper in the corners, stretching along the walls like they didn’t belong to me yet. The sheets were impossibly soft, cool against my skin, wrapping me in a kind of luxury I wasn’t used to and somehow, that made it worse. I didn’t know if it was the nightmare, the unfamiliar space, or the weight of everything that had changed in the last twenty-four hours, but sleep wouldn’t come easily. I rolled onto my side. Then my other side. I pulled the blanket up, then kicked it off. My mind kept replaying the flash of glowing eyes, the sound of my own scream echoing in the dark theater.

Eventually, exhaustion won and the dream found me again. The woods were the same. The fire crackled softly, lighting my parents’ faces in warm gold. Sia laughed beside me, marshmallow already half-melted. Everything felt so real my chest ached. Then the air shifted. I saw it before anyone else did- the wolf lying in wait just beyond the firelight, black fur blending into the shadows, eyes glowing with a knowing that made my stomach drop.

“Run,” I tried to scream. It was too late. The wolf lunged. My parents fell first. Then Sia. Their screams cut off one by one, leaving only the roar of blood in my ears. I stumbled backward, tripped over a root, and hit the ground hard. My hands shook as I tried to crawl away, sobbing, frozen in terror. The wolf stalked toward me slowly, savoring it. Its lips peeled back in a snarl, claws extending as it loomed over me. I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for the pain- And everything shattered.

The world exploded into motion. Scenes spun around me like a violent storm, each image slamming into the next against a dark red sky. I turned and everywhere I looked, another vision unfolded. A red-haired woman ran through the stone halls of a castle, clutching a baby to her chest, panic written across her face as shouts echoed behind her. The image tore away. A beautiful dark-skinned woman appeared—strong, regal—and then she gasped as a dagger plunged into her chest. Her eyes locked onto mine as she fell. Something about her mattered. I didn’t know why, but I felt it deep in my bones. Another shift. An Italian man with dark hair pulled that same woman into a kiss, desperate and tender. Her face was the same, but her eyes were different now. Brown instead of blue.

The scenes kept coming. My family around the campfire. The faceless man from my dreams, his body pressed against mine, his mouth at my neck. Everything collided, overlapping, spinning faster and faster until my head felt like it would split apart. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think. I screamed— “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”

I jolted upright, heart slamming against my ribs, breath coming in sharp gasps. My room snapped into focus. My mom and Sia stood over my bed, both wearing party hats, holding a small cake with lit candles between them. Party blowers shrieked as they laughed, their voices bright and unmistakably real. I blinked, disoriented, my body still trembling. “It’s your birthday!” Sia yelled. Mom smiled warmly, eyes soft as she leaned closer. “Eighteen, baby.”

For a moment, all I could do was stare at them- at the cake, the candles, the silly hats- trying to anchor myself in the present. The dreams faded. But the feeling they left behind didn’t. And as I blew out the candles, I couldn’t shake the sense that something had just changed, whether I was ready for it or not.