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My mind, my sanity feels foggy, confused, unbalanced.
“Tsk, tsk, how could you have forgotten such a special young woman?” The words echo with a sinister refrain. A man steps outof the nothingness, his blue eyes, cold and penetrating, lock onto mine and send a shiver down my spine.
I try desperately to break free from the invisible bindings that hold me in place, that stretch me unnaturally.
Reality crumbles, and the boundaries between dream and wakefulness blur, “You cannot escape me, Isaiah. I am the manifestation of your deepest fears, and I will drive you to madness.”
With a guttural scream, I jolt awake, drenched in sweat, my heart pounding in my chest. The remnants of the horrible dream linger, leaving me haunted by the specter of the strange man who invaded the sanctity of my subconscious mind. The strange tormentor. Was that nightmare caused by drugs? Have I been drugged? I feel weird.
To my horror, I find that my arms and legs really are bound. The scents in this place are familiar. Blinking until my eyes adjust, I see that I am in the basement of the Pinehaven Pack headquarters, in a dungeon.
“Wh-what am I doing here?” I say out loud.
A blonde woman’s freckle-covered face flashes into my mind,my wife.
“What did you bastards do to my wife?” I scream with venom in my voice, the horrors of the dream fading into the distance as I tug at the shackles that bind me. My raw skin burns as I tug and pull to no avail.
“We didn’t do anything to her,” Chase’s smug voice fills my ears, “the true question you should be asking is what did she do to you?”
“What are you talking about you sick fuck, what happened to Jessie?” My voice fills with vitriol. “I swear if you hurt her, I will tear you apart limb by limb and eat all of your organs one by one as you watch.”
“Oooh, very scary Isaiah, have you been practicing how to be a horror movie villain in the cabin all week?” Ash sounds utterly amused, and the muscles in my stomach tighten.How can anyone get a kick out of this?
“Listen, Isaiah, you’re going to be here for a while so you might as well stop fighting with your restraints. They’ve been specially made for you. Plus you’ve been given a drug to keep you calm, which is wearing off, I think. Jessie is still in the cabin sleeping soundly, we didn’t touch a hair on her head, scouts honor.” Chase’s voice is steady and honest.
I relax, but only slightly, the intense desire to get back to Jessie tugs at my psyche. I can hardly think of anything else.
“Isaiah, do you remember Lorelei? Hot fiery redhead with a real green thumb? The woman you’ve been gushing over since you first saw her in the forest?” Ash’s words are spoken with a quiet desperation.
Lorelei, the name holds a promise of connection. I strain to grasp onto the fleeting moment of recognition, a fire burning in the pit of my stomach. A flash of a sultry smile, and red curls, but it slips away like grains of sand through my fingers.
In the hazy confusion of my thoughts, I am ensnared by Jessie’s enchanting golden blonde hair, her hazel eyes, her desire to be the only one I think of, and my desire to grant her every wish.
Before long, the desire for Jessie pulses through my veins drowning out the echoes of the redheaded Lorelei.
“Remember Lorelei, she was in danger a few weeks ago, there was a creepy mommy’s boy who almost killed her. You showed up to protect her, but she’d already gone badass and smoked the guy on her own?”
A flicker of something tugs at my consciousness. A connection, a memory trying to surface. But my desire for Jessieis relentless, wrapping around me like a vice that pulls me deeper into its seductive web.
My friends persist, “Lorelei, she’s your true mate. Fight the spell, Isaiah.”
“Shut up!” I call, uncomfortable by the fractured haziness that fills me every time they mention that name. I close my eyes and Jessie’s sweet voice fills my ears once again like a classical symphony.
“I want to be your one and only, forever.” Her voice echoes through my head.
“Jessie is the woman I love, why do you keep trying to tear me away from her? She’s my one and only, forever. My wife. The love of my life. Why can’t you guys just be happy about that? Are you jealous Ash? Jealous Chase?”
“Ha! Yes, I am so jealous that you are completely and idiotically brainwashed!” Ash scoffs.
“I am in love, there is a difference,” I say through gritted teeth. Anger rises in my throat. Brainwashed? Why would they say that?
“Okay buddy,” Chase says sounding rather solemn. “It’s the middle of the night. We’ll see you in the morning.”
Two sets of footsteps retreat off into the distance and creak above me before everything goes completely still. Sweat drips from my forehead and falls to the cool stone floor beneath me with a splat.
As I succumb to the enveloping darkness, my consciousness slips back into the dream realm. A never-ending path stretches out before me, panic courses through my veins as I run and run and get nowhere.
The muscles in my legs cramp but I can’t stop running. The sound of my feet pounding on the smooth ground seems very loud. There is no end in sight.
