Chapter 11

Raina dropped to her knees. There were tears streaming down her face. She felt arms wrapped around her. Words were being spoken to her, but to it sounded like nothing more than wind blowing in her ears. Then there was a face in front of hers that she could tell was Asher's. Even though she was there in the moment, nothing felt real. Suddenly, her surroundings shifted. She was no longer on the ground but standing. The room she was now in was as cold as ice. Again, there was a voice speaking to her. But she could not understand what was being said. There were two bodies in front of her covered with nothing but white sheets. In an instant, she knew where she was. All she wanted to do was run, but her body would not move. The white sheet that was covering one of the bodies was beginning to be lifted. Raina squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to look. Even with her eyes shut, Raina could feel her surroundings shift. Now, she could hear birds chirping and a horse moving its tail. Raina slowly opened one eye after the other. She was sitting on the ground in an open field. Artemis was eating the grass beside her. A hand landed on hers. Raina turned towards the touch to see her mother sitting beside her.

"Is everything ok, baby girl?" her mother asked. Raina felt a tear roll down her cheek. Her mother wiped it away. Raina quickly latched onto her mom in a hug. "Woah... shhh... shhh, it's alright, momma's here." her mother said as she rubbed her head. Then, her mother pulled her back from her to look at Raina. "Momma isn't going annnyyy..."

"Momma???" Raina asked. Her mother's face began morph and changed into something horrific. Her hair became matted and shorter on one side with blood stained throughout it and was singed from fire. Her beautiful face was now partially scraped off down to where jaw and teeth were exposed. On the same side, her eyeball was falling out of the socket. Suddenly, there was a horrific scream coming out of her mouth. It was glass shattering and filled with so much pain. Raina tried to break free from her grasp and closed her eyes. "No, no, nooooooo!!" Raina screamed as she sat up in bed to open her eyes to Luke gripping both sides of her arms.

"Raina!!! You're ok!!! It was just a dream!!! A dream!!!" Luke yelled. Raina was finally grasping the situation around her. She realized she was hyper ventilating and had been sweating. It was a dream! Raina dug her head into Luke's shoulder and clinged onto him. Luke patted her head and pulled her in. "Shhh...shhhh. I got ya... I got ya. You're safe." Raina dug her head down further. It was a dream... wrong. Had it been only a dream, it would not have shaken her like it did. No, it was her reality.

After Raina had finally calmed down, Luke went out to the kitchen and made her a warm honey milk. While waiting, she dropped back on her pillow and stripped the blankets off. Her body was radiating with heat. Did she catch a fever?? She heard footsteps coming back to the door.

"Woahhhh....uhhhh ummm... I'm just gonna come back in a second..." Luke said as he averted his gaze away from her and quickly turned around. Raina looked down at her body. She had forgotten that she had stripped down into her bra and underwear earlier. Quickly, she pulled the covers back over her body. Then she cleared her throat to let him know it was OK. Luke slowly turned back around to her, then let out a sigh of relief. "Sorry, I didn't realize earlier... If you see anything happening down south, just ignore it." He said teasingly as he cleared his throat. Then he passed Raina the cup, "Careful, it's hot." She blew on it for a while before trying to drink it.

"You know, I don't know what you're making a big fuss about... you've seen me in my bikini, same difference." Raina said as she blew on the drink some more and then decided to try and take a sip.

"Yeah, but a woman's bikini and a woman's intimates are completely different. The chances of a bikini coming off, even though possible, are less likely. Where as if you see a woman in her intimates... well, we both know where babies come from." He said as he leaned and sat on the bed beside her. Raina choked on her milk. Out of reflex, she slapped his shoulder. "Ohh yeah, I guess that sound happens too, if you're not trying to have kids..." Luke said as he instinctively pulled away and began to laugh as Raina then let out a wave of slaps on his arm. They both could barely tell if she was laughing now or still choking. "Damn girl...easy on the arm...I'm gonna need that one for later..." he said as he quickly jumped off the bed. Raina then chucked the closest pillow at him. Of course, she missed him. Luke then turned back around at the doorway. "Damn girl... good to see you got your spirit back... I'm serious about my arm, though. Well, less you wanna help later??" He added with a huge grin. Raina grabbed the last pillow on the bed.

"Oooouuutttt!!!" she yelled out as she was giggling. Then she chucked the last pillow towards him, and it barely missed him as he moved down the hall. Raina shook her head and then dropped it into her hands, rubbing her face. If there was anything Luke was good at, it was changing the mood in the room. He always seemed to be able to make everyone smile. Out of the brothers, he was the laid-back jokester of the two. Whereas Leon was the more serious one. That was to be expected though of a man who practically raised himself and his brother from the age of 15 when they had lost their mother to cancer. Their father was never in the picture. The two were in and out of foster care until Leon had turned of age. He then decided that Luke had a better chance of making it in the world if they just lived on their own. Leon had never finished high school and had made his living working on vehicles and motorcycles. There was not a whole lot that Leon could not fix if it had a motor.

Raina sighed as she got dressed. Then she picked up her phone to see if Asher had responded at all to her text from earlier. She unlocked her screen on the phone to see that there were not any new notifications. Another sigh passed her lips. Maybe he was mad at her for how she responded or the fact that she had not. And when she did, it was to invite him on a camping trip like nothing had even happened. She dropped the phone on the bed and laid down again with her arms spread open. She just sat there staring at the ceiling when she felt the phone vibrate next to her. It was as if he knew because the notification read new text from Asher.