Arranged

Chapter Twenty Two

07/28/2017

Kristin turned on her other side for the millionth time.

She had been tossing and turning ever since she had come home and her parents made her rest in bed.

She knew she could have used more rest, she felt tired. However, she did not want to be left alone to her thoughts, haunting her and keeping her awake.

Plus, every time she had tried to close her eyes, she would just see images from the prison.

It all felt surreal to her.

Thinking back, she couldn't believe everything that had happened yesterday.

She couldn't believe people were gone, today. Forever.

Kristin had never really seen death that close before, especially violently forced upon others.

Before this, she had never seen anyone close to her-- or even relatively close to her-- killed.

Everyone around her were werewolves. Plus, they lived in a relatively peaceful pack, meaning the number one cause of death was old age.

Which was natural, even for Kristin to see.

But murder, she had never imagined she'd ever be so close to that evil.

She quickly kicked the blankets off her, feeling claustrophobic.

She felt like she had to do something, but she didn't know what.

She almost felt like she belonged somewhere else, like she was meant to be in another place right now.

Sighing, she got up, not even trying to stop her thoughts anymore. She knew they couldn't be stopped, especially when she was alone.

Deciding to take a shower, she tried cleansing herself of the bad memories.

It didn't work.

Later that night, she had finally fell asleep, her body exhausted.

However it wasn't a peaceful, resting sleep.

If anything, it felt like it was exhausting her more. Her dreams were filling her with anxiety and pain, and they all felt so real.

This time she was back in the cell, huddled up in the corner.

She was quietly cringing, trying to keep her eyes from looking beside her.

But the cell was closing in, becoming smaller and smaller, so she was forced to scoot closer to the body on the floor.

It was lifeless, covered in blood.

Although she had seen these things repeatedly in her dreams and memories, she was still terrified.

She even knew she must have been dreaming by now, even with how real everything looked.

The problem was that she felt trapped in her own mind. She couldn't wake herself up, and she couldn't escape the dream.

It added frustration to her anxiety and fear. She was doing this to herself, creating these images in her head. Yet she didn't know how to stop them and end the dream.