When she turned, there was a very familiar face moving toward her through the crowd.
There stood her father.
The younger version.
“Daddy?” she asked, not sure what was going to happen next. Would she have to watch him die?
Again.
He laughed.
“Yeah, it’s me, Elizabeth. You’re having one hell of a rough dream.”
She stared at him.
“Apparently, I still am because you’re dead, and I rarely dream about you. Usually, it’s when the shit hits the fan.”
He moved toward her, and when he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, she could feel his fingers and smell his cologne.
He felt so real.
What wouldn’t Elizabeth give to have him back in her life, if only for a day? She’d do anything.
“Well, things in dreams are seldom what we think they are, pumpkin. What looks like one thing is generally a completely different thing.”
Yeah, tell her about it.
“Daddy, I’m lost.”
He hugged her.
“No, you’re not, Honey. You’re right where you need to be. We’re with you and protecting you. I’m sorry you’re going through this. I know you’re feeling so many emotions.”
Yeah, she was.
Clinging to him, he felt so real. The scent alone took her back to her younger days. Here, he was barely fifty, and it wasn’t lost on her that now, they were the same age.
A lot of time had passed.
Deep down, she knew this was only a dream, but she missed him.
Desperately.
“I don’t know why I can’t wake up. I feel like there are so many levels, and I’m just short of breaking the surface.”
He reassured her.
“The three of us are right beside you,” he stated as water began filling the street. As they spoke, it was up to their ankles.
Setting him free, she stared into his eyes. She assumed he meant him, Sam, and her mother.
God.
She missed all three of them.
“Daddy, I don’t know how to stop him. I’m not sure if I can. I feel like all I can do is brace for impact. I feel like I’m underwater, and I can’t breathe.”
He looked concerned.
