Page 19 of In All My Dreams

It was only a dream, Georgia. Just a dream. A stupid, hateful, terrifying dream.

Just a dream, I tell myself over and over again as I work on calming down enough to go back to sleep.

It almost works until I hear Auden scream from her bedroom across the hall. I throw myself out of bed and rush to the door, slamming myself against it as I try to open it.

It’s locked.

Why is itlocked?

I frantically pull on the doorknob as I hear Auden’s screams from the other room. The door won’t budge, and it’s one of those old doors that only lock with a key...but it can be locked from either side with that key...

“Ian!” I scream, pounding my hand against the door as hard as I can. “IAN! HELP!”

Please wake up, please wake up. I pound on the door over and over, screaming his name until Auden’s screaming is cut off.

I stop screaming and slamming my hand against the door and press my ear against the wood, trying to hear what’s happening on the other side. I can’t hear her. I can’t hear anything but the sound of my own frantic breathing.

The door handle rattles loudly, and seconds later, I hear the distinct turn of the key. I grab the handle and throw the door open. Confusion floods my veins when I see that the hall is empty.

I run to Auden’s room, stopping short when I see her fast asleep in bed with Horton curled up at her feet.

What the fuck is going on?

“Georgia! What on earth are you doing out here at this hour? It's nearly three in the morning.”

I look over at my father's silhouette standing at the top of the stairs, his cane nowhere in sight.

“I—I’m not sure,” I answer, my voice shaking with nerves and confusion. I look back at Auden’s peacefully sleeping form and then at my father again.

My father steps closer, placing his hand on my shoulder. “Are you having those nightmares again? Are you sleepwalking again?”

Was it just a nightmare? It felt so real. Auden’s screams soundedso real.

Am I asleep? I pinch my arm, hard, and hiss through my teeth.

Nope, definitely not sleeping.

“I’m awake, Dad. I just thought I heard Auden screaming,” I tell him, my brows knit in concentration as I recall everything that just happened. “But I think maybe it was just a dream. I had a few glasses of wine earlier. Maybe it’s just that.”

“I sure didn’t hear any screaming,” he muses. “You used to get those a lot when you were younger. Sometimes you’d sleepwalk and scare the hell out of your mother,” Dad says with a laugh. “She was so scared you’d end up walking right into the lake one day and never come out.”

My blood runs cold as I look up at my father. Does he know? My mother promised she wouldn’t tell anyone...about that day.

The day I killed my best friend.

Dad claps me once on the back. “Well, kid, I’m going to bed. I get restless at night these days. It’s the only time my body doesn’t feel like it’s failing me. You know?” I shake my head at him, not really listening to anything he’s saying as I stare vacantly at my daughter. My brain replays the events of that night like a highlight reel. My mother’s face hovering above mine...over and over again.

“Get some sleep, Dad. I love you,” I say distractedly as I watch him disappear down the hall and close his door behind him, leaving me alone with my ghosts yet again.

I look over at Auden one last time before deciding that everythingmusthave been another bad dream before forcing my legs to take me back to the guest room. I hear a door open behind me, and I turn, thinking it’s just my father again. Instead, Ian’s messy bedhead appears from behind the office door.

He looks like he just woke up from a deep sleep. His eyes struggle to focus, lines from his pillow indented into his cheek. “Georgia,” he says with a yawn. “What are you doing out here?”

“Did you hear any screaming?” I ask him.

“Screaming, no? Who was screaming?” He straightens, his body coming to life like the bodyguard he tries to be for me. Like he’s always tried to be, but he can’t always save me from myself, or the terrifying things my head conjures up.

I shake my head. “No one. It’s nothing. Just a bad dream.”

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