Fleeting Glimpse, part 25

Christmas morning arrived at last. Emily woke up at five in the morning, and woke Sarah up with her eyes gleeming. " SARAH SARAH! IT IS CHRISTMAS YAY!"

"Can't we sleep a little more" Sarah groaned but Emily wouldn't let her rest. As Sarah began to groggily sit up, Emily ran into Tina's room to wake her up as well.

Emily ran down the stairs like an excited child as the two Pinkertons sleepily followed. "YAY! Look at all the gifts!" Emily shouted from in front of them. Emily's eyes sparkled at the amount of gifts that were under the tree. Several of them were addressed to her, and a couple more to Forrest. She didn't wait for the two Pinkertons to arrive, she started ripping into the presents. Tina had bought her some coloring books and crayons, which Emily seemed to want to start coloring right away, and a cute diaper bag. She had also bought some onesies for Forrest.

Emily cheerfully opened the gift that Sarah had gotten for her. Sarah tensed up, hoping she would like it, and Emily started cheering as she opened it "YES SARAH YES!" Emily hopped up and down looking at the box in her hand. "A camera! Now I can take lots of pictures when Forrest is born." Emily smiled brightly.

"It can also take movies" Sarah said, happy that her present was so well received.

Emily was also excited to see the onesies and matching socks Sarah had bought for Forrest. "Ohh! They have monkeys on them! For my little monkey."

Sarah was so happy to see Emily opening her gifts with so much enthusiasm, that she almost forgot she had gifts herself. She opened the gifts she had received from Emily, secretly wondering when Emily had time to buy them. She got a pet rock, and a her own hair straightener. "Cause you look so cute with your hair straight!" Emily declared. Then she opened the gift from her mother, which was a gift card to buy some books for her book reader. This thrilled Sarah, she wanted to go buy some new books right away. She hadn't been doing much reading since Emily had moved in, so she had a bunch of new books she wanted to get.

Tina, with a cup of coffee in hand started to open her own gifts. Sarah had gotten her a foot soaker, which she would put to good use after all her long days at Macy's. When she opened Emily's gift, she almost began to cry. "Aww Emily!" Tina said hugging the small girl. Emily had gotten her a t-shirt and mug that all said "World's Best Mother". It was a truly thoughtful gift, and Tina was so happy that Emily thought so highly of her.

They spent the rest of the happy Christmas watching old Christmas movies on television, and at Emily's request, singing some Christmas Carols. Emily took a picture of everyone with her new camera, in front of the tree, saying she never wanted to forget the best Christmas ever. It had truly been a magical day.

The next few days until New Years Eve went by quickly. Work had been slower now, although Jenn had her dreaded returns to do. Customer's seemed more cheerful now, many of them coming in the store with shiny new gift cards to spend.

New Year's Eve arrived, and Jenn was over at the Pinkerton's house. Her mother, Hana, was going out with her new boyfriend, and her father and Marisol were going to a party. So Jenn and Dennis were invited to celebrate with them. Dennis went into a corner of the living room and started playing on his phone again. "Does that kid do anything else?" Sarah asked quietly to Jenn.

"He's in his 'I hate everything and no one understands me phase'," Jenn sighed. "But don't tell him it's a phase or he'll get really angry."

The three girls sat on the couch in front of the televison, watching the show in Times Square. Tina made them some snack, which included potato skins with bacon, some cookies, cheese and crackers, and lastly some sparkling apple cider for them to toast at midnight.

Feeling awfully brave, Sarah decided to try and get Dennis in on their fun. He was being rather antisocial, and it reminded Sarah of how she used to be. She sat down on the floor next to him and asked "What are you doing?"

"Playing a game." Dennis said flatly.

"What kind of game?" Sarah asked, trying to get Dennis to open up to her a bit.

"It's an RPG." Sarah wasn't sure what that meant, she never played a lot of video games.

"Don't you think it would be more fun to come over with us?" Sarah pointed at Tina, Jenn, and Emily who were all dancing to the band that was currently playing on the television.

"No." Dennis said a bit indifferently.

"Oh come on! Dance with me Dennis!" Sarah smiled. Dennis blushed slightly.

"Al...alright." Dennis took her hand, and joined her. They went to the center of the living room where everyone else was dancing, and Sarah took Dennis's hand. She twirled him around a few times like a ballroom dancer. Dennis started to laugh.

"Hey bro having fun?" Jenn smiled.

"No!" Dennis said, but he kept on laughing.

Soon they all got tired of dancing. They all sat on the couch eating more snacks and talking. Even Dennis joined in, he seemed to have forgotten all about the game on his phone. Soon the countdown to the new year began, they all watched in anticipation as the ball started to drop. Emily started the countdown. "TEN! NINE! EIGHT! SEVEN! SIX! FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!"

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!" Everyone shouted, except for Emily who screamed loudest of all "HAPPY BIRTHDAY WORLD!" They all toasted their sparkling apple cider. It was the beginning of a wonderful new year.

Soon after all the excitement died down, the three girls and Dennis all decided to get some sleep. Jenn and Dennis rolled out their sleeping bags on the floor, while Emily took the couch and Sarah took the recliner. They didn't fall asleep right away, they all talked quietly about their new year's resolutions.

"I want to get a girlfriend this year." Dennis said, blushing, sneaking a peek a Sarah.

"Aren't you a little young for that?" Jenn chuckled.

"No! Todd and Billy have girlfriends already." Dennis pouted.

"Well alright then. I want to go to college this year. I've been saving up some money!" Jenn said happily.

"I just want to be the best mommy to Forrest EVER!" Emily gleefully said.

Sarah thought for a moment, she didn't really have a resolution this year. "I guess I want to keep being less socially awkward." Sarah laughed.

"You already are doing great at that!" Emily declared. "Pick something else."

"Uhhh well I really would like a boyfriend. I've never really had one." Sarah said quietly, and Dennis looked at her with smile.

The three girls all laughed. "No you don't want a boyfriend! You'll end up like me!" Emily joked.

They all fell asleep soon after that, thinking of how they were going to make this year the best year ever.

The days started to fly by again, and now everyone's attention was focused on the up coming wedding between Tim and Marisol. The wedding was going to be a small affair, but it still had a lot of planning. They were going to be married in small chapel, and then have a bigger reception afterward. The girls went to help Marisol pick out a dress after work one day. It turned out that Marisol was indeed a teacher, like Sarah had thought. She taught second grade at the local elementary school. Marisol told them about telling her students about how her last name was going to change now, and laughed about how confused they all were. " 'So you aren't going to be Miss Hong anymore?' To which I said, nope, from now on I'm going to be Mrs. Castell."

"Oh well that would confuse me too!" Emily nodded her head.

They all laughed a bit, and Marisol continued to look at the wedding dresses. She found a cheaper one, it was a strapless white dress, which came down to halfway between her knees and ankles. "What do you girls think of this one?"

"Try it on! TRY IT ON!" Emily prodded her towards the fitting room.

Marisol came out looking as beautiful as a bride could. The dress fit her perfectly, it flowed out from her waist and was classy yet not too overly fancy. "Oh I like this one!"

Marisol got the dress, happy with her decision. The three girls then went to get their bridesmaid dresses. They all wanted to match, but then found that would be hard considering how pregnant Emily was. She looked like she was about to pop. They decided to get a dress for Emily first, and then try to find dresses that matched hers. They all went to the maternity store to look for a dress.

Emily spotted a light blue dress that would come down to her knees. "OH I like this one!" She grabbed it and went to try it on. She came out looking almost like a model in it. "I even have enough boobs now to fill it in!" Emily laughed. The dress curved cutely around her huge stomach, and was simple enough to not outshine the bride. They all decided it was perfect, and went to find dresses for Jenn and Sarah that would match it.

They found some dresses that were slightly longer, and a shade darker than the dress Emily had gotten, and decided to get them. Sarah wasn't happy with how the dress fit her, she thought it made her look fat, but the other girls told her she looked wonderful. "I bet Jeff would think you look downright SExY." Emily said.

"Jeff again?" Sarah sighed. Her friend had been bringing him up every once in awhile, as if she was trying to jog Sarah's memory. "I still don't remember."

"Oh you will. He was your not boyfriend!"

"But if he was that close to me, why hasn't he tried to contact me at all? I don't even have a Jeff in my contacts on my phone." Sarah sighed. She almost didn't want to believe this Jeff character existed and was purely a figment of Emily's overactive imagination, but Jenn backed her up. They walked to the front register as Sarah contemplated this boy she couldn't remember ever being in her life.

The next day after Sarah drove Emily to work, she herself sat down at her computer. She had decided that she had to figure out this mystery of Jeff once and for all. It was really beginning to bug her that she couldn't remember this boy. If Jeff had ever existed, there had to be some sign of him somewhere in her life. Asking her mother had been less than helpful, Tina had said she didn't recall Sarah talking about Jeff much. So Sarah's next search began on her computer.

She went through her photos, trying to see if she had ever taken a picture with this Jeff. Her photos lacked any males, in fact it was pretty barren except for the few pictures she'd taken with Emily and Jenn. Then Sarah searched through the videos she had.

There she found several videos she hadn't remembered about, all from the Dreamsight she had almost forgotten she owned. She began to watch them, and she didn't recognize any of the things that had happened in them. They didn't seem real, Sarah didn't remember any of her dreams after all. Yet she recognized her own voice, and the person she was addressing in the dreams, well Sarah was awfully surprised to hear the name Jeff.

She paused the video, looking at the young man. He looked to be about her own age. He looked, startlingly familiar as well. Sarah couldn't place where she had seen him before. Her mind whirled as she tried to figure out where these dreams had come from, and who Jeff could be. If Jeff had been someone she dreamed about, why did her friends talk about him like she had met him before? Sarah decided to ask them about it when she went to pick up Emily from work.

