A Nightmare

The rest of Cara's day was pretty uneventful. She met Kaylee outside the main entrance after the last bell rang. As the girls walked together across the student parking lot, Cara couldn't help but feel like something was off. She couldn't quite put her finger on what it was. It made her feel a little anxious. She tried to ignore the nagging feeling of dread as she reached for the door handle and pulled the door open.

"Wake up, Cara." She heard her friend say as she sat down in the passenger seat.

Her head spun towards her friend, "Huh?" She replied, confused by Kaylee's statement.

Kaylee looked questioningly at her. Cara asked her what she had said. Her friend replied that she hadn't said anything. Cara furrowed her brows and was puzzled. She had clearly heard her friend tell her to wake up. Kaylee glanced at her a couple times as she crunk the car and proceeded to navigate her way through the student parking lot and out into the street. Cara decided to let it go. It had been a long, odd day and her mind must have been playing tricks on her.

As they approached the intersection from this morning the light turned red. Both girls sat in silence waiting for the light to turn green. When it did the little yellow Volkswagen pulled through without incident. Cara exhaled slowly, releasing a large breath she hadn't realized that she had been holding. A sense of relief washing over her. She could hear Kaylee exhale beside her. The girls nervously smiled briefly at one another.

The rest of the ride home there was very little exchange between them. When they pulled up to Cara's house Kaylee put the car in park.. But she didn't shut down the engine. The girls said their goodbyes as Cara gathered her things and stepped out into her driveway. She promised to call her friend later that night. Cara stood there in the driveway and watched as her friend backed out and pulled down the road. When Kaylee rounded the corner at the end of the street Cara sighed and walked up to the front door. Her mind was running wide open over the events of the day. She almost walked right into the front door, only just stopping herself short of it. She had turned the nob expecting it to be unlocked. However, it wasn't.

"That's strange." She murmured to herself as she looked through her backpack for her key. Her mom usually told her if she wasn't going to be home in the evening. Finding her key she stuck it in the lock and tried to turn it. But the lock didn't budge? Cara wiggled it several times, but the key wouldn't turn. Frustrated, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone. Quickly dialing her mom's number, she waited. It rang 3 times before mom picked up. But instead of her mom greeting her there was only static. Cara hung up and dialed again. This time it went straight to voice mail. So Cara tried her dad's number. Again straight to voice mail. "Great," she thought as she stuck the phone back into her pocket.

Cara stood there tapping her foot on the porch thinking of what to do. It would be an hour or more til her brothers came home. She really didn't want to wait outside that long. She decided to go around and check the back door to see if it was unlocked. Throwing her backpack over her left shoulder she turned and stepped off the front porch before turning right and heading to the back side of the house. Once there she tripped over the garden hose that was left out. Fortunately she was able to catch herself on the back porch railing before she landed on her face in the soggy yard. Not only was the hose left out, it was left on! What was going on around here? Her mother nor her father would normally have left it running like that. Cara tried to remember if she had seen her brothers with it that morning. She was certain that she hadn't seen either of them with it. She gathered it up in it's spot and turned it off shaking her head as she did so. Then she climbed the few steps up to the back porch. When she reached the back door and tried to turn the nob she found it too was locked. Cara sighed in defeat. Where on earth was her mom? Pulling her phone out of her pocket again, she tried to reach her mother again. Straight to voice mail. Stomping her foot and growling through her teeth in frustration, Cara put the phone back into her pocket again. She really hoped her mom wouldn't be too long getting home.

Cara began walking back around to the front porch.. As she rounded the corner she looked down the street. There was Mrs. Davies' house, just down the way. She could have gone down there and waited for her family, if it wasn't for the fact that the kind old neighbor lady had broken her hip two weeks before. Mrs. Davies was having to stay in a nursing facility until she was well enough to come home. Cara decided to just have a seat on the front porch in the big black rocking chair her mother had bought from an antique shop in town. It faced the side yard and sat in front of the living room double windows.

Taking a seat she pulled her history book out and began reading. She could at least get started on her homework while she waited. As she read her chapter she noticed a red flash from the corner of her eye that was reflected in the living room window. Then she heard a giggle. Looking first at the window and seeing nothing, she quickly spun her head and surveyed the front yard. Seeing nothing or no one she leaned forward and looked up and down the street. But there wasn't anyone anywhere in sight. No traffic, nothing. Furrowing her brows and pursing her lips, she slowly sat back and began reading again. She couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched. It was really creeping her out. She tried to focus on the words she was reading. But found herself very distracted. Head down looking at the pages she just kept getting lost.

