Page 31 of Stolen Dreams

I turn and walk out of the school and into the fenced area.My head is down as I need to get away from this right now.I need to focus, and being in the middle of all these people, it’ll be a miracle if I don’t break down.I spot Lucy over at the side with Autumn and Charlie and know, in a couple of minutes, Emmett will be coming out to find her.

I zigzag through the crowd of people, hoping no one stops me to talk.Keeping my head down, I make no eye contact with anyone.The farther and farther away I get from Emmett and Lucy, the harder it is to see through the pool of tears that are now welling up in my eyes.The noise from everyone gets farther and farther away as I make it to my truck.Getting in, I put my head against the headrest and close my eyes.The tears finally escape, rolling down my cheeks as Emmett’s voice still plays over in my head.“Never had anything good in my life.”I reach in my purse for my keys and start the truck.

The drive home is quiet.I opt to roll down all the windows to feel the cooler air on my face.I take the long way home, and instead of taking me fifteen minutes, it’s now over an hour.I park in my designated spot and take a deep inhale, with an even bigger exhale, before I roll up the windows and get out of the truck.

The wind gushes through me, and I look up at the sky, seeing no stars.The black clouds make the night look almost purple, and the sound of thunder fills the quiet night.“It looks like a storm is coming.”I walk toward my apartment, with the wind blowing through the staircase.I stop at the third floor as the flash of lightning comes through the clouds, lighting up the sky.

I walk up to my door at the same time as I feel a couple of raindrops on my arm.By the time I get my door open, the sky has opened up, and the rain is coming down in buckets.I close the door behind me, locking it before I turn and see the window in my kitchen is open.The small white curtain is flying in the wind, and the rain is coming in.I rush over to close the window, grabbing the dishrag hanging on the stove handle to mop up the excess water.

Only once it’s clean do I realize that I never left it open to begin with.I take a step into the kitchen and look around to see everything looks untouched.I make it to the living room window and see the window is shut just like it should be.Then I go to the bathroom, noticing nothing looks like it’s been touched.I do like every person in the horror movies do.I walk toward the shower curtain, holding my breath instead of running the other way.I push the curtain open, the whole time expecting someone to jump out at me and attack, all the while just holding my cell phone in my hand like that is going to stop the person from attacking me.I scream out when I throw the curtain aside, seeing it empty, and then throw my head back and laugh at my stupidity.

I put my hands down on my knees, getting my heartbeat down to a semi-normal rhythm.“I’m such an idiot,” I tell myself as I walk out of the bathroom and head toward my bedroom.I take a step in and stop when I see the side table by my bed is open, just a touch.I’m about to step toward it when the phone rings in my hand, and when I look down, I see that it’s Emmett.“Hello,” I answer before the first ring ends.

“Lilah,” he murmurs and his voice is low, “I think I may need your help.”

“What’s the matter?”I ask, turning and walking out of my room.The worry in his voice has my heart speeding up.

“It’s Lucy,” he replies.“She is literally in the corner shaking, and I can’t get her to stop.”

“I’m on my way,” I say, grabbing my purse and rushing out into the pouring rain.“I’ll be there as fast as I can.It’s raining.”

“Lilah,” he says my name in a sharp, tense way.

“What?”I answer once I’m in my truck, dripping fucking wet.

“You put the fucking phone down, and you focus on the road.”His tone is tight.“I would come and get you if I could leave her.”

“I’m putting the phone down right now,” I tell him, “and I’m going to take my time getting there.”

“Don’t make me worry even more.”His voice goes soft and low, and I can’t help but try to reassure him.

“I promise,” I tell him.“Now, I’m letting you go.”I hang up the phone and pull out of my driveway and head over to him.Even if I wanted to go fast, I couldn’t.The rain is just pouring down, making it so hard to see.It takes me over twenty minutes to make a six-minute drive, and when I pull up and dash out of my truck, the rain finally dies down.

I duck my head to try to avoid getting wet when I get out of the truck and run to the front door at the same time the thunder crashes, and we both hear the scream coming from Lucy.I’m right behind him as I stop at her bedroom door and see her in the corner, tears streaming down her cheeks.“Hey,” I say softly, walking around Emmett, “the last time I saw you, you were laughing away with Saige.”

“Thunder,” she stutters, “and lightning scare me.”She’s literally shaking like a leaf, and before I say anything, she throws herself at me, knocking me on my ass.Her body molds to mine as I hug her.She screams and hides her face in my chest as the thunder sounds again.This time, it sounds like two boulders being smashed together.

“Shh,” I whisper softly, rocking her side to side, “it’s okay.There are way scarier things than thunder”—she looks up at me—“like frogs and birds.”She doesn’t say anything to me.“You know, birds can eat your eyeball in one bite.”

“Lilah,” Emmett says my name, laughing.“Can we not scare her more?”

“I’m not scaring her.”I look over at him.“I’m just saying that there are scarier things.”I look at her.“You aren’t scared of birds, are you?”She shakes her head.“See.”I make a face to Emmett, who shakes his head and then walks away from us.“You can never be scared of birds or frogs,” I whisper to Lucy, “or else he’ll never let me help you again.”

She smiles for the first time.“There she is.Stuff can sometimes be really, really scary,” I say, “but the thing that helps me is thinking of your favorite place in the world.”Emmett comes back into the room with a towel in his hand.“Do you have a favorite place?”

“Yeah,” she replies, “the barn.”If I didn’t think it would scare her, I would gasp.

“There you go, so now when you are scared, it’s okay to close your eyes and pretend you are at the barn,” I advise her, and the thunder starts again.“Want to try it now?”She nods.“Close your eyes,” I instruct her, and she does, “and picture the horses.”She doesn’t open her eyes as another crack of lightning comes down.

“Lucy,” Emmett says her name, and when I turn my head, I see he’s squatting beside me.“Lilah is all wet.How about we let her get dry?”he tells her and opens the towel for me.“Come and sit with me while she dries off.”

Lucy looks at him, then back at me, seeing my hair plastered down on my head.He opens the towel, and she crawls over to him, and he wraps her with the towel.Shock fills his face, but his arms go around her.“I’m going to go and get another towel,” I tell him.

He mouths, “This one was for you.”I smile softly at him as I walk to Lucy’s bathroom, grabbing the towel hanging on the rack.Looking at myself in the mirror, I see my hair looks like the cat spent the night licking it.

When I finally walk into the room, I see Emmett is sitting with his back to the wall.“Is she okay?”I walk over to them, squatting down beside him, and see Lucy with her eyes still closed.

“Yeah, I think she’s sleeping,” he whispers, looking down at her.He looks back at me.“I don’t want to move.”

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