Chapter One.

          "She’s sleeping. Josh let’s just go," Kirsten whined.
          "I just want to make sure she’s set. What happens when she wakes up and sees I’m not here? She’ll freak."
          "She’s nineteen. I think she can manage without her big brother for a couple hours. We’re going to be late for our reservations. Please, Josh," she begged.
          Josh stared down at his baby sister, squeezing her hand lightly before they left.
          In her room everything was quiet. As much as she wished, her dreams wouldn’t ever be that way so long as she didn’t remember. In her dreams, dark things fluttered before her eyes, screams sounded in her mind. Fiercely she shook her head though she wasn’t aware of the action. Her subconscious struggled to keep her locked in her dreams as she fought to get out. Her stitches became loose and a stream of blood leaked down her left side from her wound. The pain of it wasn’t enough to wake her as her mind played images over and over again, showing her what she couldn’t make sense of, and never wanted to remember. Cold steel metal sliced through her left side and she shot up, awoken from her personal hell.
          Her breath came in deep fast raps as she recognized reality. Accepting that her brother wasn’t there - as said the note on the table next to her - she feel back on the moist pillows.
          Often people were afraid of what they didn’t understand. Ana Lucia definitely didn’t understand her nightmares. Josh had so often told her it was because of where she was. Death was surrounding her in almost every room. Of course that would invade her mind. Personally, she didn’t believe it. Ana Lucia was tough. She was nineteen, and not afraid of the death around her. She wouldn’t let it frighten her.
          Ana Lucia greedily took large gulps of the water until she’d emptied the glass. As she sank down into the pillows once more she felt a gush of warm liquid leaving her body from her wound. As she pressed the call button, she uttered a curse. These nightmares were doing no good to her. They made her toss and turn, swiveling her torso, something she wasn’t supposed to do.
          "What can I do for you?" the night nurse asked politely.
          "I think my stitches opened," she whispered. However long she’d been here - she lost track of the days - she’s never been fully comfortable with the staff.
          "Let me have a look." she crossed the room, lifted Ana Lucia’s gown to see her stitches. They were in fact opened. The nurse clucked her tongue. "I’ll page Dr. Grandy."
          Some time later, Ana Lucia sat quietly as Dr. Grandy fixed up her stitches and taped some gauze over them. 
          "Maybe that will help," he said brightly, despite how tired and bitter he felt. He had to keep his bed-side manner. "How does it feel?"
          "Fine," Ana replied curtly. She hated him for poking at her skin.
          "It doesn’t help yourself if you lie."
          She sat in silence, sticking with her answer.
          "Alright then. Try to get some sleep tonight," he advised as he helped her off the table and began directing her towards her room.
          "Dr. Grandy?" she asked hesitantly, focusing on the sound of her bare feet padding down the empty hall. "Is there any type of medication that . . . prevents dreams?"
          "Very doubtful. Are you having troubled dreams still?" He helped her into the bed, tucking her in as a father would. Would anyone treat her like a grown up?
          "Sometimes."
          "I’ll look into it. You just get better."
          Easier said then done, she thought.
          As she often did, she stared up at the ceiling counting the cracks to will herself to sleep. Feeling the familiar pull of unconsciousness, she accepted it with hesitation. The nightmare flooded her mind, slowly taking over her sanity, washing it away while filling her head with a tear-stricken girl. She couldn’t have been older than seven from the innocent look in her eyes, the pleading. Though, what was she pleading for? A picture of this dark-haired, brown-eyed girl smiling overcame Ana Lucia, waking her up with a shocking jolt. She didn’t sit up. She opened her eyes. Josh occupied the chair by her feet. She nudged his knee ad best she could.