Fever dream or Nightmare?

DAD WAS HOME WHEN WE GOT BACK, he'd made himself a sandwich, opened himself a beer, and propped himself on the couch in the living room. The TV flashed bright colors during a commercial break, and he excitedly mentioned a basketball game he'd been dying to watch for a little while.

As much as I wanted to hear him talk about the game, I had to break the talk down. I didn't know much about sports and didn't want to spoil my father's fun by asking many questions about what was happening.

I brought Anais to my room; she flopped on my bed, face first, and cuddled into my comforter. Today drained her, and it kind of drained me too, though I don't know why. By the time I stripped myself of my day clothes and dressed in some comfortable pajama bottoms, keeping my top on from today. Grabbing an extra pair of bottoms, I nudged my friend. She moaned tiredly, barely sparing me a glance.

"Anais put these on," I instructed her, tossing the pair of pants onto her lain form. "You shouldn't sleep with jeans on."

It was still day, but now that we were in a comfortable place, we could dress comfortably.

While she sat up to replace her pants with the pajama bottoms, I turned and took off my bra. Sleeping in a bra was never comfortable. Once free of the restricting piece of clothing, I tossed the bra into the hamper and finally allowed myself to collapse onto my bed, the righthand side.

"Ah, my soulmate, I've missed you." I mumbled into my pillow, cuddling it to my chest.

"You know who else would love to hear you say that to them?" Anais returned to her side of the bed.

I almost feared what she'd say if I acknowledged her.

"Zain." I peeked over my pillow to glare at her and kicked at her weakly.

"Shut up."

She laughed and settled onto her left side, facing me. "You think Jacob's story is true?"

"Why would it be? Vampires and werewolves don't exist."

"Legends can be."

I rolled my eyes, stuffing my face into the pillow in my arms. "Not all legends are true, Ana."

"Remember the bruise on your back?" She reminded me.

"It has nothing to do with that story," I said, adjusting myself into a more appealing position. "It's just a ruse."

"What about Edward's sudden appearance during the accident? You said it yourself that you and Bella were the ones by the truck."

I stayed silent. She did have a point, but my mind didn't want to believe anything Jacob said, that the stories he told us in confidence were nothing but a scary story to scare the children of the tribe into being good. Like the boogeyman. The rational side of my brain searched for any logical explanation to overturn the non-logical side. But none of this made any logical sense. Not just with Edward, but with Zain and Alice. I involuntarily recalled the days when Zain had been absent for a whole week. Alice avoided me; her escapes seemed too quick and almost like she foresaw me coming.

Sometimes, their mannerisms were too...I wouldn't say strange, per se, but it was definitely close to it. The way they seemed to disappear on bright days, and the way they didn't eat at lunch. Jasper's stoic expressions and odd behavior of reattainment. I wasn't one to pry much, but this was too strange to let go. I now understood Bella's interest in Jacob's tribe stories. She was still shaken by Edward's save, how he managed to make it from all the way on the other side of the parking lot to us so quickly. Zain's behavior rattled me, too. His anger toward Edward, his eyes going from gold to straight-up black within seconds.

Everything was confusing and very off-putting. I was told not to worry about it, but I couldn't help it.

All this time, I've been distracting myself from the reality of it. I shouldn't have been. No wonder Bella's been acting strange. She'd been stuck on that day of the accident. Where she'd been fully conscious, she'd witnessed everything I didn't.

I looked at Anais, but she'd snoozed off already.

How silly of me, to overthink so much about a legend that may or may not be true.

After a few minutes, I allow myself to be swallowed in by the heaviness of the silence around me, sinking into my pillow and blankets, and cocooning myself like a caterpillar. Anais nestled against me subconsciously as I rolled over onto my left side.

And finally, sleep takes me.

"We've gotta go." A jerk throttled my body forward, a pressure on my healing wrist, but there was no pain.

I'm suddenly awake and aware of my surroundings, which was not my bedroom. The green light of the forest left me almost blind, and the tall grass of the wild foliage tickled my shins through my sleepwear while we ran through it.

"Anais?" My voice felt small as I called for my panicking friend. "What's going on? Where are we going?"

She doesn't answer me, instead, she lets my arm go and makes a break for the tree line, urging me to follow after her. She disappeared from my sight.

"Anais!" I called out, rushing for the pines she vanished behind. "Wait!"

The grass clawed at my pant legs, trying to keep me from exceeding any further. I cursed out incoherently, trying to kick the grass away from me, futilely. It was stuck to the fabric material and wouldn't unstick, despite my wriggling.