After some time she growled and huffed. She slammed the book shut and just sat back in the rocking chair. She began to rock back and forth with her eyes closed, just trying to clear her head. There was a nice breeze and she could hear birds chirping in the trees. It was very relaxing. Eventually she drifted off to sleep.

She welcomed the black emptiness that comes with drifting peacefully to rest. However, as her mind drifted she soon began to dream. She found herself riding in Kaylee's car again. This time she was in the back seat. Looking forward she could see herself and Kaylee deep in conversation. Excitedly discussing her upcoming birthday. She smiled as she watched the exchange before her. Then to her left she heard someone say, "Uh-oh..." Turning towards the voice she was shocked to see herself sitting there looking ahead. As she watched, the other her turned towards herself and pointed towards the front of the car. She turned and looked ahead and froze in horror at what she saw.

They were flying through the red-light! The semi trucks were rolling at them from both sides! She screamed for Kaylee to stop, but Kaylee didn't seem to hear her. She watched frozen, unable to even bat an eye, as the unimaginable happened. She heard the semi horns blow in unison. She watched as the trucks struck the little car from either side. One hitting right behind the driver's side door. The other slamming into the passenger side just in front of the door. Immediately causing the glove box to smash against her right knee cap. She couldn't feel the pain, but she knew immediately that the joint was crushed. She watched as her head hit the passenger side window and blood began to flow freely down her face. Kaylee's head flung forward hitting first the steering wheel and then bouncing back against her side window. Cara heard the defining noise of brakes, and the sickening sounds of metal crushing and twisting metal. There was glass shards and dibre flying everywhere. Try as she might she couldn't close her eyes or look away from the carnage before her. Feeling sheer terror she watched as Kaylee and herself were crushed to death between the semi trucks. The little yellow Volkswagen rolled up like a foil wrapper before being discarded. Cara screamed and screamed as tears flowed freely down her face. Suddenly she felt a gentle touch on her left shoulder. Still screaming hysterically she turned to look at the other Cara still beside her in the back seat. The other Cara looked sadly at her and gently pleaded,, "Please Cara, wake up." Cara felt her eyes roll back into her head. Everything suddenly went black. There was nothing but the echoes of her own screams surrounding her and a faint whooshing noise.

Her eyes shot open, she screamed as she threw her history book and stood to her feet. Panting heavily, Cara spun in place, trying desperately to get her bearings. Trying to make sense of things and to remember where she was. Slowly she figured out that she was back safe on her own front porch. Breathing heavily, she reached up and wiped the sweat from her face before stooping down to pick up her history book from the porch. Her ears were still ringing from adrenaline and the memory of the screams from that horrible dream.

Taking a deep breath to steady herself she realized that the air was cooler. The breeze was cold against her sweat drenched body. She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. That's when she noticed that the sky was dark. Checking her phone she realized that it was after 12 am. Turning quickly towards the windows she could see through the blinds that a lamp was on in the living room. Someone must have come home. But she didn't understand why they would leave her outside, asleep in a rocking chair. "Thanks guys, " she thought to herself as she tried to turn the nob of the door again. It was still locked. Hands still trembling she tried her key again. This time as she turned it she heard the familiar click as the lock released.

Sighing she stepped inside and closed the door behind her. Relieved to be home and safe she tried to steady her breathing and relax. After all it was just a dream. An extremely unnerving dream. But a dream non the less. Looking all around her surroundings, the house was quiet. Everyone must have gone to bed. Still dumbfounded that they had left her on the porch asleep, she went into the kitchen and made herself a glass of iced tea and a ham sandwich. She was thankful for the iced tea. As she found her throat to be very dry and sore. Making it a chore to swallow every bite. She gave up on the sandwich half way through. She wasn't really hungry anyways.

After eating her supper she went upstairs. Cara decided to get a shower before finishing her homework. She wasted no time gathering her clothes before tip toeing across the hall to the bathroom. Once inside she started the shower before looking at herself in the mirror. Naturally pale skinned, her face looked even paler to her tonight. "Boy what a weird day.", she thought to herself before undressing. She felt as though a weight was lifted from her shoulders as she stepped into the shower and let the warm water wash over her body. She stayed there for a long while just relaxing under the warm water before washing her wild red mane and bathing her pale skin. When she was done, she stepped out and dried off. Wrapping her curls up in a towel, she threw on her pajamas. Then gathered her dirty clothes to carry back to her room to put in her hamper. As she reached to open the bathroom door her hand froze when something on the mirror caught her attention. She felt as though her heart had stopped and her breath caught in her throat as she read the words written in the steam on the mirror. "CARA WAKE UP"