“Hey, honey, how was your day?” Dakota asked as he and Annabelle came through the door.
“It was good.” Anastasia was positively beaming. The nightmare was beginning to fade in some spots, and memories of her life with Dakota and their child were coming through again. She was excited to get back to her writing and move forward with her life.
“That’s wonderful to hear!” He kissed her loudly on the mouth and she knelt to give Annabelle a hug.
“I love you, Mommy! I missed you while I was at school.”
“I missed you too, baby! Guess what?” she asked her, grinning.
“What?” Annabelle’s eyes widened.
“I made cookies.” Elizabeth had taught her on one of the days she had sneaked over to Dakota’s house.
“Yeah!” Annabelle giggled when Anastasia tickled her.
“Go get cleaned up for dinner and set your homework out,” Dakota told Annabelle. As she turned to leave, Anastasia sneaked her a cookie.
Dakota pulled Anastasia in for a hug. “I missed you, my love.”
“I didn’t cook dinner.” Guilt set in that she hadn’t made food for them. She had just gotten so wrapped up in getting the house cleaned and making the cookies that she hadn’t remembered.
“No worries, Ana. You’re not that great of a cook anyways.” He winked and set his backpack down. “I’m going to go get out of my scrubs and then we will head out.”
“Where are we going?”
“Dinner. We are meeting Max and his new girlfriend at that Italian place up the street today.”
“Max?” she asked cautiously. She couldn’t begin to explain the sense of dread that came over her at the mention of that name.
“We’ve only been friends with him since high school, Ana. Just because you based a character on him—a bad one, I might add—doesn’t make him a bad person.” The sternness in his voice caught her off guard. She couldn’t recall ever hearing his voice take that tone.
“Oh, okay,” she responded, and then turned to finish folding the laundry she had washed.
“Be ready to leave in thirty.” He kissed her lightly and then turned and headed for the stairs.
Anastasia finished folding the laundry and started up the stairs with her basket. As she came to the top of the stairs she dropped the basked and bit back a scream. A bleeding Gregory stood facing her, his eyes wide and filled with tears. He was reaching for her, and when she took a step back he opened his mouth to cry out but no sound followed.
She took a step closer to the mirror, and when she touched the cool glass she could have sworn she felt his touch on the other side. Anastasia closed her eyes and shook her head. “It’s not real,” she whispered to herself. “It’s only in the story.” When she slowly opened her eyes again, it was only her reflection staring back at her.
“Did you do any writing today?” Dakota asked her as they drove through Seattle.
“No, I just spent my time picking up and relaxing.”
“Good, I’m glad you didn’t write any today.”
“Why?”
“It’s just been getting to you so much lately. Honey, you woke up this morning and didn’t remember our daughter,” he whispered quietly so only she could hear. “Maybe it’s time you stop.”
“Stop? It’s all I’ve ever wanted to be. Why would I stop now that I finally have it?”
“I’m just worried about you, is all.” He reached over and grabbed her hand. “Just think about it, okay?”
She nodded and looked out the window. She couldn’t give up her writing. Her entire life all she had ever wanted to do was write stories that would make people happy. Stories that had the power to pull the reader out of whatever was going on in their lives at that moment and submerge them into adventures that they would never be able to take on their own.
Nightmare or not, part of her believed that she had spent most of her life fighting beasts and not writing, so why would she let go of what she had now? Still, his words rang with truth. Maybe she should change up her story. Erase what she had and start over again.
“Where have my parents been?” she asked him, curious as to why she didn’t remember when the last time was she had seen them.
“They are in Africa on a safari this month, remember?”
“Oh yeah,” she lied. “Must have slipped my mind.”
They pulled into the parking lot of a small Italian restaurant, and when she saw who was standing waiting for them in the parking lot, her heart began to thud.
“Dakota, we have to go.” She started to panic. Maximus and Ophelia stood hand in hand in front of their headlights waving and smiling as if they were all best friends, as if they hadn’t killed her father or been responsible for the death of hundreds of innocent villagers.
Her hand reached down where her sword would normally sit, and she suddenly felt very empty without it. She reached down in her subconscious and tried to summon her magic, but nothing was coming.
“Ana!” Dakota yelled, pulling her out of her trance.
“What?” she asked, hoping he didn’t notice how badly she was panicking inside.
“Do we need to leave?” he asked worriedly. “You look freaked out.”
“Just the remnants of my nightmare. Honestly, Dakota, I’m fine.” She smiled at him and turned to look at Annabelle. “Hungry, honey?”
“Yes.” Annabelle smiled and Anastasia’s fear began to fade, but in the back of her mind she felt as if a voice was screaming for her attention.
Sitting at dinner, she did her best to focus on the conversation. Max and Ophelia were nothing but friendly to her and her family, but she continued having visions popping into her head. She saw herself sparring with Maximus, his cold eyes staring right through her when she would knock him to the ground.
“How is the book coming along?” Max asked her, pulling her from her thoughts.
“It’s moving forward.” She smiled lightly, trying to avoid looking at him for long.
“You’re writing a book? How exciting!” Ophelia exclaimed, clapping her hands together.
“She sure is. Made me a bad guy because I’m so devious.”
Maximus laughed and Ophelia slapped him lightly on the arm. “Devious, yeah, okay. If being devious means using all the hot water so I only have cold left, then yes, you are as devious as they come.”
They continued laughing, and Anastasia did her best to push her thoughts out of her mind, but they continued surfacing. She saw Maximus standing over an unconscious boy—Brady, she remembered—and she felt the anger in her chest as if it were happening right in front of her eyes. She looked to Dakota for some kind of reassurance that she wasn’t going insane, but he looked as happy as she had ever seen him, and Annabelle wasn’t the least bit uncomfortable around them.
She looked up at Ophelia and saw her cleaning her dirty fingernails with a blood-covered knife as Gregory lay bleeding on the ground. It all played out in her head. They fought until Anastasia threw a ball of light into Ophelia’s chest and she saw the life fade from her eyes.
Anastasia stood up so quickly that her chair fell back.
“Ana?” Dakota asked, and Anastasia flushed when she saw everyone’s eyes on her.
“I-I’m not feeling well. I’m sorry.” She turned to leave, and Annabelle gripped her hand.
“I’ll come with you, Momma.”
“I think we are going to have to head out, she’s been having some trouble today with getting out of writing mode.” Dakota laughed lightly and shook hands with Maximus. “See you later, man. It was nice to meet you, Ophelia.”
“Nice to meet you as well. Hope you feel better, Ana.”
“Anastasia, and thank you,” Anastasia corrected her and then scolded herself. What was wrong with her?
“How are you?” Dakota asked after they had arrived at home.
“I don’t know. I can’t seem to get out of my head. I keep having these visions play out and it’s just not possible.”
“I think you should talk to a coworker of mine.” At her questioning look, he continued, “He’s a therapist, a very good one, and he might be able to help you start separating. I want you to be able to do what you want with your life, Ana, but I don’t like how it’s affecting our family and your happiness.”
Anastasia thought about it for a moment and then nodded in agreement. She had to do something to stop this assault on her emotions. She couldn’t separate reality from fiction, and she worried that it would cause pain to those she loved the most.
“I’ll set you up an appointment for tomorrow.” Dakota smiled and rubbed his hands down her arms. “Everything is going to be okay, you’ll see.”