Bit of Life?

Her heart raced in her chest as she full out ran with all her soul. It seemed it would never stop, the chasing and running cycles. Her calves ached and a sharp unknown pain soon crippled her. Falling to the ground she knew that she was going to be brutally attacked. The pounding coming towards her let her know how close he was. She shouted out her anger for anyone to hear and then bolted upright in bed. It was just a dream.

Getting quickly off the top of her hard mattress, as if it was the cause of all her soreness, she nearly cried aloud as her right leg was knotted with another horrible spasm. Gingerly she placed her weight on her foot as she went off the bed to the icy hardwood floor trying to ease her discomfort. The contorted muscle refused to unclench and she half dragged herself to the bathroom. By the moonlight that was streaming in her window she filled a water glass and dropped in the necessary tablet she retrieved from her medicine cabinet. This was too common a nocturnal experience lately, she thought while standing on her leg. The fizz of sound as the medicine dissolved kept her semi-entertained as she kept feeling her leg scream in pain.

Soon the bubbles stopped floating upwards and she gulped down the liquid. Her right leg was making her crazy. The muscle knotted from her thigh down to her instep. Once the glass was emptied she pulled out her sports balm and rubbed it on the contorted muscles while pressing her weight firmly on her foot. The entire leg refused to unknot. This was not a part of her body. She worked out and ran. This was what happened to untrained people or someone taking some weird drug advertised during the six o'clock news. "Ask your doctor" always meant pharmaceutical nightmares ahead. She ate right and didn't do drugs. This constant cycle of night cramps was wearing thin. Every time she woke from one of her running dreams it was as if she had actually run for miles without drinking water or stretching.

She edged carefully back onto her bed. An ache of pain twinged and made her nervous but she needed her sleep. She reached into her nightstand and got out her sleep mask. The sports balm combined with the meds slowly began its magic and she slipped back into her dream state. It was as if she had pushed a pause button when she woke up and now as back in the same place. Well nearly. She was no longer on the ground waiting to be pounced. Her running had slowed down and she was in a glade. Remembering still where she had fallen in her earlier nightmare she listened for sounds of monsters. There were always monsters in her dreams.

A voice called out, "Excuse me, miss?"

Fearful she turned to see what new creature was coming for her. A tall man was standing off in the shadows. His hair was shoulder length and his face hidden in shadows.

"What?" She replied keeping her distance, which seemed the best bet at this time.

"I am looking for Rachel. Have you seen her?" He was very sad sounding. She still wasn't sure if he was safe. She remembered distantly in her memory she had been fooled before with handsome men and their carefully crafted lies.

"I am named Rachel," she was pretty sure that was her name. It sounded right to her. She nodded to herself. Yes, she was Rachel.

"Then it is you I want. Come to me, please," his voice was seductive and she walked towards the man half hidden in the glade.

Her body responded to his voice as if he was someone she had known for years. Tremors of desire overwhelmed her and she was no longer afraid. She wanted to be next to this man. Hell, she wanted this man in her. As she neared him she shed her clothes the wisps of fabric she had worn seemed to be nothing in her hands. They fell and disappeared as she continued. His face was growing more and more familiar. The shadows were edging off of him as she got closer.

"Rachel, what took you so long?" He sounded amused as he reached for her. She walked into his arms willingly. His hands firmly stroked her hair off her shoulders and ran down her body possessively. His hands owned all that they touched. She knew this without words. Her nipples hardened and his fingers quickly found them and tugged them softly. His fingers raked down the sides of her breasts and she shuddered as she felt herself respond to his touch. Her mouth was watering for his kiss.

"I don't know. Why did I leave you?" Rachel asked while trying to edge her mouth closer to him. His clothing were in the way and her hands began to tug the offending pieces off of him. He helped her remove the clothing quickly. They sank to the forest floor fingers touching and tugging all they could find. His fingers knew her body like a past lover, darting in and out of her with a wickedness she found sexy.