"Stupid grass, let go!"

"Would you like some help?" From the tree line Anais disappeared from, Zain stepped out. He was unaffected by the clawing grass and the weirdness of everything. He seemed to glow under the dim light breaking through the canopy of the tall pine trees. More than a glow, his already beautiful complexion seemed to glisten.

"Zain?" I was confused. Where did he come from?

"Come." He beckoned softly, holding his palm out for me.

"I can't."

His face contorted. "Why not?"

"I'm stuck," I told him, still struggling against the tugging grass. "Help me."

"Faye!" Anais' voice called from behind him.

"Anais?" I looked past him. "Anais!" Was she hurt? I needed to get out of this sticky grass fast.

Zain tilted his head, glancing over his shoulder. What was he doing, exactly?

"Hold on, Ana, I'm coming!" I gripped my waistband and forced myself forward. It was hard like I was walking through thick mud or sludge. Or trying to run through waist-deep water.

"No," Zain turned to me again. "Come."

I knitted my brows together, flickering my sights from him to the tree line behind him. "But my friend -!"

I wasn't able to finish my sentence, interrupted by this growl. It was a deep growl, dangerous and angry. And behind me. It caught me off guard. I was in a forest, and I knew in the back of my head, I was aware this was a dream, but I felt a certain twinge of a fear tear through me like touching an electrified fence. I slowly twisted around to see what kind of monster my mind would create before eating me alive as punishment for knowing this was a dream.

"Holy!" My breath caught in my throat; my eyes widened to a wideness they hadn't been before.

My eyes were deceiving me. I knew they were. I couldn't have been standing before a colossal being such as this in real life.

A great, greyish-white wolf, ears flicked back against its head, its teeth poking from its peeling mouth. It growled though it was louder than the growl before. It seemed more like a roar than a growl now.

"It'll be okay, Faye." Anais appeared next to the wolf. She didn't seem afraid of the beast as she patted its shoulder affectionately. Her smile dropped into something I rarely saw her use, and she glowered past me, at Zain. "Everything will be okay now."

"What?" I questioned and the greyish-wolf's fur suddenly bristled, its growl becoming near deafening. Without a second thought, the wolf bolted for Zain.

I gave myself whiplash, terrified for Zain. The wolf jumped into the air, ready to pounce on the golden-skinned boy, teeth ready to tear him in half.

"No!"

Thrashing from my dream, I found myself jolting up in bed. I gulped dryly, staring into the darkness of my room. My heart pounded inside my chest, painfully and loudly. I glanced to my right; Anais was still sleeping. Snuggled under the covers and unknowing. My palm met the scar on my forehead, softly kneading it.

What the heck was that?

Why was dreaming about Zain? And that wolf. It was too surreal. Dreams weren't supposed to feel so real, so alive. A shallow breath left me as I tried to calm my racing heart.

No. It was just a dream. Nothing more, nothing less.

I breathe out again and lower myself back onto my bed to get more sleep.

When I stirred, light penetrated through the darkness of my room. It wasn't as bright at yesterday's, but it was still bright enough. Anais wasn't in bed, and I smelled food in the air. A savory scent of crispy bacon and buttery pancakes or eggs.

Did I really sleep all day yesterday?

That's weird.

I got out of bed and trudged for the bathroom. After, I made my way downstairs. Anais was at the kitchen table, and Dad in front of the stove. Oh. That explained it.

"Morning, Faye." Dad greeted me.

"Morning," I covered my mouth with my palm as a yawn erupted from me and I beelined for the table, sitting across from Anais. "How're you feeling?"

"Better," she nodded. "A long rest is what I needed."

"I bet." She certainly sounded better. Her voice was clearer, with no congestion rasping out, or not at least horribly. Though she still looked clammy and tired, I figured she probably was on the verge of getting over her cold.

"Here you are." Two plates are set on the table, with steaming fresh pieces of bacon and beautiful fluffy eggs, sprinkled with pepper.

"Yum," Anais hummed, sniffing loudly. "Thanks, Charlie."

"You're welcome, kid," Dad chuckled at my friend's enthusiasm and went back to the stove, making his portion of breakfast. "Eat up while it's hot."

"Where's Bella?" I asked, grabbing the silverware set before me.

"She went for a little drive, to clear her head or something." Anais answered, munching on her bacon.

"Oh." I cut some of the egg apart and scoop it up with my fork. I wondered if Bella had the same weird dream I did or the same thoughts I had. "What are you doing today, Dad? Are you going to be working?"

