She seems more alert now, her grey eyes focusing on my face, but it looks like it’s coming at a cost. As her body is healing, the once burned away nerve endings are coming back too. Tears are leaking down her face, and she’s gasping, “It hurts. It hurts. It hurts.”
“I know which is why I need you to listen to me, so I can make it stop. Can you do that?” I ask, my own tears dripping down my face.
Callie nods, but there’s no recognition in her gaze.
“This is a nightmare. You were at a party, and there was a fire pit. When you saw it, it triggered this memory,” I explain, hoping any of this is sinking in. “To get you out of here, I need you to trust me enough to believe what I’m telling you, even if it sounds fucking insane.”
“More insane than a girl who’s set on fire by her father, only to heal good as new so he can turn around and do it again? Insane is pretty much right up my alley,” she jokes through clenched teeth.
It’s in this moment that I know I love this girl. I don’t care that it’s been only a week, when you know you know. Despite the shit that just happened, she’s laughing through her pain and back to fighting to survive.
“Kaleb told me that I should be able to manipulate your dream, and I guess I sort of already am since I can interact with everything,” I explain, trying to figure out how exactly I’m going to fix this.
“I don’t know who that is, but okay,” she grunts. “What exactly do you need me to do? Fuck, this really hurts.”
“No wonder you couldn’t hear us. You can’t remember who we are,” I mutter, then ask, “Do you remember me at all? Do I look familiar in any way?”
Her whole face is now bunched in pain, her skin shiny and pink, the first stage of healing burns. She does a sharp shake of her head. “I wish I did. You seem really nice,” she swallows a cry of pain, a hissing grunt deep in her throat. “For some reason, I feel like I can trust you. How’s that?”
“That’ll work, pretty girl,” I promise, hoping it’s true.
She snorts. “Not feeling too pretty at the moment. Check back when all of my skin has healed.”
“You’re always pretty to me,” I reply with a small smile, “but remember, this is all in your head, literally. You have to believe that bit if this is going to work.”
“Does that make you a figment of my imagination?” she questions.
“No, I’m real,” I chuckle. “Though you debated me on that point for a while… until I convinced you.”
Silent tears are tracking down her cheeks as she looks up at me, but she still offers up a weak smile. “Okay, Pinocchio, I’m ready to go. Take me anywhere that isn’t here.”
“Casper. You call me Casper,” I tell her gently. “Though Pinocchio is pretty good too.”
“Your nose isn’t growing, so it must be true,” she chuckles then coughs.
“Close your eyes,” I instruct in a soft whisper, and her lids flutter closed.
Pulling her tight against my chest, I close my eyes and imagine being on a beach. I visualize it until I can feel the sun on my skin and sand under my feet, smell the ocean, and hear the seagulls and the crashing of the waves.
When I open my eyes, we’re there sitting in the sand, Callie still cradled in my arms, but now she’s whole and unhurt. I wasn’t really thinking about what we’d be wearing, so I’m grateful to find that I’m wearing red board shorts, and she’s wearing jean shorts and a plain blue tank top. Don’t think she’d appreciate it if one or both of us were naked.
“It’s safe. You can open your eyes now,” I murmur.
She slowly cracks her eyes, then taking in her surroundings, she fully opens them. When she looks up at me, there’s recognition along with her tears.
“Casper!” She exclaims, wrapping her arms tight around my neck. “Oh god… I… thank you for coming for me. Thank you for taking me away.”
That’s all she can get out, before she breaks down in wracking sobs. Her fingers turn to rigid claws that dig into the muscles in my back, and her face is pressed snuggly against my neck. Her cries tremor throughout her whole body, and I hold her as tight as I can against me, my own tears dripping silently down my face.
My chest aches like a vise is squeezing my heart, and I don’t know what to do to help her, so I let her cry, murmuring nonsensical platitudes. This is such a bittersweet moment for me that I can’t help but feel guilty. I finally know what it feels like to hold her in my arms, to smell the fruity floral scent of her soft skin, and feel the heavy weight of her hair through my fingers. I’ve longed for this since the moment I met her, a twisted knife in my gut because I knew it could never happen. Except it is, right now, but shit, not like this. Why did it have to be because of this?
I don’t know how long we sit on the beach and cry together, only that it takes several attempts before Callie can once again speak.
“I’m sorry you had to see that,” she whispers against my neck, her lips soft and warm against my skin.
“No, pretty girl,” I declare, running a hand down her thick hair. I want to kiss the top of her head, but it’s currently tucked under my chin. “Never apologize for what’s been done to you. You didn’t choose to have that sick fuck do those things to you, so don’t apologize for someone witnessing it.”
She nods, and her body shakes as she swallows another sob. “I just… I can imagine how awful it must have looked,” she hiccups.
