Chapter Three

Lina

   I stare at the blue-green bedspread, striped with streaks of black. A memory, a dream. I remember something. Something appeared in my dream, so what was it? Pain blindsides me as I try and force the memory, why won't it come to me.

   A vision of a room, small, with white curtains on windows, comes to me. I try and pursue the image, develop it. White framed bed, with a pink duvet, a small... stuffed animal at the edge.  What type... it can't come to me, the toy fades and I wonder if it was there at all. "You shouldn't be here," A small, high pitched voice says. I turn to look at the source, and a little girl, featureless as a shadow is standing at the edge of the memory."You should go," She repeats, as she fades like the... what had faded away.

   I lurch forward, gasping in pain, I try and catch my breath, breathing too hard. I glance at the clock, the red numbers staring at me, red, burning into me. Three seventeen am. What had woken me? A sharp flash of lightning strikes against my brain, throwing something I had found into the abyss of my mind. The pain is what must have woken me.

   My pulsing heart slows to a familiar rhythm, and I crawl out of the too warm blankets in search of a pain reliever. My clothes stick to me uncomfortably with sweat, my tank top more like a second skin to me and the shorts... I shake my head, causing another thud of pain against my skull.

   I tiptoe down the halls, to the kitchen, find some aspirin, and wash them away with water. A soft glow and the faint sound of a laugh track draw me to the living room, where I find River, Westin, and Maria. Maria is curled up in the rocker, asleep, a gentle look rarely seen upon her face in sleep. River and Westin are in the cuddler couch, River breathing softly on Westin's shoulder.

   Westin holds a finger to his lips and I nod, I'm not the only one who has trouble sleeping, and quietly exit the room, to go back to my room and read the rest of the night, listening to music for white noise.