Sarah drove her car through the winter wonderland that now surrounded her. It had been beautiful out lately. The snow wasn't too deep out, and it made everything look pure and new. Sarah didn't really like winter all that much, but even she had to admit that it was very pretty. Sarah picked Emily up, and went to meet Jenn at the Starbucks, the place where they so often met up.

Sarah asked them about Jeff, and how they knew him. Emily was the first to reply. "Well I first saw him when you showed me one of your dreams!"

"I don't remember that happening." Sarah pouted.

"Oh well that's okay. But you did! I was all excited over your Dreamsight, and you showed me a dream where Jeff gave you a cute lil stuffed kitty and you watched fireworks with him."

"Hmmm." Sarah sighed. She remembered watching that dream on her computer, but she couldn't recall such an event taking place.

"Yes, and then the day before you fell into a coma," Jenn continued from where Emily left off, "You called us and wanted us to met you at the hospital. We saw Jeff there, he was in a coma too."

"Eh?" Sarah totally didn't recall that happening. She was confused. She was mad at her own memory for lying to her. She asked "What happened to him? Is he still in a coma?"

"Well I went to go tell him his not girlfriend was alright, but when I went to his room, he wasn't there anymore." Emily smiled, sipping her juice. "I was really more worried about you at the time so I didn't really go searching for him."

They all sat in silence. Sarah tried her best to dig through her memories, to find something that reminded her of Jeff. She almost caught a faint glimpse of herself, holding the hand of the young man from her dreams, but that was all. Sarah was frustrated. No one seemed to have any answers. Who was this Jeff, and what did he mean to her? Sarah was beginning to feel like she was missing an entire part of her life. Sarah had so many questions, and no one to answer them.

Sarah spent the rest of the day in a sort of daze. She brought Emily home. They sat on the couch watching television and Emily yammered on about how she was so hungry and other things about Forrest. Sarah let her words sweep over her. Her mind was focused on Jeff. She hadn't let her memory loss bother her that much, but now she wanted answers. Sarah couldn't focus on anything else. Suddenly an answer came to her. She would have to find this Jeff and ask him about everything. He was sure to remember her. He would have the answers.

"What was Jeff's last name?" Sarah interrupted Emily's ramblings.

"Oh starting to remember?"

"Maybe..."

"Well it began with a D." Emily pondered. "Hmmm. Durmin? Durglam? Oh man I'm not good with names."

Sarah sighed. It was a start. She told Emily she would be right back, and ran up to her room. She went on her computer. She searched through the names Emily had given her, trying to find any sign of Jeff. There was no Jeff Durglam's that Sarah could find, and although there was a Jeff Durmin, he lived in Alaska and was almost fifty years old. Sarah sat her computer desk, thinking for awhile. While Jeff could possibly have a different last name, Sarah couldn’t think of what it might be. She felt like she had hit a brick wall.

Sarah rejoined Emily back downstairs. She tired her best to not think of Jeff, and focus on what was happening on the television. Even if she found him, would she be brave enough to talk to him? To ask him about herself? To admit she had forgotten everything? Sarah decided it might be best if she just let it go, and forgot about Jeff entirely.

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Fleeting Glimpse, part 24

The week and a half leading up to Christmas Eve were some of the craziest days at Burlington Coat Factory. None of the crazy things that had happened on Black Friday happened, but it was still intense. Sarah spent half of her time trying to help customers who all seemed to have insane requests, and the other half just trying to keep her department clean. Emily rambled on about how there were so many customers buying so many things, and how she wished she could have a stool to sit down at the register. Jenn had another slight mental breakdown on a day where she had to do at least a hundred price checks. Still they all managed to make it through the days, taking it one day at a time.

Then Christmas Eve came, and like a solider has bad flashbacks to the war, Sarah had flashbacks to Black Friday. Sarah wondered to herself if anyone had done any shopping ahead of time. The lines to the registers went from the youth department in the back of the store, all the way to the front. All the customers seemed to have forgotten the holiday spirit, and were grumpy, most of them complaining about the wait, and how they had somewhere else to be. Sarah wondered why they had simply gone shopping earlier, than this wouldn't have been a problem.

A customer approached Sarah, "Do you have these jeans in size 0?"

"No ma'am, they don't make those jeans in junior sizes." Sarah said, trying to be helpful.

"Yes they do. I've bought them before." Sarah was used to customers who thought they knew more than they did. Sarah decided to just play along.

"Oh, well then we must be out."

"CHECK THE BACK. You must have more. My daughter has to have these jeans for Christmas!"

"We don't have anything in the back ma'am." Sarah said truthful. They had already rolled out all the new stock for the day, they didn't keep anything in the back.

"Don't get that attitude with me! I know you are just being lazy GO CHECK THE BACK."

"Just one second ma'am." Sarah knew this wasn't a battle she was going to win. She went to the back room and stared at the box crusher for a few moments, then walked back out again. "Sorry we don't have any size 0" The customer cursed under her breath, but walked away. Sarah was glad she hadn't pushed the issue any further.

The rest of the day went by without much issue. The store closed early, and all three girls were happy when they were able to go to the break room to collect their things.

"We should get those automatic check out things like every other store has. Then I could just sit there and make sure no one was stealing anything." Emily moaned.

"But I'd still have to do..." Jenn twitched slightly, "PRICE CHECKS ARRRRRRGHHH"

The two other girls giggled slightly. "Well at least we don't have to work tomorrow!" Sarah said, excited to have another day off, nothing having to deal with the crazy customers.

"Yeah, but after that..." Jenn twitched again. "THE RETURNS ARGGHHHHHHHH" Jenn calmed herself down. "Well I'll see you girls tonight. I can't wait for you guys to met Marisol and my dad."

"Yeah, should be fun." Sarah said, feeling a bit nervous about meeting new people. After the day she had, she didn't know if she could deal with more people.

After spending the last few Christmas Eve's with just Sarah, Tina was a bit excite to being going to someone else's house this year. When Sarah and Emily arrived home from their job, Tina wanted to go almost immediately. She thought maybe some of Emily's random energy was rubbing off on her. Still she waited patiently while the girls got changed into more comfortable clothes.

While they changed Sarah felt a sudden panic attack coming on. While she wanted to be there for Jenn, and met her father, she was suddenly nervous about meeting new people. "I feel sick I don't think I can go." Sarah whined.

"LIES!" Emily shouted, putting on a pair of socks that didn't match.

"I have a headache!" Sarah persisted.

"No you don't!" Emily giggled as she went over and modeled in front of the mirror. After deciding she looked okay, she continued in a sing songy voice. "You are just being shy again Sarah."

Her cover blown, Sarah just sat on her bed and sighed. "I'm not good with meeting new people."

"You did fine with me and Jenn, and this is only Jenn's family. You'll be fine." Emily said, sitting next to Sarah. "Oh! Forrest is kicking again! Feel!" Emily took Sarah's hand and placed it on her belly. Sarah felt the little kicks from Forrest, like she did most days. It never failed to amaze her, though, and today it helped calm her down.

"Alright, I'm ready to go!" Sarah said, smiling bravely.

They picked up the gifts meant for Jenn and her family from under their Christmas tree. Sarah admired the tree for a moment. It had mostly ordinary ornaments, but Emily had decided to put some of the refrigerator magnets on the tree as well. Somehow it worked out, and it looked very nice. Sarah looked down at the gifts she had bought, and almost had another panic attack, thinking she had bought the worst gifts possible. She was determined not to be upset, and to go with what she had. It's the thought that counts, Sarah reminded herself.

They all packed into Tina's car. A few more inches of snow had fallen, making it look and feel like Christmas. Tina put the address into her GPS, and they made their way to Jenn's father's house.

Despite her nervousness, Sarah had a good time. She met Jenn's father Tim, a rugged looking man, but with a kind smile, Marisol, a petite woman who wore glasses that made her look like a teacher, and Dennis, Jenn's little brother who was fourteen and looked almost exactly like his sister but with short hair and a screw the world attitude.

They shared a ham dinner. Emily, Marisol, and Tina sat together, all discussing the finer points of pregnancy. This was Marisol's first baby, and she was a bit nervous about it. Dennis didn't talk at all, instead he spent the whole dinner on his phone. That left Sarah, Jenn, and Tim to talk amongst themselves.

"I really want to get my own apartment, but I want to go to school first." Jenn was telling her father, as he listened intently.

"Oh? Whatcha wanna go to school for?" Tim said gruffly.

"I want to be a make-up artist! You know like the people who put make-up on celebrities! That would be neat." Jenn seemed to be less awkward around her father now. Sarah saw that as a good sign.

"Oh yeah, Jenn's really good with make-up, you should've seen how well she painted my nails." Sarah said, trying to contribute to the conversation.

"Oh that was nothing. I can do even cooler things!" Jenn said with pride.

"So what do you do for a living Mr. MAKEUPALASTNAMEFORJENN?" Sarah asked Tim politely.

"Oh well I'm kinda a jack of all trades, as they say. Right now I'm doing snow plowing, but other times of the year I do landscaping. I also do some plumbing on the side. You can call me Tim though, I don't like being called Mister." Tim laughed roughly.

"Alright then...Tim" Sarah said timidly.

Dinner ended, and it was time for opening gifts. Dennis opened his gifts first. Sarah had almost forgotten to get him a gift, and had decided on getting him a gift-card for Amazon.com at the last minute. He seemed to appreciate the gift, but didn't even say thank you. He just slunk back to a corner and continued playing with his phone. Sarah wondered how the battery hadn't died yet.

Jenn opened her gifts next. She got a cute cell phone accessory in the shape of a puppy from Emily, a sweater from her father, a new fashionable purse from Tina, and a gift certificate to the mall from Marisol. Finally she opened Sarah's gift, and smiled.