"I'm not today," Dad turned the stove off, piling his own plate with eggs and bacon. "The Bogachiel River is calling my name. Andy and I will be staking out some salmon if we can."

"My dad?" Anais looked up, surprised. "My dad is going fishing?"

Dad turned around and made his way to the table, a fork in his hand. "Why not? We used to fish a lot when we were younger."

"I didn't think he liked fishing; he's always working."

"Your mother was allergic to the algae in the rivers, so he stopped fishing for a little bit," he sat down at the end of the table. "I remember she tried to convince him to not worry about it, but he wanted to keep her healthy."

"Yeah," Anais mumbled, dropping her focus to her plate. "Sounds like him."

"Andy hasn't fished in years," Dad continued, cutting up his egg and munching his bacon. "And because you'll be here today, I managed to convince him to come along."

"He needs a distraction." My friend hummed.

After a moment it fell silent. The clinking of our forks on the plates was the only sound.

"I heard there's going to be a dance at school," Dad brought up. "You ladies thinking about going?"

"We are."

"Really?" He seemed thrown for a minute. "Well, at least you're getting out."

"Yeah, we were going to go dress shopping this weekend, but we kind of postponed it because of my cold." Anais began to cut her eggs.

"Are you going with anyone, or will it be just you two?" Dad glanced between us.

"Well," I stabbed more of my egg. "I did invite Zain to come with us. We'll see how that goes."

"Zain? Zain Cullen?" Dad looked at me now.

"Yeah," I nodded. "He's a friend. He kinda helped me after the accident, along with Ana. So, I asked him."

"Oh, that's nice."

"Yep."

"When are you getting your dresses?" Dad asked, striking the match once more.

"Although I don't really like Jessica," Anais began and gestured with her fork. "We made plans to go into Port Angeles with her and Angela Wednesday after school."

"Bella going with you?"

"I don't know. You'd have to ask her whenever she gets back," I paused my fork mid-scoop. "Also, are you okay with me dyeing Anais' hair in the bathroom?"

Dad looked between me and my friend. "Dyeing?"

"Well, technically, I'll be bleaching her hair."

"Bleaching?" He repeated slowly, his brows pressed together.

"Yes," it was pretty amusing to see him try and comprehend hair dye. "I'll clean up afterward."

"You know how to dye hair?"

"It's easy enough," I shrugged. "The internet is a big help too."

He looked like he went into the thought and then he licked his bottom lip. My stomach gnawed at the anticipation. I could feel Anais' anxiety from across the table. He most likely wouldn't care as long as we cleaned up after ourselves.

"I don't see why not," he finally said, which allowed us to breathe out the anxieties inside. "Just clean up after yourselves."

"Thanks, Charlie!" Anais wiggled in her seat happily and ate more of her breakfast.

"And do me another favor, be safe in Port Angeles. There's been some type of gang going around, assaulting young women and girls. Take your maces and tasers."

"A gang?" I grew a bit nervous. "Makes me not want to go."

"Don't back out now, Faye," Anais looked at me pleadingly. "We won't be wandering around. We'll stay in crowds and in the stores."

"You don't realize it, Dad," I coughed into my fist. "But when you say things that involve crime, and it's near and around, I know, but sometimes, you scare me."

"Hell, Faye," his face drops apologetically. "I don't mean to, not intentionally. I just want you and Anais to be safe. Like I told you and your sister, watch after each other."

"We will."

It was quiet again. It was comfortable as we finished our food.

The rest of the day was uneventful besides helping Anais finish her assignments and pick an essay topic for English. Most of her homework managed to get done, as well as mine. We listened to her enormous playlist on her iPod. By noon, Bella had come home, not that she conversed with us much, and then just a little bit before five, Dad rolled in with a big catch. A hefty salmon with quite a thick body. He was very proud of himself. I think we have some fish recipes buried in the yellow cabinets. Somewhere, at least.

As the weekend slowly transitioned into Monday, then Tuesday, and then finally Wednesday, the sun proudly shone on the third day of the week.

That morning, we ate breakfast and dad wished us a good day at school. It was a bit muggy, if not a little damp, but nonetheless nice. It was a good excuse to wear my short-sleeved lavender Blink-182 tee, and a pair of shorts that still felt as new as the day I bought them.

By some miracle and some curse, we were the first ones in the parking lot of the school. The sun shone down, creating a warm biome to relax under. I followed Bella's lead as she trudged to one of the damp picnic benches awaiting on the lawn of the campus.

