6
Chloe
My eyes pop open as I wake with a gasp, my heart racing and my hospital gown soaked with sweat. Only the throbbing pain in my arm and the paralyzing soreness throughout my body keep me from reflexively sitting up. Instead, I force myself to lie still and take in the stunning view of the sun descending behind the distant mountain peaks outside my floor-to-ceiling window.
Slowly, I begin to calm.
A nightmare.
It was just another nightmare.
Unlike the vivid, horror-movie-style dreams that have been tormenting me since Mom’s death, this one was more of a jumble of images and impressions. The whine of a bullet past my ear, branches hitting me in the face as I run through the woods from some kind of beastly creature, a heavy weight knocking me down—it doesn’t take a psych degree to