"Oh yes thank you so much Sarah!" She looked over the gift with glee. Sarah had gotten her a kit for mixing your own nail polish colors. Jenn looked immensely pleased with the gift. Sarah was happy she had chosen such a good gift for her friend.

Emily got her gifts next. Jenn got her a cookbook that's title was "100 easy recipes for you and your baby". Tim got her a sweater that wouldn't fit her until after Forrest was born, and another gift-card to the mall.

Sarah's gifts were similar to the two other girls, but Jenn had gotten her a small stuffed cat. For some reason it made her feel very nostalgic, and she cuddled it for the rest of the night.

Marisol loved the candle Sarah got her, saying it was her favorite scent. Tim laughed at the tie. "I don't got much of a reason to wear a tie, but hey dear, maybe I can wear it to our wedding." He laughed, and Marisol ever so lightly bonked him on the head with a book Tina had gotten her on Early Child Care, all with a smile on her face.

The night concluded, and Tina, Sarah, and Emily all piled back in the car. Sarah had fun that night. She wasn't sure what she had been so nervous about, things had gone well. She was happy to finally meet some of Jenn's family. She felt like they were becoming closer friends all the time. Still, something about the stuffed cat Jenn had gotten her made her feel very strange, like it was from a memory of a far off time, something that Sarah could see, but it was just barely out of grasp. Sarah tried not to think about it.

They drove the long way home, looking at all the glimmering Christmas lights. Emily oohed and awed at them almost like they were fireworks. A couple of neighborhoods had put out milk jugs with candles in them, lighted the side of the street. It was all magical and beautiful, just as Christmas is supposed to be.

They all quickly fell asleep that night, Emily muttering something about Santa Claus as she drifted off, and Sarah holding the stuffed cat in her arms as she rested.

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Fleeting Glimpse part 23

For as long as Sarah Pinkerton could remember, she had never dreamed. She wondered why that might be, but she didn't waste much time thinking about it. After all dreams were just something that went on in your head while you were sleeping. Sarah didn't mind not ever having them. The only thing that concerned her was a sinking feeling she had ever since she had woken up from her coma. A feeling that she was forgetting something important.

That coma had been one of the strangest experiences of her life. Sarah remembered going to sleep that night, with Emily by her side, and waking up the next day in the hospital. Despite her feeling just fine, they insisted she stay in the hospital another night just to make sure. When she went home the next day, she starred in wonder at the white winter world before her. It was like the world had become something else while she was asleep.

Some time had passed, and now it was December. Sarah had returned to work, and everything seemed to be getting back to normal. Emily insisted on sleeping in Sarah's bed every night, just to make sure she was alright. Sarah didn't mind, she knew that Emily was worried about her, and Sarah was worried for Emily as well. She knew how much stress the small girl had been through lately. Sarah started driving Emily to work every day now, Emily's stomach was getting too big for her to be able to drive by herself.

Emily lamented on the couch one day after work. "Ugh Forrest, we need to get your things from Joey's apartment." She sighed down at her stomach. "I don't want to go there though..."

"Well if you had some goons, they could go get the stuff for you!" Sarah laughed.

"Hmmm...well actually..."

Jenn knocked on the door of Emily's former apartment. Sarah stood beside her nervously. She wasn't sure if this plan would work out, but she hoped it would.

Joey answered the door, looking angrily at the two girls. "We are here for Emily's things." Jenn said bravely.

"Ha! You and what army?" Joey laughed at them.

Jenn waved her arm behind her, and Joey opened the door wider to reveal nine athletic men behind her. Emily had called her friend from high school who was now on a college football team for a favor he owed her. He had agreed to take the team to go pick up Emily's things. Sarah didn't ask why he owed her a favor, and she knew better than to ask. Emily was just too random.

"I hope there won't be a problem." Said the lead football player gruffly. Joey stood to the side and let them in. He sneered as Sarah and Jenn went in, but didn't try anything. Soon the football players packed all of Emily's belongings into Jenn and Sarah's cars. They waved goodbye as the two girls thanked them profusely for their help.

Emily was excited to see all of her things again, especially the crib and baby things for Forrest. "YAY! Now we can set up the spare room into a nursery!" Emily exclaimed, as Sarah and Jenn started carrying everything up to the room. Emily directed the baby things into the spare room, but insisted they put her things into Sarah's room. Sarah didn't argue, she had gotten used to Emily sleeping with her.

After all the hard work, the girls ordered a pizza and watched a movie together. When Tina arrived home, Emily excitedly got up to greet her. "Mom mom! Guess what! Sarah and Jenn got all my stuff from Joey's house!"

"That's great dear!" Tina smiled down on the girl she now considered her adopted daughter. "Oh do I smell pizza?" Jenn offered her a slice, and she sat down amongst her daughter and friends. "Guess this means you can have your own bedroom now."

Emily gasped and clung to Sarah. "NEVER! It can be Forrest's room! I can't leave Sarah! What if something bad happens again?"

"I don't think anything will happen again." Sarah said, trying to reassure her friend.

"Yeah but they don't even know what happened in the first place!" Emily bounced about nervously.

"Don't worry dear, Sarah will be okay." Tina reassured.

Emily just pouted, but let go of Sarah. "Yeah but what ever happened to Jeff?"

"Who?" Sarah asked.

"Oh yeah you don't remember him..." Emily trailed off. She had tried to bring Jeff up in the hospital, but to no avail. The doctors had said that Sarah might have some memory loss, but Emily was still worried. When would Sarah remember everything again?

"Don't force it Emily." Tina said. "She'll remember when she remembers."

It was Sarah's turn to pout. She remembered them bringing Jeff up before now. She still couldn't remember ever knowing some one by that name. She didn't think they could be very important memories if she couldn't remember them anymore. The few days before she fell into the short coma all seemed fuzzy in her memory as well. Sarah tried not to dwell too much on the past though. So much was going on in the present.

That night, Emily snuggled up to Sarah as they prepared to go to sleep. "Hey Sarah?"

"What is it Em?"

"I kinda lied. I do like sleeping in your bed cause I'm worried about you, but also cause I'm lonely. I just can't sleep by myself. I still miss Joey sometimes."

"I know it's hard on you Em. We'll get through this together." Sarah squeezed Emily's shoulders. Sarah was happy to have Emily as a friend. Emily always seemed so strong, but when she was alone with Sarah she showed her weaker side off. Sarah was glad she could trust her with her weakness, it meant that she didn't have to keep it all bottled up inside herself.

For some reason, Sarah was reminded of the Dreamsight sitting on her desk. She couldn't remember why she had bought it anymore. Seemed silly, she never had any dreams to begin with. She remembered wearing it a lot before her coma, but now she didn't sleep with it on anymore. There didn't seem to be a point to it.

"Night Sarah..." Emily said, as she drifted off into sleep. Sarah soon followed her.

The next week at work was crazy. It wasn't as busy as that fateful Black Friday had been, but it was still busy. Every morning when they went into work, instead of just putting out the new clothes, they went down into receiving. Sarah had been scared at first to go into the dark basement, but she got over that fear pretty quickly. They spent about an hour helping the people who worked downstairs unbox items, put price tags on them, and put them on long clothing rods so they could be brought up stairs. Sometimes one of the clothing rods would be so overstuffed with new clothes it almost fell over. Sarah kinda liked working downstairs out of the sight of customers. It reminded her a lot of her days working in the factory. Those days seemed like a lifetime away sometimes though. She was glad for this job in many ways. If it wasn't for this job she never would've gotten over her shyness, and she never would've made such good friends in Emily and Jenn.

Emily started being a cashier full time, and was taken out of Sportsware. Sarah missed her sometimes, but she got to see her so much at home it didn't bother her that much. Sometimes Sarah had to ring on a register as well when the lines got too long. Sarah was glad that work was so busy lately, she was getting lots of overtime. She needed this extra money so she could buy her mother an extra special Christmas gift. She also wanted to buy Emily something special for Forrest, and Jenn something too. Sarah never had to buy so many Christmas gifts before. She was excited though, she wanted to make her friends and mother happy.

One day, the three girls met in Starbucks like usual. Jenn had some news to share. "They decided on a wedding date!"Jenn had almost started to get excited for her father. Jenn remembered the first time she met Marisol, her father's new girlfriend. She hadn't liked her at the time but after spending more time with her, she had really gotten to like her. She was happy that Marisol was making her estranged father so happy. Sometimes Jenn got the idea that it was Marisol who had coaxed her father into contacting his old family again. That made Jenn like her even more.

"Oh when?" Emily exclaimed.

"January fifteenth."

"Oh pooh. I was hoping Forrest would be able to go." Emily patted her stomach gently.

Jenn giggled. "Well they want to have it soon, before Marisol starts really showing. It's only going to be a small thing. But the exciting part is, Marisol wants us to be her bridesmaids!"

"Us?" Sarah asked, "But she's never even met me or Emily."

"YAY!" Emily declared without a care in the world.

"She wants to meet my friends, I think she's doing this to try to help us all come together as a family." Jenn smiled. "I know it's kinda sudden, but she wants to spend Christmas Eve with you guys too."

"Can Ma come too?" Sarah asked.

"Of course!"

"YAY!" Emily squealed again. The three girls all laughed together for some time.

The next day Sarah had off from work. She drove Emily in, and promised to come pick her up when she got out at four. Sarah then drove to the mall to get some Christmas shopping done. It was already the tenth of December, time seemed to be flying by with how busy she had been at work. Sarah avoided the Macy's where her mother worked, and instead went to the JC Penny's.

She wandered around the store, on the hunt for perfect gifts. She had added Marisol, and Jenn's father Tim, to the mental list of people she had to buy gifts for. She was at a lost as to what to buy them. She found a pretty candle for Marisol finally, and got Tim a tie. She thought they were pretty safe gifts, considering she had never met them before. Then she had the task of buying the gifts for her mother and two best friends. After over an hour of searching, she decided she had found the perfect gifts for all of them. She went to the register and paid.

