Chapter 6: Tell Me That It's Real, This Feeling That We Feel


Alanis slowly opened her eyes. The new dawn's light was shining through the van window. It brightly reflected and shone into Alanis's eyes. Alanis groaned and pulled the cover back over her head. She didn't want to get up. But she had to.
Alanis yawned and stretched. Beside her Zac slept soundly. She hated to wake him up for he was sleeping so peacefully.
'He's so adorable when he's asleep'
Zac opened his eyes and squinted at Alanis. "I heard that" he said and sat up. Alanis rolled her eyes.
When Alanis was ready to face the world, she opened the door to the van. She squinted in the sunlight. She was near a gas station. She could smell the gas filled air and the fried chicken that the gas station sold. Then she saw Diana and Taylor walking toward them. She smiled and greeted them with a giant and some-what frantic wave. They smiled and waved back.

Alanis walked around the small "town". There were two boys, a girl and a dog running in the streets. The children would occasionally run up to a car and smack its hood and an alarm would go off. Then they would run and hide. After it went off again, they would run up to it again and smack the hood. Alanis smiled. She began to walk again.
Alanis heard the patter of small footsteps behind her. She grinned, they were following her. She quickly turned around they scattered, hiding behind cars and discarded barrels. She laughed as she played along with the game.

Alanis awoke to thunder.
'A dream, just a dream' she thought. She looked around. Her clothes were lying all over the floor. She had fallen asleep packing. She looked up at her clock. It was almost three in the morning.
Alanis looked up in the darkness. The lightning flashed across the sky illuminating her room. That was when Alanis got a chill.

There was someone else in the room.

Alanis sat on the floor holding her breath waiting for the shadows to move. But they didn't. Slowly, she made her way across the room. On the way she grasped a baseball bat. She was almost two feet away and she started to raise the bat over her head. She was right in front of the person when the lightning flashed again. When the light covered her room and she got to see the person's face. She let out a long sigh of relief.
There, in her beanbag chair, sat Zac. He had gotten to her house and fallen asleep.
Alanis let the bat fall to the floor. Then let herself fall too. She was tired. She needed rest. She almost immediately fell asleep.

But another sound woke her. She glanced up. Zac was having a disturbing sleep. He was having nightmares.

"No! You can't take Alanis!" Zac shouted as he tried to free himself of the demon's grasp. The evil being cackled. "Alanis is mine, you stupid boy. She will never be yours!" the demon roared. "NOOOO!" Zac screamed as the demon started to take Alanis from him and into the shadows. Soon after the demon took her she began to scream. Her screams pierced Zac's soul like a sword.
Zac struggled to free himself of his binds. Soon he was free but as soon as he started to run toward the evil creature he stopped abruptly. His couldn't move his feet.
Then Alanis's screams stopped. Zac fell to his knees. His love was lost to him. He began to cry bitterly.

Alanis decided she should intervene when sweat began to streak down Zac's forehead and tears stream down his cheeks. She gently began to shake Zac.

"Zac, wake up. It's only a dream, wake up, please. Please baby, wake up"

Zac gasped deeply as he awoke like he hadn't been breathing for a long time. He looked into the darkness to find Alanis's comforting bright blue eyes and gentle smile to greet him.
"I had a nightmare" Zac whispered while he tried to get control of himself. He didn't want Alanis to see him cry.
"I know, I know." Alanis said hugging Zac tight and rubbing her hands up his back to comfort him. Zac sighed with relief. He was so glad to find Alanis alive and beside him when he woke up. And he was also glad that Alanis knew that he was happy too.