The grass blades flicked dew drops onto my exposed calves as I sauntered toward the benches. Going to my locker crossed my mind, but knowing Anais wasn't here yet, and neither was Zain. It was sunny out, so the Cullens weren't going to be seen at all today.

I bit my lip patting the picnic bench, finding it damp, and putting my jacket on the seat. My eyes met Bella's. She'd done the same thing; we moved in sync. It was almost scary for us to move without each other realizing it.

I cleared my throat and sat, pulling out a book Anais had lent me.

Carrie by Stephen King was one of her all-time favorites. She practically begged me to read the immensely thick book and another that I couldn't remember the name of. The chapters were filled with intense plots that my brain couldn't and wouldn't comprehend.

"Faye!" Looking up, Bella and I peer in the direction of the yell. Unsurprisingly, it was my friend practically bouncing toward us through the now-populated parking lot. She adorned a checkered button-up shirt, a black tank top underneath it, and jean shorts, complete with her red converse sneakers.

"Morning," I greeted, bookmarking my place and closing my book. "When'd you get here?"

She grinned and sat next to me. "Just now, duh. So, do you want the good news or the bad news?"

I perked up an eyebrow. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything, just pick one!"

"Uh, okay, the bad news?"

She plopped her heavy backpack onto the table. "So, I may or may not have forgotten to charge my taser."

"Taser?" Bella glanced between the both of us with a pinched expression. "Why do you need tasers?"

"We're not saying Port Angeles is dangerous," Anais began. "But there are a few bad souls that wander in the night. It's a paranoia thing for me. I don't know if Charlie talked to you about it, but there are gangbangers assaulting girls. We're just being prepared; in case anything does happen. Not that I'm saying anything will happen, it's just if it does. You never know when something bad will happen."

"Oh."

Anais twisted toward me again. "And because my taser is out of commission, I have brought us maces. Extra peppery."

I snorted and took the spray from her palm. "I have my own, you know."

"Well, keep it as an extra."

"Or I'll just give it to my sister," I rolled my eyes at her and reached over the table. "Take it. That way, if we get separated, my mind will be at some ease."

"Um, thank you?" She took the mace, uncertain about it.

"And I'm sure our dad will appreciate it." I added in, more or less to guilt trip her into keeping it on her person. It was for good reason, so I didn't feel so bad about it.

"Speaking of," my friend rummaged through her bag. "My dad did a thing and gave me his credit card."

I gave myself whiplash. "He did what?!"

"Shocking, am I right?" She nodded toward me with a small grin. "Just nothing over a thousand."

"Am I hearing right? He gave you access to his bank account?"

"You aren't going deaf, my lovely," she laughed. "He's excited for me to go to the dance, so he wants me to get a dress I like, despite the cost of it. I said he was going to spoil me, and that he shouldn't 'cause it'll go to my head, and then he was all like, bullshit, do what makes you feel good. And I was like, okay, thanks, daddy."

"Does that mean you're getting the bleach and dye with it too?"

She shook her head; her fading pink hair bobbled in a messy bun. "Nah, I've already got those bought and ready to go for you."

"Yay me!"

"You better be ready; my beauty is counting on you."

"Sure, sure." I flicked my wrist at no one in particular.

"So, I was thinking about the color dress, to you know go with my hair and all," Anais rambled as she set her bag on the bench seat. "I was thinking maybe a pink color."

"Pink?" I eyed her strangely, trying to imagine her in the color.

"Don't be weird on me now, I said what I said."

"I didn't say anything."

"But you were thinking it."

I raised my hands in surrender. "What kind of pink are you wanting?"

She slumped. "I'm not sure, but not a dusty rose, that color is so vile. Maybe a magenta plain-out out hot pink? I know I'm going to look for something to go on my wrists. Something tulle, you know?"

"You have just about everything figured out, huh?"

"Obviously," she grinned again. "I want to feel good in a dress. I'm feeling confident, and I want to feel beautiful."

"Of course." I agreed with her. Anais was never one to like dresses, and neither was I, truth be told, but if she wanted to feel beautiful and confident, then who am I to stop her?

"You're going to shop with Jess and Angela, right?" Bella asked from across the table.

"Yeah," we nodded. "Though I think we'll just take my car."

"Oh." Bella murmured and then was distracted by the sudden appearance of Mike. And that was when we decided to ditch to go to our lockers.

It was safe to say, school was uneventful, but I did miss seeing Zain in class. After the strenuously boring school day, I rode back with Bella, Anais followed behind us with Jessica, who drove her white Mercury. We ditched our school stuff, grabbed whatever we needed and then skedaddled.

Port Angeles awaited us to ransack through it.