As she was leaving, toting along her large bags, Sarah stopped for a second when she caught the eyes of a boy her own age. The boy was shopping with a person Sarah assumed was his father. There was something about his eyes...they seemed to be so familiar. Sarah shrugged it off as a random occurrence of deja vu.

Sarah drove home and quickly wrapped up the gifts she had bought, and put them under the tree. She realized how late it was getting, and went to pick up Emily from work. She noticed that it had started to snow again, the snow from late November had all melted already. Sarah was used to the snow coming down all the way from November to sometimes in April. It was just the way New England was. She cleaned off the little snow that had fallen on her car, and drove to Burlington Coat Factory to get Emily.

"YAY SNOW!" Emily screamed with delight as soon as she got outside the building. "We didn't get to play in it last time cause you were in a coma. But now we can! Let's make a fort, and a snowman, and have a snowball fight, and make snow angels!"

"I don't think it's deep enough for all that."

"Hmm. You'll see!"

Once they got home, Emily refused to go inside until they had at least built a snowman. With Sarah's help, Emily rolled up almost all the snow that had fallen in the front yard into a halfway decent snowman. "Oh Sarah take a picture of us together! I want to show Forrest his first winter someday!"

Sarah giggled, and took a picture with her phone. She smiled, thinking how similar the snowman and Emily were, both of them with rather large bellies. She ushered Emily inside for some hot chocolate after that. After both girls had warmed up, Sarah decided they should unpack the things for Forrest's nursery.

"OH YES! I had almost forget we've been so busy! YAY FORREST'S ROOM!" Emily skipped up the stairs happily.

Sarah had never been very good with tools, but with Emily reading off the directions and helping a bit, she managed to put the crib and the changing table together. She was proud of herself for being able to help her friend out. Emily's baby was rapidly becoming like her own baby. Sarah giggled to herself as she thought about how she was the daddy.

Tina had arrived home. Tina had been worried about Sarah ever since the coma, but her daughter seemed fine, she didn't even remember most of the things surrounding the coma. But Tina did. She still felt guilty for subjecting her daughter to a scientific study, but she tried not to torture herself too much about it. Sarah was fine now, and Dr. Durham said that there would be no further incidents. The study was being shut down now, after eighteen years. Tina couldn't have been more relieved to hear that.

She stuck her head into the spare room where she heard voice from. Cries of "MA!" and "MOM!" came from the room as the two girls spotted her. They showed her the work they had done for the nursery. Tina thought about how soon she'd have a baby in the house. She almost felt like she herself was becoming a grandma. It was a warm kind of feeling. "You girls did a good job setting this up! Without any help, I'm impressed."

"We still got a lot of work to do Ma. Forrest will be here before we know it."

"He's gonna have the BEST NURSERY EVER!"

Tina smiled. Everything seemed like it was back to normal.

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Fleeting Glimpse, part 22

The dark room they found themselves in was much smaller than the last room.

"We must be near the top." Jeff gulped.

"How did you know it was a dream Jeff?" Sarah asked, not paying attention to what he just said.

"I don't know." Jeff shrugged.

"And how come when you figured it out we didn't snap out of the dream automatically, like when I always realized it?" Sarah's mind boggled. There was something going on here that she didn't understand, something deeper than she had initially been led to believe. She thought that once they realized the dream wasn't real, or they were killed in the dream, they went back to the tower. But now she was having second doubts. That dream was the most realistic of all the dreams yet. It scared Sarah that she hadn't been able to figure out it was a dream herself.

Jeff just shrugged again. Sarah felt angry again, but she was done arguing with Jeff. "Let's go, the next floor is probably the top right? We can't afford to waste anymore time." Sarah said more forcefully than she meant. She didn't wait for Jeff to start following her. She climbed the stairs and opened the door to the next floor.

---

Doctor Jeffery Durham Senior was making his rounds at the hospital. He had a lot on his mind, especially the patient he was going to see next. She was a young woman that he knew very well, although she didn't know him at all. Dr. Durham was worried for her. Things hadn't been going according to plan at all.

He entered her room, and he spotted the woman he had first spoke to over 18 years ago, when his scientific study had just begun. The woman, who he knew was named Tina Pinkerton, looked over at him with wide eyes, and immediately got up from her chair to talk to him. She pulled him out into the hallway for a slightly more private conversation.

"Sarah's...this coma, does it have anything to do with that chip you implanted in her head for that study on dreams you were doing?" Tina said, anxiously wringing her hands.

Dr. Durham cringed for a moment, wondering how she had figured it out so quickly. He nodded his head and said "My own son is also in a coma, I didn't know if you were aware. It's hard to say if they'll be able to wake up ever again. The chips I implanted in them to read their dreams, well suffice to say, they had some unexpected consequences."

Tina began to quietly cry at hearing this. "What can you do Doctor? There must be something! I don't want to lose my daughter."

"For now, Mrs Pinkerton, all we can do is pray."

---

Sarah entered the room, expected to see the normal flash of blackness, but it didn't come. She looked around the room she found herself in. It was like the rest of the tower, just as black. There was nothing in this room, not even a staircase leading up higher. Sarah felt confused. Where was the thing they had to destroy, what was going on here? She nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt a hand on her shoulder from behind.

"Sarah there is something I have to tell you." Jeff said, as Sarah spun around wildly to face him.

"Huh? JEFF. There is nothing here! We can't escape!" Sarah felt like crying.

"I know Sarah. Listen to me. I haven't been entirely truthful with you. There are things you don't know about yourself. " Sarah just stared at Jeff, confused and a bit angry. "When you were just a baby, you were entered into a scientific study on the nature of dreams. You had a chip implanted into your head so that my father, and his team of researchers could study your dreams."

"WHAT?" Sarah blinked her eyes a few times, not quite believing what she was hearing.

"Yeah, you weren't the only one. Thousands of other young children were in the study. That's when my father learned that some people's dreams were special. You were one of those children. So was I, but for different reasons. Sarah, you have the ability to maintain a whole dream world even when you are not there. You made a whole city up, and it continued even when you were not dreaming. You have one of the most vivid imaginations I've ever seen. You also had an even more special power though, one we are not quite even sure how it can exists. We think it has something to do with dreams being almost like death, where your whole body slows down, but Sarah, in your dreams...you can see the dead."

Sarah's eyes got wider. "You mean...when we went to see my father? That was really him?" Sarah felt tears welling up in her eyes.

"Well yes. I couldn't follow you there. Only you have that ability."

"What's your ability then?" Sarah asked, but her mind was going in a million different directions, trying to comprehend everything that she was being told.

"I can travel to other people's dreams. When my father found this out he wanted me to go into the dreams of his other test subjects, but once I found you I decided to not go any further. You are so special Sarah." Jeff took Sarah's hand gently in his own. "I'm so sorry Sarah."

"Sorry? For what?"

"It was me. I trapped you here."

Sarah ripped her hand out of Jeff's reach. She felt like her heart was falling into pieces, and at the same time, she felt so angry she could hardly see straight. "What? Why did you do that? JEFF!" Sarah wanted to hit Jeff, but she refrained from doing so. She balled her hand up into a fist and stood there, staring at Jeff menacingly.

"I made this tower up Sarah. I knew you'd come back to your dreams eventually. So I made it. This tower was supposed to be wonderful things that would show you how amazing dreams were, but your own imagination and power over dreams destroyed that. You made each dream into your own dream, instead of what I had envisioned."

Everything seemed to click into place for Sarah. The reason why Jeff had told her that they were in a dream, why the dreams all started out nicely but ended up badly, why the tower wasn't evil like she thought it would be. The only question, which Sarah said out loud was, "Why?"

"Sarah, I meant what I said before, I love you." Jeff looked sadly down, he had not been expecting Sarah to react like this. "I wanted you to see how wonderful dreams were, so that you would spend forever with me here."

"I...I can't do that Jeff. You know I can't. We can spent time together outside of dreams. Come on let us go home." Sarah pleaded.

"The world outside is a terrible place Sarah. It's corrupt and there are so many bad people out there who couldn't give a fuck about you. But here, with you, we were happy weren't we? It's fun here, and nothing bad ever happens. We can be happy here forever Sarah."

Sarah looked at Jeff like he was going crazy. "Jeff we can't! I have a life out there, I know you don't think you do, but you do as well! You can't tell your stories in here. There is nothing for us in here. It's. Just. A. Dream!"

"Sarah, there is only way you can escape from here." Jeff said, but stopped before he said what that thing was.

"Yes? Tell me Jeff. We can escape from here. I know you don't want to spend forever in my dreams. We can be happy outside too."

Jeff looked deeply at Sarah, his blue eyes beginning to well up with tears. "Sarah, you can only escape if you kill me."

"Oh I get it! The tower is testing us again. This is another dream. WAKE UP WAKE UP!" Sarah screamed at herself, not wanting to believe the truth.

"No it's not Sarah." Jeff painfully said.

Sarah felt her whole body getting heavier. She sat down on the floor and pounded it with her fist. "It's just a dream! WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP!" Jeff put his hand on Sarah's shoulder but she violently shrugged it off. "DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH ME!" Jeff backed away fearfully. "I can't believe this. This isn't real. You are lying to me."

"I wish I was Sarah." Jeff said, now standing a few feet away from her. "You have to decide now Sarah. Do you want to live out your life with me here, in this wonderful place of your dreams? Or do you want to go back to the corrupt evil reality?" Jeff said, sneering at the last few words.

"Jeff I can't kill you. I can't kill anyone." Sarah sobbed.

"It's okay Sarah. I won't die in the real world. You'll just forget I ever existed, and I'll forget about you. Everything will go back to normal." Jeff admitted.

