Young Writers Society

Pearl paced the length of her large dining room nervously. Her soon-to-be husband, James, was occupied. Alec was on his way over. The dreams Pearl had been having terrified her to the point of ending things with him. She glanced out the window and saw him walking down the concrete driveway. She pinched herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming, took a steadying breath, and walked to the foyer.

She jumped when she heard him knock, even though she had been expecting it. She shook as she walked to the door and opened it.

"Hello, my love." Alec said in that elegant voice of his. It used to make Pearl smile, but now it gave her chills. That voice starred in her nightmares.

"Hi, Alec. Come in, we need to talk." Pearl replied shortly. She knew Alec could tell she didn't have the slightest hint of affection in her voice. She was scared. But she was safe.

They walked into the kitchen, Pearl let out a sigh and looked at him like she'd never see him again. She knew she wouldn't after this. "I'm sorry, but I can't do this. We can't be together," she said carefully

Alec's brown eyes filled with tears. He didn't let them spill. That's what Pearl liked most about him. He was strong. Mentally and physically. She would miss him.

"Why, Gem?" he asked quietly. That was the nickname he had given her. She was his gem.

"No. Don't do this. Just go," Pearl muttered, kissing his clean-shaven cheek.

He grabbed her arm and threw her to the ground. Pearl let out a gasp.

"You aren't going to do this me," he hissed through clenched teeth. Pearl felt like the arm she had landed on was broken.

"NOW!" Pearl screamed. James ran in with a gun. Pearl knew Alec would be violent. Those dreams weren't dreams.

James shot a hole in Alec's head, spraying blood everywhere. He fell back with a thump, those brown eyes wide and unseeing.

Pearl awoke to a tickling on her face. She opened her eyes and saw Alec rubbing his left hand up and down her cheek and holding a knife in his right.

"You thought you could kill me that easily?" he said. Pearl saw James was asleep next to her. He was an idiot....

It didn't matter if this was a dream or not, she needed to fight for her life. She leapt up and scratched his face and screamed. He yelped and grabbed her blonde hair. She slapped him and he dropped the knife in shock. She lunged for it, ripping a chunk of her hair out. She stabbed him in the neck, tears in her eyes. Blood leaked everywhere. He was dead for real this time. She felt for his heartbeat. Nothing. 

James was still asleep. Pearl got up slowly and walked to the telephone calmly to call the police. Everything felt real. She had really killed Alec. He was dead. He knew about her dreams, he had tried to kill her. This was actually happening.

She picked up her phone and her hands started shaking as she called 911.

His funeral was quiet. His family, Pearl and James, and a few other friends were there. Pearl couldn't help but cry as she dressed in her black rockabilly dress and the pearl necklace and earrings he gave her once gave her as a punny gift.

She woke up in a cold sweat. She got up, the hardwood floor was cold on her bare feet. She went to the bathroom because she needed to throw up.

She left the bathroom to grab her phone, then she went back in there.

She didn't know if she was still dreaming or if any of those dreams were actually real. She looked out the window and saw it was sunrise.

She brushed her teeth and went downstairs because she knew she wasn't going back to sleep. She made herself a cup of coffee, even though she was wide awake.

Her phone started buzzing, she checked the I.D. and saw it was Alec. She gasped and threw it across the room. It still buzzed.

She looked down at her arm and saw a bruise in the exact same spot where she had pinched herself in the breaking up dream.

Maybe she had it before but didn't notice.

Maybe she was a sleepwalker and had hurt herself while she slept.

Maybe James hurt her in her sleep and she dreamed that Alec did it.

She had an idea. She grabbed a pot and looked at her reflection in it. A chunk of her hair was missing.

She didn't want to think that that Alec would do that. She decided to call the police and say it was James abusing her.

She grabbed her phone and typed in 911, feeling an overwhelming sense of deja vu.

"Hello, this is 911. What's you emergency?" a female voice said.

"My fiancee abused me. I live at 1864, Magnolia Road." Pearl managed to say.

"I'll send a car. They'll be there within twenty minutes, ma'am." the lady said.

Pearl knew she should stay on the phone until they arrive, but she hung up and hid her phone in a drawer before Alec could call again.

Within a few minutes, there was a knock at her door. She opened it and saw Alec standing there. He had a slash across his face. But there was no bullet or stab wound....

"Pearl, are you OK? What happened to your hair?" he asked. 

Pearl ignored his question. The look in his eyes told her the pain in her arm was real and not in her imagination. She hated him.

"What happened to your face?" she hissed.

"My dog scratched me, darling." he replied smoothly. 

"Huh, you don't have a dog." she said, looking in his eyes. he looked away first.

"I meant a friend's," he muttered. Pearl slapped him. Hard. He winced and grabbed her hand in a bone-crushing grip. She winced.

"You stupid girl, you messed with the wrong guy," he said. Behind him a cop car pulled up.

Pearl woke up and screamed in anger. WHAT WAS REAL?

Was she dreaming now?

Was any of it really a dream?

She sat up and realized she was in a hospital bed. James was dozing in the chair next to it. A monitor was beeping in time with her heartbeat and an I.V. was in her wrist.

"Where am I?" she muttered to herself. "OI! JAMES WAKE UP!" she yelled. James didn't even move.

A nurse ran in. "She's awake," he said to a radio attached to his outfit.

"What's going on?" Pearl asked him cautiously.

"Hun, you've been in a coma for the past two years. People were about to pull the plug on you."

"Why was I in a coma?" Pearl asked slowly.

"Someone shot you while you were in the woods. Nobody knows who, maybe you can tell the police." the nurse said.

Later that day, Alec ran in. Since James was awake and in the room Alec merely hugged her. But he whispered in her ear.

"This is just the beginning."

Thanks for reading. I wrote this without any edits as I was busy and I lost the original draft. Let me know if there are any mistakes and what you think about this because I wrote it in an hour and I'm too scared to go back and edit because I'll end up scrapping it. THANK YOU FOR ENJOYING THE SERIES! LIKE IT IF YOU ENJOYED IT!