He had yet to kiss her. She hungered for his mouth. She was wet and he knew it from his fingers winding in and out of her. Without a single word he drove his body into hers. She ached and expanded as he pounded harder. She wanted his mouth on hers. A moan was driven out of her body with his thrusting in and out. She was dripping wet and needed more. He kept slamming in and out of her with purpose and precision. He knew her body. She arched up and demanded him to go deeper. He caught her intention and complied with a slight smile on his lips.

"Kiss me, damn it." She demanded.

His face dropped to hers while she arched up for him to finish her. Then she saw the teeth. Her screams rang out endlessly.

She blacked out. Just before everything went fuzzy she remembered when she first met this creature. It had been over a year ago.

Rachel walked into the club reluctantly. Her best friend Tami had called an hour ago and said she was trying to ditch some loser named Larry. Since she had already been in her sweats and cuddled under her blankets the last thing she wanted to do was play rescuer to her ditzy friend. But Tami would have come help her if the need arose, not that it ever did in her boring life, so she said sure and jotted down directions to the downtown dance club. She hated driving into unknown areas of town but Tami had sounded pretty upset. Besides Tami had been going there on and off for a few weeks and swore it was filled with hot guys. That enticement aside Rachel had steadily been avoiding the spot. But now she had to dress up before venturing out.

She went for the basic black with no flash. It was a rescue mission not a date. Nevertheless she took a moment to brush her hair out and apply a light coating of lipstick. Never knew who would be there. The drive didn't take much time and soon she was inside the darkly unlit club. Tami was nowhere to be seen. Her cell phone didn't have a signal in the bar and exhaustion was clouding her vision.

"Hello, you look lost," a voice came purring up behind her.

She turned to look at who had spoken to her. There was this tall good looking man was standing right behind her. Her eyes came only to his gorgeous throat. There were slight golden brown hairs that peaked out from his open shirt that were tempting her to reach up and touch. As she cast her eyes up she was delighted to see this man was actually speaking to her. A flutter started in her stomach as she found his eyes laughing into hers. She found herself trying to brush his hair back with her fingers automatically as his hair had fallen into his face when tilted his head down to meet her eyes.

"Not now." Rachel found herself flirting with this stranger. She really need to find Tami and this man was distracting her.

"And you are?" His voice was making her excited.

"Rachel." Her heart stopped.

She sat up and screamed herself totally awake. Rachel was exhausted and terrified in her own room. The familiar bedding and her favorite pillow offered her little comfort. The moon was peaking through a small crack in her blinds washing over her room making shadows out of normal everyday objects. She wondered at her mind. How much more of this could she take? The force of realism in her dreams was becoming nearly unrecognizable from her life. The lines were blurring to the point she thought she was awake but not really sure. The day dreams were nearly as bad. In some ways worse, the erotic elements caused many awkward moments in her workplace. The office mail clerk kept watching her chest and grinning stupidly and taken to lingering around her desk far too often for her taste.

Something disturbed her. A noise edged her out of her nightmare state. It sounded like the tree branch outside her window was tapping at the pane. She stumbled out of her bed and snatched back the blinds intending on snapping off the offending branch. To her amazement there was no branch there. She opened the window to lean out and see if the branch was lower and perhaps swaying upwards hitting the window. Her eyes took a minute to focus and then she could see someone standing in the distance under the Magnolia tree tossing little pebbles at her house. One hit her in the forehead.

"Ouch." She looked out in the moonlit yard trying to see who it was. Rubbing the spot on her head she spoke into the dark, "Who's there?"

"Rachel, it's me," at first she couldn't identify the whispering voice.

A hum of pleasure strummed over her body as the whisper became a memory. She pulled back, it couldn't be. She missed him so much. It was impossible. And yet he walked out of the shadow of the tree and stood at the window frame. He had moved so quickly. He caught her hands in his on the window sill. The touch made her ache.

"Rachel, come out and play with me." His voice was warm and smooth.

He held her hands firmly and she tried to pull back. She wanted to run out and be with this creature. Puzzled she shook her head. This was not happening. She had to be caught in a dream.

"You can't be here."

"But I am." He looked at her and grinned. As his smile grew she saw her dead husband's teeth were now long and sharp.