"I...won't remember you?"

"You won't remember anything. You won't remember any dreams we shared."

Sarah sat silently for awhile. She wouldn't remember her dreams. All the wonderful times she had spent with Jeff. She wouldn't remember the happiness she had. Most of all, she wouldn't remember the time she had met her father. How could she let all of that go? Sarah didn't want to forget this world. Then something sparked in her head. She knew what she had to do.

"Jeff, I'm so sorry for this." Sarah knew she was in a dream, her dream. She could do anything she wanted here. Sarah stood up, feeling slightly more confident now. She imagined that she had a gun in her hand, and it was there. She had never fired a gun in reality, but here she seemed to know just what to do. She aimed the gun at Jeff's head.

Jeff didn't flinch. "I guess you've made up your mind then." He looked sadly into Sarah's eyes. She nodded sadly. This was what had to be done. "Goodbye Sarah. I love you."

"Bye Jeff. I.....love you too."

She pulled the trigger.

---

"MOM! MISTER DOCTOR MAN!" Emily screamed excitedly into the hallway. "She's waking up! Sarah's WAKING UP!" Emily bounced up and down as Sarah's eyes began to slowly open.


Words This Part: 1826
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Fleeting Glimpse, part 21

The sound of childrens' laughter rang out through the air. It was warm and slightly muggy here, like a tropical paradise. Sarah looked around herself at the place that toted itself, the world's largest water park. There was a small lake surrounded by a beach, water slides, a large river to go rafting down, and many other things here. It was amazing to look at. Sarah walked around the park, taking in the sights, and for once in her life not worrying about how she looked in a bathing suit. Jeff lagged behind her, looking slightly anxious.

"Is it too hot for you?" Sarah asked sweetly.

"Oh no, I'm fine." Jeff looked around him, as if he was searching for something. Sarah had no idea what could be the matter with Jeff today. He was acting so odd.

Sarah gently took his hand and said, "Come on, you need to cool off. Let's go down that water slide!" Sarah pointed up towards one of the taller slides. It looked like a fun ride, it wasn't too fast, and was surrounded by beautiful tropical plants. Sarah started climbing up the stairs, and was hit with a sudden blast of deja vu. Why would stairs be so familiar to her? She didn't question it too much, and made her way to the top.

This slide was more like a log flume, but they were to ride a small raft down. Sarah sat in front, with Jeff behind her. He put his arms around Sarah's stomach, and she felt the butterflies take flight in her tummy. Sarah didn't have much time to dwell on this feeling, because before she knew it, they were sliding down. The raft took many twists and turns down the slide, the tropical plants became like a rainbow blur. It was beautiful to look at, and Sarah was almost sad when the raft splashed to the end.

As Sarah and Jeff looked around at the attractions, trying to decide what to do next, Sarah heard Jeff mumbling to himself, "So far so good..."

"Eh?" Sarah asked him.

"Oh nothing." Jeff looked away, like a dog who had been caught doing something bad.

"You've been acting..." Sarah stopped talking. She smelt something awful in the air. It smelt like decaying, rotten flesh. It almost made her want to vomit. She looked around and saw the other water park attendees putting their hands to their faces, and making expressions of disgust. "Oh god do you smell that?"

Jeff nodded, unable to take his hand away from his nose. He was beginning to look a bit green.

That's when the screaming began. From the front of the park it started, and it moved towards the back like a wave. The word that was being screamed was clear.

"ZOMBIES!!!"

---

Tina sat near her daughter's bed, lost in her thoughts. Jenn was sitting near her, but Emily was standing next to Sarah, telling her stories. Emily said that even if Sarah was in a coma she could still hear her, and she didn't want her to be bored. So she told her stories of all sorts, Tina didn't really know she wasn't paying much attention.

Her own thoughts were focused on that day, over eighteen years ago, when she had been still pregnant with Sarah.

The doctor had approached her, asked if she would participate in a scientific study. He said that it would be no risk to her yet to be born baby. He said that it would pay well. Tina had needed the money, she had a new baby on the way after all.

Tina felt so much regret at accepting that offer.

---

The crowd started running, almost separating Sarah and Jeff. Sarah grabbed Jeff's hand to keep them together as they ran from the yet unseen zombie threat. Sarah looked around, calculating where would be the best place to run, where would they be the safest. She spotted a hillside cafe, up on top of a tall cliff. She told Jeff as she pointed towards it "There, we have to go there!"

They split off from the rest of the crowd slightly, and began the climb up a long staircase up the cliff. While everyone else seemed to be in a panic, Sarah's mind was as clear as a crisp spring morning. "There is no exit that way, the only way out is the entrance, and we can't go that way the zombies are coming in that way." Sarah explained as she ran up the stairs. She didn't feel out of breath, even with all the physical exercise. She wondered if she was working on pure adrenaline here. "At least on the cliff we'll be mostly protected, and can board ourselves up in the cafe and wait for help." Sarah wondered if help would ever come, and how wide spread this outbreak of zombies was. She didn't want to hope for the worst, so she just hoped for the best. That someone would be coming to save them.

A few other people seemed to have the same idea, and ran up the stairs with Jeff and Sarah. They soon reached the top, and even from up there, the putrid stench of rotted flesh was just as strong. A few people mulled around at the top, as if looking for guidance. Sarah decided that she would have to do her best and work through her shyness. These people needed help, and she was the one who could do that.

She began to bark out orders. "You two, start boarding up the windows. Break the tables inside if you have to. You three, go in the kitchen and look for any weapons. Come on Jeff, let's start making a barricade at the top of these stairs to slow down any zombies that try to make it this far." Sarah felt like a general in an army. Soon everyone got to work.

Sarah and Jeff used some tables and chairs to block off a part of the stairs. They tried their best to build a good barricade, but they didn't have any hammers or nails. The few nails and the single hammer that was found inside the cafe was being used to board up the windows. The three who had been sent to find weapons made a pile of knifes and other kitchen instruments in the center of the cafe, and then went to help board up the windows or build the barricade. Although they worked fast, Sarah was beginning to see some gray, half rotten, shuffling bodies far below her. She could see them chasing after some other people, and looked away as they started to devour an older man.

One of the few people on the cliff suggested they throw burning things down on the zombies. Sarah shook her head. "Do you really want flaming zombies chasing after you? I don't think fire alone will keep them away, and we don't really have much left to burn." Sarah was starting to feel more and more scared. She tried to remain calm for those around her, but it was difficult. This was an unusual situation, and she hoped she was making the right choices.

Jeff looked down below them, and shouted out "SARAH!" Sarah looked down and saw that a few zombies were making their way up the stairs to the cliff-side cafe.

"Everyone inside, and barricade the door!" Sarah shouted. They all rushed into the cafe. They used the few remaining tables and nails to secure the door. Sarah just hoped it would be enough. She went to the pile of kitchen equipment, and chose a rather long knife. She knew they might just end up having to defend themselves.

And then, they waited.

Sarah sat down near one corner, and Jeff joined her with a long pipe in his hand. Jeff looked like he had something on his mind, but he wasn't speaking.

"Jeff..." Sarah began, feeling an awkward silence between them. "If you have something you want to say you better say it now."

Jeff looked scared, but remained silent. Instead of talking, he leaned forward and gave Sarah a hug. Sarah hugged him back with the arm that wasn't holding the knife. That's when she heard a scratching and a loud moaning noise at the door. The zombies were here.

Sarah stood in a defensive position, followed by her new comrades in arms. Jeff was right beside her, looking less than thrilled at the battle that would soon commence. The scratching at the door became louder and louder before it broke open.

The zombies were even more disgusting in person, their flesh seeming to hang off their bones at awkward angles, and the stench of them was much stronger now. Sarah went to start attacking them with her knife, determined to not give up and do her best to protect her life and the lives of those around her. She was stopped by a tugging at her elbow.

"No Sarah."

"Jeff this is HARDLY THE TIME FOR TALKING" Sarah raged trying to move forward again, but Jeff put both his arms around her, stopping her forward motion.

"Sarah look this is a dream. A DREAM." Sarah couldn't see Jeff's face, but she could tell he was being sincere, yet she had no time to think about what he was saying, the zombies were almost upon them.

"What? What do you mean?"

"We have to wake up. I don't want to do this Sarah. It's a DREAM! A DREAM!" Sarah's memory came rushing back at this, and she closed her eyes as a zombie took a swing at her. She felt herself falling backwards, and when she opened her eyes again, she recognized the blackness before her.

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Fleeting Glimpse, part 20

In was well into the afternoon before the a nurse came out and greeted Tina, Jenn, and Emily. They had all just finished eating lunches bought from the hospital cafeteria, and were getting weary of waiting. Seeing the nurse, and hoping for some good news, brought up their broken spirits some.

"She's stable now, you can visit her." The nurse told them. Jenn and Emily were excited, but at the same time slightly disappointed that she hadn't woken up yet.

"What's wrong?" Tina asked. "When will she wake up?" Tina fretted and worried.

"We don't know yet." the nurse said sadly. "I can show you to her room." The nurse took them down the halls, and they all demurely followed behind.

When they arrived at her room, Emily ran in quickly, followed by a less quick Jenn. Tina stayed behind, she had a question to ask the nurse. "Is there a Doctor Durham here?"

The nurse raised an eyebrow, but responded "Yes. He's the one taking care of your daughter. You'll probably see him later today." Tina thanked the nurse, and went into the room to see her daughter.

---

Sarah opened her eyes and found only darkness around her. "Is this what death is like?" She said out loud, to no one particular. In front of her, she started to be able to make out a hazy shape in the distance. Her eyes focused, and she realized they were a set of stairs. "Eh?" Sarah sat up quickly, and the world started to swim before her eyes. She eventually found her balance again. She looked around the room, and realized she was indeed back in the black tower. The memory of the latest floor was burned into her memory. It had been a terrifying experience, what was more terrifying was the fact that she had acted in the dream in a way she would never act in real life. Had she been a spy? What was that organization? Did it really mean anything or had it just been another peril for her to overcome to reach the final floor of the tower? She wanted to ask Jeff what he thought. Sarah looked around, and began to panic.

