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Chapter Six: Night Terrors:

Anna sat in the darkness with her journal. She rebelled against sleep. Her mind had become tangled with the past. The woman couldn’t understand it. Her dreams ended during grad school. Why have they resurfaced after five years? He can’t be coming for her now, could he?

Anna shut her eyes to block him out. She saw the feathers on the sand again. That angel shouldn’t have died. What did she do to get involved with him?

Anna opened her eyes and opened her desk drawer. She ran her fingers along the filled notebooks. She drew out the ’03-’04 one. Anna opened it up and read the first page.

9/9/03

I saw her again last night. The woman wrapped up in ribbons. I don’t know who she is. I don’t think I’ve seen her in real life. I always see the red ribbons first. She looks caught up in them like a fly in a spider web. She’s not in pain, however. I can’t describe what she feels. I just remember ribbons.

9/12/03

The ribbons are so blood crimson. They almost drown out the woman. Her skin looked a cool white. She doesn’t struggle. She just stays in her prison. I can’t understand it.

9/17/03

Such a deep red. It almost blocks her out. Her wings seem to pop out at me. The feathers look rather sharp…

Anna froze up at those words. She never could put a meaning to that dream. It just occurred. The therapist tried to suggest many meanings to it. Anna would nod and pretend to agree. Why? It was better that way. She didn’t care about the meaning by that point. The woman wanted know to why it kept occurring.

Anna read on in her journal.

9/20/03

Didn’t see her tonight. She comes and goes. I’m lucky she’s a benign dream. I hadn’t had a violent nightmare yet. Not since that night…

Anna’s heart ached as she remembered Daisuke’s death. That night seemed to have set off her dreams. Or was it days before graduation? Both traumas from the events had become muddled up in her head. Anna sat back in her chair and looked at the ceiling. Her mind was just going in circles again. This… This wasn’t working.

A knock on the door brought Anna back to earth.

“Yes?” she whispered.

“Anna-san?” a tiny voice whispered. The woman looked up. Her door was opened a crack. She blinked at it.

“Yoko-chan?” Anna asked, softly. The door slowly slid open. The little girl stared at her. She had on a dark blue puppy nightgown with her hair down. Anna blinked at her still.

“Yoko-chan?” she asked. “What are you still doing up?” The little girl eyed her.

“Why are you still up?” she asked.

“Uh…” Anna said, sheepishly. She looked away for a moment.

“Couldn’t sleep,” she mumbled.

“Why?” Yoko-chan asked. Anna bit her lip.

“Well…” she mumbled.

“Bad dreams?” the little girl asked. Anna looked up, surprised. Yoko-chan only stared at her. The woman found herself at a loss for words. Even a little kid could see that she was having problems. The woman looked down at her feet.

“You could say that…” she mumbled. Yoko-chan said nothing. She just walked into the room and sat down next to Anna on the floor. It was then the woman decided to do something about her nightmares—again.

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