Stranger Spirits

The Woman in White [Chapter Seven Part Seven]

I opened my eyes feeling very hazy. In retrospect, I should really be getting used to this feeling by now. I looked down and rubbed my fingers together to notice that I had no sensation in them.

"This is probably a dream," I muttered to myself. Looking around I noticed that I wasn't in the same room that I've been in for most of my dreams. This room was quite the opposite of the dark chamber that I've kept finding myself in my sleep.

The room I now found myself in was so devoid of color that it almost made me feel like I had passed on. The room was all white: the walls, drapery, furniture, even the woman standing a couple of feet away from me was all dressed in white.

"AH!" I yelped jumping back away from the random person. The woman's face was not too discernable. All I could really see was that she had honey brown eyes and straight blond hair that was tied up loosely.

She was also only wearing a nightgown. I turned away from her blushing. This is so inappropriate. Oh my goodness, what if this is THAT kind of dream?! I took another step away from her. Although I was flattered she just didn't have anything that I was really attracted to.

"Vaughn," The woman stepped towards me smiling with this look of relief.

Cautiously eyeing her again I crossed both my arms underneath my chest to protect my stomach. I'm not about to get punched by another woman in one night for assuming that she was harmless. "How do you know my name?"

"Vaughn." The woman began to cry as she stepped closer to me reaching her hand towards my cheek. The moment her hand touched me her hand dissipated into smoke. "I tried but I'm too weak." The woman cried as the rest of her body turned to smoke.

After her body turned to smoke and joined the fog everything else in the room gave away. There was a rumbling on the floor and before I knew it the room gave away to complete nothingness.

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After what seemed like a long time I was woken up by Atticus shaking me. I looked around us to see that we were still in the alley but all of the officers were gone.

"Vaughn, you're alright!" He pulled me into a tight hug and I felt a lot better even though I was banged up physically from the fight and mentally from the dream. He backed away from me shaking me by my shoulders. "Don't you ever run into an alley thinking you can fight them off like that ever again!" I laughed at how worried he was granted he had every reason to be.

"Trust me, I am NOT doing that ever again! We helped a criminal escape!"

"What?!" Atticus yelped and I looked at him as he dragged me up. "We have to report this!"

I ground my foot and stopped him from moving forward. "To whom, the police that we helped beat up?"

"Good point." He sighed. "Let's get out of this damned town first thing tomorrow morning." He spoke in a gruff tone.

"Hey," I smiled as he took me by the hand as we navigated through the outdoor corridor in the moonlight. "At least you won't see me with that walking stick anymore."

He turned to see the broken tool on the floor. "Thank the Gods!" He barked out a laugh. "I hated that damned thing!" Once we were out of the alley he let go of my hand. I skipped forward so that we were walking side-by-side.

"But seriously, don't ever do that again!" He eyed me from his side. "You scared me to death I was so worried!"

"I'll try not to cause any more trouble." I folded my hands together and attempted to contain my excitement. My stomach felt like it was being squeezed and I swear my heart felt like a bird trying to break free of my rib cage. It almost made me dizzy with excitement knowing that Atticus was so concerned for me.

In what only seemed like moments we approached Alfred's temporary home. Before I could even knock twice the door swung open and Alfred pulled us in and slammed the door behind us.