"Jeff? JEFF?" Sarah looked around the room, trying to find him anywhere. It wasn't hard, the room was smaller than the last two had been. Yet she couldn't see him. He wasn't in the room with her. Sarah's heart beat faster. Was this because she had died in the dream and he hadn't? Would this mean she had to take on the rest of the tower on her own? She didn't know if she could. She didn't even know what it was she even had to destroy. Jeff was the one with all the answers, Sarah had nothing without him. Sarah had just gotten to her feet trying to decide what to do next, when she felt the tower quiver.

"Jeff!" Sarah exclaimed, seeing him suddenly appear in the center of the room. He was holding his head and looking slightly confused, but he was alright. Sarah ran over to him and gave him a hug, before backing away and asking "Are you alright? What happened?"

"I...I don't know." Jeff looked concerned. "You died Sarah." Jeff looked like he was going to cry. "I was so scared. We can't do this anymore, we have to leave this tower."

"No! We can't do that Jeff. I know it's scary, but look I'm fine!" Sarah waved her arms around erratically as if to prove her point. "It's just a dream. We can't give up, we can do this together."

"It's just, these dreams are becoming so realistic. The first two didn't feel as real as that one did." Jeff shivered. This was not what he had been expecting in this tower.

"It's okay Jeff. Besides, look, this room is smaller. We must be getting closer to the top." Sarah did her best to smile and look reassuring to her friend. She put out her hand to help Jeff stand up.

"Alright. I'm just...I don't know, that man in that dream, he well..." Jeff trailed off.

"What is it Jeff?"

"I can't tell you right now. I don't even know for myself." Jeff seemed worried.

Sarah felt herself getting angry. Jeff was hiding things from her. "ARGH!" She shouted, feeling frustrated. "You know what's going on here don't you? Why can't you just tell me? Wouldn't it make it easier for both of us if we both knew? I don't like secrets Jeff. You told me you loved me but you cant trust me with whatever it is you are keeping locked away? Just tell me PLEASE!"

Jeff shook his head sadly. "I really can't Sarah. It's just...let's keep going alright? We'll never get out of here if we stand here arguing." Jeff started making his way towards the stairs and the next door. Sarah followed, feeling a rage in her heart she didn't quite understand.

---

A doctor tended to his young patient. He checked his vital signs, and made sure the boy was comfortable with a tenderness that doctors rarely show for their patients. Still as he went to leave the room, he whispered to the unconscious boy, "This isn't what was supposed to happen."

A few rooms away, a mother and two girls hovered around the still sleeping body of their friend. Each of them hoping they could in some way help her, knowing that they could not.

Words this part: 985
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(The total maybe a bit off, I was doing some editing to the beginning of the story cause I realized I randomly went from the month of January to November. YAY RANDOM INCONSISTENCIES)

Fleeting Glimpse, part 19

"Jeff, do you hear that?" Sarah said her eyes widening in horror.

"Oh who's trying to scare who now?" Jeff said with an air of humor.

"Shhhhh" Sarah was silent, her ears, straining to hear the sound she feared most of all.

Drip, drip, drip.

"Jeff it's the Black Pond Demon!" Sarah said trying to get out of the sleeping bag and finding herself getting more tangled up in it instead. Jeff was silent for a moment, he was unsure of himself, and if he had really heard the noises coming from outside their tent.

"Sarah, I just made up that story. There is no Black Pond Demon." Jeff said, trying to reassure himself more than anyone else.

Sarah managed to get herself untangled from the sleeping bag and searched around the tent for a flashlight, and something to protect herself. She found the flashlight near the front of the tent, but she couldn't find anything that she could protect herself. In her frantic flee for something she didn't notice the scratching from the back of the tent. She turned on the flashlight and pointed it towards Jeff, and then she saw it.

Two red claws were piercing the back of the tent, slowing ripping down. Sarah screamed and her mind blinded with terror she tried to open the zipper of the tent to escape, except the zipper seemed to be stuck. Sarah swore under her breath, hoping Jeff would come and help her. Sarah dared to glance back and saw Jeff looking towards the claws, the back of the tent slowing opening, frozen in fear.

"Jeff COME ON!" Sarah screamed. Jeff seemed to snap out of his funk, and he came to help Sarah open the tent. "We have to get out of her oh my god oh my god."

The tent finally opened and Jeff and Sarah spilled out the front. The noise seemed to have distracted the demon from his rending the back of the tent apart. Sarah and Jeff were too busy trying to get up to notice the demon slowly approaching them.

"JEFF THAT MONSTER IS REAL!" Sarah screamed hysterically. She was panicking, and out of her mind with fear. Jeff had already stood up, and pulled Sarah to her feet. Then in a blink of an eye, he noticed the red monstrosity making it's way towards them. He pointed towards the demon, unable to move, unable to make a sound, paralyzed in fear.

Sarah motioned the flashlight in the direction Jeff was pointing. She saw the demon in the full light, the light momentarily blinding it, freezing it in place so Sarah could get an even better look at it. It was small like a child, but was blood red from head to toe. Black horns grew out of it's head, and sharp pointed teeth, dripping with the same red substance, stuck out of it's demented grinning mouth. His head appeared too big for the rest of it's body. The demon seemed to overcome it's initial start from the bright light, and started brandishing it's sharp claws at the two paralyzed humans.

Sarah overcame her own shock, and took Jeff's hand and started running. Jeff initially resisted, but he began to run with her as well. Sarah could hear the all too quick footsteps of the monster behind them, each step accented with an oozing splat. Sarah tried to run through the trees, not caring where she was going, she just wanted to put as much space between herself and the demon. Sarah felt as if she could not possibly run fast enough to escape, time itself seemed to be slowing down, but only for herself, the demon seemed to be getting closer and closer.

A tree had fallen down up ahead, Jeff noticed it in time to jump, but Sarah ran into it, falling down on her hands and knees. Jeff looked startled, he wanted to keep running but he couldn't leave Sarah behind. He quickly tried to pull Sarah back up again, but it was too late. The demon was there.

The demon jumped onto Sarah, leaning it's face up against Sarah's. She could feel it's sticky blood covering her, and she suddenly couldn't move anymore. She had succumbed to the demon's poison, it paralyzed her. Jeff was behind her, still pulling on her hand, but she could not longer feel him. Instead all she could feel was the demon's breath upon her face. The demon whispered in a voice much too deep for such a small creature "Your soul." The demon's smile seemed to widen, showing far too many teeth than could possibly fit into such a small mouth.

Sarah's mind reeled. No, she thought, this can't be real this has to be a dream. Sarah's thoughts seemed to come out of her mouth without her realizing it. "This is a DREAM! THIS HAS TO BE A DREAM."

Sarah found herself lying on the cold black floor of the tower, Jeff still trying to pull her out of danger. The darkness of the ceiling replaced the formerly starry sky, and Sarah started to laugh hysterically.

---

Jenn had driven to the hospital that morning faster than she had ever driven anywhere previously in her life. She was glad that no cops had stopped her, the last thing she needed was a speeding ticket. She couldn't really deal with anymore stress in her life at the moment. She remembered the frantic phone call she had received that morning. Emily had been half screaming, half crying into the phone that Sarah was in a coma, that she hadn't woken up that morning. Jenn had jumped into her car as fast as she could, not even stopping to clean off the fresh blanket of snow that had covered it. Jenn normally loved the snow, but now it only seemed a hindrance to her getting to the hospital as fast as she could.

Jenn found Emily and Sarah's mom sitting a waiting room, waiting for news about Sarah. Emily leaped up as soon as she saw Jenn, and didn't say a word, just hugged Jenn tightly. Jenn was worried for Emily and her baby, surely all this stress couldn't be good for Forrest, or for his momma. Jenn hugged Sarah gently back, and went to sit back down. Jenn followed them, and waited news on Sarah, who was currently in the ER.

Emily tried to make small talk and wondered out loud to herself "Are comas contagious?"

"Eh?" Jenn said, wondering where Emily got such an idea. "No..."

"Well don't you remember?" Emily's voice got higher and her speaking pace became faster. "Sarah went to see her not boyfriend in the hospital yesterday, and he was in a coma. She even held his hand, and now's she's in a coma. I mean it can't be a coincidence right? Things like that just don't happen."

"Who?" Tina looked up from the hospital floor she had previously been staring at trying to distract herself. She was counting the tiles, wondering how long it would be until the doctors came out with some good news for all of them.

"You know, her not boyfriend. Well I said he was her boyfriend, but she was like, no he's just my friend since I was real little." Emily said quickly. Tina's mind whirled. For as long as she could remember, Sarah had no friends. Jenn and Emily were the first friends she had ever mentioned, and she didn't think her daughter would be keeping secrets from her, no matter how shy Sarah acted to the rest of the world, she was pretty open with her mother. "What was his name?" Emily continued. "Oh yeah Jeffery Durham."

Tina looked over at Emily with a shocked expression on her face, her mind winding back the years to where she had heard that name before. Terror took over Tina. This was all her fault.

---

Sarah stopped laughing as Jeff hovered over her in concern. "Sorry I was so scared I just had to laugh. Guess this tower is going to be pretty hard to complete." Sarah sighed to herself.

"I don't even want to go any further." Jeff shivered. He had not been expected something like that to happen.

"We have to Jeff. Don't you want to see your family again?"

