Page 60 of Don’t Open Your Eyes

I’m on a roller coaster and it’s going around in circles, faster and faster. I’m laughing, and my hair is flying in the wind. I turn to my left to see who’s on the ride with me, but I’m alone. The car goes up the track and I stifle a scream. It’s almost vertical, and I worry that the car will roll backward. “Let me out!” I shout, but no one can hear me. The car rises almost to the top, then I feel it slipping back and I scream, but everyone else is laughing. Just when I think it’s not going to make it, I reach the top, and then I’m in a tunnel. It’s not a roller coaster any longer, but a haunted house.

“Isn’t this fun?” Randy asks.

Randy! How is he here? He smiles at me and my heart melts, but then I remember what he did. “What are you doing here?” I demand. The car whips around, and I gasp as something reaches out and grabs my hair. I turn to see what it is but nothing’s there. When I turn back around to talk to Randy, he’s gone, and James is there in his place.

“I don’t like this ride. I want to get off,” I tell him.

He smiles at me, but it’s not a real smile. His eyes are cold. “You can’t get off. You’re stuck. You have to see it through.”

“What do you mean?” I yell, but we’re suddenly plunged into darkness. A screen emerges in front of me and a movie starts to play. It’s Olivia and Scarlett as little girls. Home movies of all of us. First, we’re at the zoo. Then at the pool. Then the beach. I hear the sound of film playing, and then it sounds like a broken cassette and the video dissolves. Scarlett’s face appears, and she’s looking at the camera. Her face is splattered with blood.

“Why didn’t you save me? Now it’s too late.” She begins to cry, then turns around and walks down a long road until she disappears.

“What movie is this?” I ask James. But he’s gone now. My mother sits in his place. She stares straight ahead, saying nothing.

“Mom. Mom, what is happening?”

She turns to me. “He’s lying. It’s all his fault. You can’t trust him.”

“Who is lying?” I’m yelling now, but it’s as if she can’t hear me. “Mom, Mom!” The ride goes dark again, and I feel myself fade into nothing. I jump out of the car and run, trying to escape from the ride. I feel like I can’t breathe. Finally, I burst through the door and into the blessed light.

Annabelle gasped and sat up. She glanced at the window; still dark. Slipping from the bed, she grabbed her robe and went downstairs. Parker followed behind her. Three a.m. The witching hour, she thought. Why was she dreaming about her mother so much lately? And Randy! She had done her best over the years to erase him from her memories, but obviously that was never going to happen. She thought back to all those years ago when she believed that her future was planned out. She had such hope for them. They were soulmates who would spend the rest of their lives together. But it didn’t work out that way. The family that she thought she’d have with him wasn’t meant to be. That was when she’d learned that fate was a cruel mistress, waiting until happiness was within your reach to snatch it all away.

She grabbed a fleece blanket and curled up on the sofa. Parker jumped up and settled on her legs. “My good boy. Thanks for keeping me company,” she said, reaching out to pet his head. Grabbing the remote, she turned the television on low and stopped at an old episode of Frasier. She did her best to concentrate and put the disturbing dreams out of her thoughts. After a while, she felt sleepy and closed her eyes. The last image in her mind before she finally fell back asleep was of her mother making a slicing motion across her throat.

Before

Annabelle had been staying at James’s house for two weeks. He’d been her rock, listening to her rail against Randy one minute, then dissolve into sobs the next. She didn’t know what she would have done without him. Randy showed up at James’s house, but she refused to see him, and James ran interference for her. She ignored all Randy’s calls and texts, too, until finally he stopped trying. She’d barely been able to concentrate on her finals, but somehow, miraculously she’d passed, and her college career ended. She’d let the administration know that she didn’t plan to walk at graduation, so they would mail her diploma.

She was sitting at the kitchen table at James’s house, picking at the roast chicken he’d made for dinner. He was standing by the counter, still in his scrubs, a look of concern on his face.

“Are you sure you don’t want to walk? It’s a rite of passage.”

“What’s the point? My mother won’t be there. Randy and I are through. There’ll be no one there to cheer.”

“I will.”

“I know you would. But I don’t want to parade across the stage with my stomach out to here.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s fine. Plus, I don’t want to run the risk of seeing Randy.”

“Now that you brought it up, I have to ask. Are you sure you don’t want to talk to him? No matter what, he is the father of your child. He’s begged me to try to talk you into seeing him.”

“Absolutely not! There’s nothing he can say that will make me ever want to have him in my life again. I need to be with someone I can count on. The fact that he cheated on me, especially now…” Annabelle shook her head. “It’s unforgivable. He was probably seeing her on the side all along. It shows you his lack of character. I could never trust him again. One man already let me down; I don’t need another.”

James pursed his lips. “I understand. I honestly don’t know how he could do what he did. I thought he was better than that. I’m so sorry that you’re going through this.”

“I wish he didn’t even know about the baby, but I don’t suppose I can keep him away forever.”

James tilted his head. “I don’t blame you. I’m happy to be Uncle James and to support you, but are you sure Randy doesn’t deserve the chance to be a father?”

“I don’t know. I need space right now. No matter what he asks, tell him to stay away from me.”

“Okay, you got it.”

“I still can’t believe I gave up my apartment, and now I have nowhere to live. Mrs. Miller already rented to someone else.”

James walked toward her and took a seat at the table. “Move in here.”

“What?”