Jeff made a sound of disgust. "I don't think they'll even care if they see me again. My dad is some big doctor and he's never even home. He never pays attention to me when he is. He just wants to talk about his latest work. And my mom, well she thinks I sleep too much and I should do something with my life. I am taking some classes right now, but it's not going so well. I think she wants me to be a doctor like my father, but I don't want to do that."

"What do you want to do?" Sarah asked, happy to be actually talking with Jeff. After all these years of being so close to him, she still felt sometimes like she hardly knew him at all. She wondered why she had never bothered asking these questions before. Well perhaps because she had always assumed he was just a dream. Now that she knew he was real, she wanted to know more and more about him.

"I want to be an author. I love telling stories. I want to just be able to tell stories for the rest of my life." Jeff smiled. "What about you Sarah?"

Sarah thought for a moment. She had never really thought that much about her own future. She didn't really have any skills, but she was a fast learner. She remembered when she was a little girl she had wanted to be a teacher, or a ballerina, or an astronaut. She laughed and told Jeff "I'm not sure yet, but something. I used to be so shy, I hated just being around other people, but now, now I don't mind it so much. I feel like I could be anything really."

"In your dreams you can be anything" Jeff laughed.

"Yeah well we have to get out of this black tower first. Then I wouldn't mind having some normal dreams. Let's keep going. I'm so scared that someone will find me see that I can't wake up. I don't want to scare my mom, or my friends." Sarah cringed at the thought of her mom finding Sarah and trying to wake her up and being unable to. Sarah didn't want to impart that kind of pain on her mother. "Hurry!"

Sarah started jogging towards to next set of stairs, towards the next door. She was afraid of what might lie behind it this time, but she knew she had to keep pressing forward. The door opened and...

The world tore past Sarah as she drove down the street as fast as possible. Jeff was sitting shot gun, with a shot gun, shooting behind them at the car that was chasing them. Everything seemed to smear as Sarah pressed the gas to the floor, trying to make the car go faster yet. She blazed through red lights, quickly swerved around cars. The sounds of gunshots blasted all around Sarah, but she tried not to think too much about it. A bullet struck their back windshield, and shards of glass flew everywhere. Sarah closed her eyes momentarily, but had to open them again quickly so she could see where they were going. Glass coated the back seat of the car, but Sarah seemed to be uninjured.

Jeff pulled the trigger of his gun, and made a lucky shot. He got the tire of the car behind them, sending the car spinning and it wrecked into a telephone pole. The car exploded behind them, Sarah noted as she raced off without the threat of being shot behind her anymore.

"How did they find us so fast?" Sarah thought out loud.

"I don't know. There has to be a double agent in our midst." Jeff said angrily. "Quick we have to get back to the base. I'm bleeding."

Sarah dared a glance over, and saw that Jeff was bleeding from his arm. She ignored the urge to help him, and made her way to their secret base.

The base was an old shack near the edge of the river. It was hard to get there, and no one would ever expect it. Sarah quickly got out of the car and helped Jeff into the shack. His breathing was getting more ragged, Sarah knew he had to be in a lot of pain. Sarah found Devon typing away at his computer inside, and Lisa was sitting at a table with her feet up smoking a cigarette. Lisa jumped up and quickly ran to their aid. "What happened? This was supposed to be an in and out job."

"They were waiting for us. They knew we'd be there." Jeff painfully said.

"Did you get the info?" Devon said, not turning around from the computer, in fact he didn't even stop his rapid typing.

"Of course, who do you take me for?" Sarah laughed.

Lisa started to tend to Jeff's wound. A shard of glass had embedded into his arm, and she got out her bag of medical gear to try and remove it. Sarah sauntered over to Devon, handing his the USB drive that had the information on it. "We didn't have much time, but it's all there."

Devon inserted the USB drive into his computer. He seemed to go over all the files in no time, while Sarah went and held Jeff's hand as Lisa finished bandaging him up. Sarah's mind began to wander. Who had betrayed them, and why? Could it have been Lisa or Devon? It couldn't have been Jeff, why would he put his life on the line? Sarah let out a frustrated groan, she trusted everyone in this room, she had no reason to doubt any of them.

Devon let out a yelp of excitement. "Yes! With this we can take them down once and for all. This proves their organization has been stealing the profits, now we just have to get this out to the press." Devon stopped mid-sentence as he heard a loud bang outside of their shack. Sarah glanced out the window and saw dozens of cars pulling up towards their shack.

"Shit!" She muttered. "How could they have found us here so fast?"

"Sarah this is not your fault." Jeff said from his chair. Sarah's heart beat quickened.

"I know that. It's my mother's organization. She's been stealing from all those people, she's even killed countless others. I couldn't let it go on. But now I've put you all in danger." Sarah sighed, backing away from the window. Her mind raced at who could've betrayed them all. She had no answers, and no time. She thought quickly. "If I give myself up maybe they'll let you all go."

"NO! Not after everything we've worked for." Jeff said with passion. "You can't Sarah, they'll kill you."

"What other options to we have left? We can't take them all on, we are severely outnumbered. I'd rather die then see you all die." Sarah said, her heart heavy.

"Sarah..." Lisa said, looking down. "You can't..." Tears began to fall from Lisa's face, but she knew it was too late. Once Sarah made up her mind, you couldn't force her to do anything else.

"I'm going." Sarah went towards to door, but Jeff grabbed her arm, and pulled her in for a kiss.

"Sarah, I love you, you can't." Jeff's eyes were welling up with tears. He kissed her with a burning fire of desire. Sarah returned the kiss.

"I love you too Jeff, that's why I have to do this."

Sarah headed for the door. Devon had stopped typing, and watched Sarah's progress across the room. He didn't know what to say, so he let her go without saying anything at all. Jeff tried to stop Sarah, tried to run after her, but Lisa held onto his good arm, stopping him. Jeff was in too much pain to resist.

Sarah opened the door to the shack, and put both her hands in the air. She saw that men were lined up behind the cars, all pointing guns at her. Sarah yelled out "I give up! Please don't shoot. Please let my friends go."

A man standing towards the front, wearing an outfit of black that seemed to consume his whole body, even his face, waved his arm down, and the men all lowered their guns. Sarah made her way towards them slowly and steadily, not faltering although her heart felt heavy. She got closer to the man in the front. His face was masked, yet she could see his eyes. They seemed familiar, yet Sarah couldn't place from where. The man grasped Sarah and forced her into a kneel, and he held her two arms with one of his own. She felt a cold metal against her head.

"We don't forgive those who betray the Pinkerton Empire." The man said harshly. "Do you want to know who betrayed you to us? Do you want your last moments to be for the hatred of your so called comrades?"

"Shut up." Sarah said aggressively. "Just pull the damn trigger." Sarah hoped in her heart for a last minute rescue that she knew would never come. She looked towards her base, towards the friends she was doing this for.

"Heh, as you wish, PRINCESS." The man pulled the trigger, and Sarah felt the bullet against her head, the loud blasting noise, but felt no pain. She fell to the side as she saw Jeff running towards her almost in slow motion.

The man in black said something else, and Sarah seemed to catch the words, as if they were floating around her. "The one who betrayed you was...."

Everything went black.

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Fleeting Glimpse, part 18

The trees were bare, but the sky was a brilliant blue. There was a forest surrounding them the branches of the trees laden with snow, and a huge frozen pond in the middle. Sarah sat on a bench by the edge of the pond, tying a pair of ice skates to her feet.

"Are you ready?" Jeff asked her, some of his hair poking out from beneath a knit cap. He was wearing a heavy winter coat, but it didn't feel all that cold to Sarah.

"I've never gone ice skating before, I'm nervous."

"You don't have to be nervous." Jeff's hand appeared before Sarah's face, and she took it. Jeff helped her to her feet. Sarah almost fell down again, the ice beneath her was slicker than she had expected. Jeff kept a tight grip on her arm, not allowing her to fall back down again. "I got ya. Here it's like this." Jeff demonstrated how to move his feet to Sarah. Sarah began to grasp the concept, more of a sliding motion, less like walking.

Before she knew it, she was skating along side Jeff as if she had been doing it for all her life. Still, becoming to zealous in her own abilities and trying to jump, Sarah fell down on her bottom. She felt the ice below her as she pushed herself back up, and got a suddenly feeling of wrongness in it all. The ice didn't feel cold or wet, it just felt flat.

"Are you alright?" Jeff said, kneeling slightly before Sarah. He looked with concern into her eyes, but Sarah just blushed and looked away.

"I'm fine."

Everything felt so confusing, as Sarah got back up to her feet. The pond, the trees, everything felt out of place. Where was she? How had she gotten here? She wanted to ask Jeff about it, but she felt so nervous she could hardly form words.

"Hey Sarah, did I ever tell you the story about this pond?" Jeff said skating next to Sarah again, slowing down and taking her hand.

"N..no" Sarah slightly stuttered.

"Well once upon a time, there was a beautiful young princess. She was rather rebellious, so sometimes she would run away from the castle. One day when she had run away, she came across a beautiful clearing in the woods. She found a young man playing a flute there. She was enchanted by him, and the two of them fell in love. The princess had planned on running away with the young man, for she knew her father would never allow them to marry. On the day they had planned to elope together, her father found out about her plans, and had the young man killed. The young princess was so distraught, she ran away to the field one last time. She cried a million tears they say, and those tears formed this pond." Jeff finished his story. "Kinda sad, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Sarah said quietly. She thought to herself that she was pretty sure that there had never been princesses in New England. That thought shocked her. She was in New England, or at least she was supposed to be. This looked like the setting out of a story book. "Where are we Jeff?"

"Where we are supposed to be, Princess Sarah." Sarah looked around her, and found that she was no longer wearing winter clothes, but was wearing a Renaissance era dress. It was long, and flowed around her as easily as water flows down stream. Sarah went from looking at her dress to where Jeff was sitting on a rock, wearing what looked like peasant's clothing and playing a flute. "Does the fair lady wish for me to play her a song?"

The pond was gone and replaced with a field in the middle of the trees. Sarah wanted to protest. This was all wrong. How could this be happening. Instead she sat down at the base of the rock, and nodded at Jeff to play her a song.

He began his song. It was a simple song, like the wind blowing through the trees, but a bit sad. The notes touched Sarah's heart, and made her tremble a bit. She started to sing out in tune with the flute, although she didn't know where the lyrics came from.

"I once saw a place much farther from here
A place of good, yet a place of fear
My heart beats kindly for all of us near
When I dream of Paradise.

I left that place far behind
Although it never left my mind
It wasn't a place you are likely to find,
When I dream of Paradise.

Someday I wish that we could return
Although my heart has yet to learn,
Of a place called Paradise."

Jeff put his flute down and looked kindly down at Sarah. "That was a beautiful song."

Sarah beamed at him. "Thank you." She blushed slightly at his compliment.

Jeff jumped off from the rock and sat down beside Sarah. He took her hand into his own. "I know you will likely refuse, but may I have a kiss from the princess?"

Sarah felt her blush doubling over, and quickly looked away from Jeff towards the trees. The trees sparked something in her memory. What was it? The forest. The trees in the forest.

"Forrest!"Sarah jumped to her feet. "Emily's baby Forrest!" Sarah smiled at the memory. "We aren't really here, this is a dream. We are in that dark tower still!"

Sarah looked around her, but all the scenery had gone. It was replaced by walls of ebony. There was very little light inside the tower, but towards the back of the room, Sarah could make out a staircase cut into the side of the tower. "Oh let's go! We have to reach the top of the tower, don't we?"

"Who is Emily?" Jeff stood up next to Sarah slowly.

"Oh she's...well. She's my friend. She's living with me right now, and she's going to have a baby in February. She named him Forrest. I guess seeing the trees reminded me of him. I'm glad, we might've been trapped there forever if I hadn't remembered. " Sarah sighed out a breath of relief. She didn't know that the tower was going to be like this. She wondered what waited her on higher floors. Still she knew that standing still wouldn't help. She didn't know how much time was passing in the real world, and she wanted to get out of here before they found out anything was wrong, and that she couldn't wake up anymore.

Jeff didn't move though. "I've never really had friends, it must be nice. I've always felt invisible to this world. I've always liked dreams so much more. At least in my dreams I have you Sarah."

"Well one we destroy the thing in this tower we can be friends in the real world. And you can met Jenn and Emily. We can all be friends together! Come on!" Sarah started towards the staircase. Jeff stood silently for awhile, but then began to follow Sarah up the stairs.

The stairs seemed to be made of the same black rock the tower was made of, some unearthly rock that glowed black where they touched it. Slowly but surely the two made it up the stairs to a small landing. There was another door there, much smaller than the one that they had entered the tower from. Sarah nervously opened the door, Jeff standing directly behind her, with a flash of darkness taking them over.

---

The sound of sirens echoed through the snowy morning air. Emily sat beside Tina, trying to comfort the woman who had been like a mother to her the past few days. The ambulance crew hovered over Sarah's body, putting her on oxygen. One of the men tried to ask Tina what had happened but she was too upset to answer. Emily told him about how that morning she had tried to wake up her friend, but she hadn't responded. It all seemed so unreal to Emily. Forrest kicked about in her stomach in a maddening way. Emily patted her stomach, trying to calm Forrest down. She looked over at her friend, and a feeling of fear passed through her. She wasnted Sarah to be okay again. She wanted Sarah to wake up. She was so scared. Emily tried not to think about the worst outcomes but she couldn't help it. What if Sarah stayed sleeping so long she wasn't there when Forrest was born? What if Sarah never woke up again? What if she...Emily couldn't finish he own thought, and began to sob with Tina.

---

Sarah was laying on her back. The stars shone brilliantly in the sky. The ground felt comfortable to her as she lay there, looking at the constellations. She didn't really know that much about stars, but she saw the big dipper floating up above here. Instead of trying to figure out what the constellations were, Sarah began to make them up for her own. There was the famous kitty constellation, she thought, tracing with her finger stars in the shape of a cat head. There is the heart one, and a star constellation, she giggled to herself, making a shape of a star with the stars. She was so amused with herself, she hardly heard the voice calling out her own name.

"Sarah." Then again, this time louder and a bit more forceful "Sarah!"

Sarah sat up, dusting the dirt off her back. "Coming Jeff!"

Sarah made her way through the trees to where she saw the light of their camp fire. Sarah could almost feel a memory of being nervous about going camping with Jeff alone, but now that she was here she wasn't sure what she was so nervous about. They were having a great time. Then she looked over at the tent, and started blushing again. They were going to be sleeping so closely with each other. Sarah had never spent the night so close to someone of the opposite sex before. Even though it was Jeff, Sarah's heart started pounding faster and faster in her chest.

"Oh there you are Sarah. I was just roasting some hot dogs over the fire, I thought you might be hungry too." Jeff handed Sarah one of the sticks he was using to roast the hot dogs with. Sarah sat on the opposite side of the fire. She was still too nervous to sit any closer than that.

Sarah roasted her hot dog, and quickly ate it with mustard on top. It was pretty much tasteless, Sarah wondered if her nervousness was affected her other senses. She tried to shake herself out of it, and enjoy this camping trip with Jeff. She smiled at him, and asked about S'mores.

"What kind of a camping trip would this be without S'mores?" Jeff smiled as he took some supplies out of his backpack. "Let's get roasting!" He took a marshmalllow out of the bag then throw the bag towards Sarah. She caught it, and put her own marshmallow on her stick. She held it over the fire, watching it slowly begin to brown on the outside. When she deemed it was ready, she headed closer to Jeff to get the graham crackers and chocolate.

"Come on sit down over here." Jeff patted the log next to him. Sarah trembled a bit as she sat down and took the graham crackers and chocolate from Jeff and began constructing her S'more. "You know what else a camping trip isn't complete without?

"What?" Sarah shrugged.

"A ghost story." Jeff made a spooky "Oooh" sound.

Sarah wasn't one for ghost stories but she was alright with Jeff telling one. He was so goofy most of the time she didn't know how seriously she could take him. Of course once Jeff got into telling stories he was pretty good at it. "Alright, you got one to tell?"

Jeff nodded as he started to eat his own S'more. He took bites of it in between the sentences in his story. "It was a dark night, much like this one, with the wind blowing through the trees. There was a couple, much like us OW!" Sarah had hit him on the arm. She didn't really think of them as a couple yet. "What? Well in any case, they were two people on a camping trip who may or may not have been dating. Happy? In any case, this was not an ordinary night. This was the night that it was said that the demon of Black Pond emerges. He is a dreadful sight. Those who have seen him say he doesn't have any skin, he is just a pulsing red color, and he leaves a trail of red behind him wherever he goes. Some say it's sticky like slime, others say it is his own blood. If you touch it, the red slime or blood will paralyze you. Whatever it is, it's not as deadly as the demon himself. He travels through the woods, looking for victims. He is said to eat the souls of anyone he comes across, unless they are the lucky few to escape. After he eats your soul, he drags your body back down into Black Pond, to do terrible things to it."

"What things?"

"I don't know, everyone who was dragged down there was already dead. I can't ask the dead questions. Anyway, so the couple who was camping in the woods had been sitting quietly by their own fire, when suddenly they heard this disgusting dripping sound. Drip, drip, drip. The noise went. It got closer and closer to them. Drip, drip, drip. The girl wanted to go investigate, but drip, drip..."

"AHHHHH!" Sarah screamed as something poked her on the back. Sarah quickly turned around and found that it was Jeff and not some terrible demon behind her. She hit him on the arm again. "That wasn't funny Jeff!"

Jeff stuck out his tongue. Sarah started to giggle. Jeff joined her. They both laughed for some time when Jeff suddenly said, "Did you hear that?"

"Don't joke around Jeff, you aren't going to scare me again." Sarah pouted.

"No...well in any case don't you think we should head to bed now? It is getting kind of late." Jeff said finishing off the last of his S'more. It had taken him a lot longer to eat his than Sarah, since he had been talking the whole time. "And don't worry I'm protect you from any demons we may come across." Jeff smiled.

Jeff headed into the tent, and Sarah nervously followed after. They each had their own sleeping bags in the tent, a little bit apart from each other. Sarah snuggled down into her own sleeping bag. She turned away from Jeff and cuddled down and tried to sleep. "Night Sarah." Jeff said.

"Night Jeff." Sarah said feeling relieved that Jeff hadn't tried to make a move on her or anything. She was scared sometimes that he would want to do more with her, and she was even more scared that he would leave her if she didn't do those kinds of things with him. She knew she was being silly. Jeff knew how shy she was, and he'd wait until she was ready.

Sarah tried to fall asleep, but the nervous energy in her body wouldn't leave. She turned over to look at Jeff. He was facing her with his eyes open as well. "Can't sleep?" he whispered gently.

"Yeah..." Sarah admitted.

"Sorry for telling you that scary story."

"It's ok. That's not why I can't sleep. I just feel nervous. I've never spent the whole night with you before." Sarah felt like her whole body was shaking a bit.

Jeff unzipped the front of his sleeping bag and whispered, "Hey come over here."

Sarah was stunned at Jeff asking her to do such a thing, yet she felt compelled to go closer to him. She went into his sleeping bag, into his waiting arms. She rested her head against his should as he held her. "It's ok Sarah. We can just cuddle. I like being close to you, is all." Jeff's voice whispered directly into her ear, sending chills down her spine.

They held each other for some time, Sarah feeling very comfortable in Jeff's arms, feeling like she had no reasons to be scared. She was just about to drift off into sleep when she heard a noise outside the tent, a sickening, eerie, dripping noise.

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