When You're Dreaming

[~ ADMIN]

There was no way to escape. Lyle had her trapped in her own nightmare, and there was nothing she could do about it. Slowly, he backed her up against the wall, tugging at her t-shirt with his hands. Anna moved to shove him away, but he seized her wrists, forcing her to the ground with a malicious look on his face. She struggled against him, but he was too strong, completely overpowering her. Gripped in the clutches of fear, tears began to stream down Anna's face, and she whimpered as his hands etched under her shirt. "Please, don't!" she pleaded with him, although she knew it wouldn't stop him. Once he started, he didn't stop.

Anna lay still on the floor. Lyle had departed, leaving her feeling wretched, her shorts on the floor beside her. Her hair was matted with tears, her eyes red and raw. Why was this happening again? She had been on the Venia, hadn't she? She was far away from Earth right now, far away from her dratted room back in Scotland, and away from her bastard brother. And yet, the pain had felt so real, he had felt so real.

She cast her mind back to something that Lyle had said earlier, how he'd tapped his hand against the wall and she'd received an instant headache. Was she... dreaming? How had he known that? How had he been able to control her dream, seemingly taking power over her own thoughts. It didn't make any sense.

[Natalie Blake]

The last thing Natalie remembered was her state getting progressively worse and Will trying to make it to med bay before she slipped away completely. But instead of seeing him when her eyes flashed open, she found herself back home. Her mom, Elaine, was behind behind the counter of the bar, and her father, Bill, was kneeling on the floor next to a Christmas tree.

Oh my god, she thought numbly as her eyes fell on the small blonde figure sitting next to him. It was her. Or rather, it had been her, when she'd been no more than four or five. What was going on? She could hear their voices, hear her own high-pitched giggling, but she couldn't quite discern words. Bill picked the younger version of her up and spun her around, smiling and laughing.

While there was nothing wrong with this holiday flashback, Natalie couldn't understand what was going on. If this dream--and she knew it was a dream, because there was no way this could happen in real life... right?--was caused by her sickness, then shouldn't it be trying to torture her with bad memories or something along those lines?

She really needed to stop jinxing things like that.

Two leather-clad men entered the bar then, carrying guns, and they wouldn't have been aimed at Bill faster if he'd been wearing a bulls-eye. No... no, this isn't real, Natalie thought, her eyes growing wide, This can't be real. Elaine and the younger Natalie ran off to hide while Bill went over to the register, reaching under the counter and pulling out their only gun.

She was prepared to breathe a sigh of relief when her father managed to take out one of the men with his first shot, but then two gunshots rang out at once. Three screams of "No!" split the air--little Natalie, Elaine, and Natalie herself. The three of them ran over to where Bill had slumped to the floor, blood pumping from the bullet wound in his chest.

Natalie hadn't called Bill "daddy" since she was eight, but both of her were shrieking it, staring down at him in horror. "No, daddy, no! No, you can't die, you're still alive! I know you are, you have to be! Daddy, please, don't leave me!"

Elaine pulled the younger version of Natalie away from Bill and ran back into the part of the bar where the Fairholms kept up residence. To call an ambulance, she prayed. This left Natalie alone to try and stem her father's bleeding with her bare hands, tears streaming down her face.

"Please, dad, not like this... don't leave me here! I don't know what's going on, I'm scared! Daddy, please, no..." Bill had gone still. Please, just be unconscious... you can't be... no. You're not...

Even though she knew in some place in the back of her mind that this wasn't real, she knew it was all just some sick, horrible dream, it all felt too real. She knew that seeing herself as a child here should have convinced her that even if it had happened, Bill had come out okay, but that did nothing for her panic at watching him bleed out here in front of her. This was all far, far too real. And she couldn't stop it.

[~ ADMIN]

Anna was still laying on the floor when the door creaked open again. At first, she couldn't see anything but darkness on the other side, then suddenly, Lyle was on top of her, pinning her to the ground, his hands around her neck. She coughed and choked, kicking hard with her legs. No, this wasn't real. He couldn't hurt her here, not really. He couldn't kill her.

Slowly, consciousness started to slip away from away from her, her vision darkening. "I will end your life." Anna could barely hear him speaking, another voice was filling her ears, one that she wanted to hear. "Come on, baby, stay with me..." reverberated around the room, bouncing off the walls and floor. It was Ben's voice. She wanted to stay, get out of here and be back with him.

""Clear! Come on Anna, stay with me, stay with me!"

It was Ally's voice now. Their voices mingled together, both filled with concern. Anna felt her body jolt and her eyes flew open. Lyle was gone, as was her room. She was lying in the middle of a white expanse that spread for miles and miles around, breathing heavily.

She wasn't... she couldn't be... dead?

[Luke Martin]

Luke let out a low groan, rolling over onto his side as he grasped his head in his hands. He had a cracking headache, probably from pounding himself in the back of the neck - no doubt he'd hit his head on the way to the floor. Slowly, he opened his eyes, expecting to find himself in the medical bay, but instead, he was lying out on the grass outside his parent's house, the smell of his mother's meat loaf filled his senses.

"What?" he frowned, propping himself up on his elbows. This didn't make any sense. Unless... he was still out of it. He was dreaming, wasn't he? His dreams had never been this vivid before; it was like he was really there. Oh, how Luke wished it was real.

The patio door opened and his father stepped out, sliding the door closed behind him. He was slow in his movements, and was a good few years younger than he should have been - a few less wrinkles around his eyes. "Luke," he said, his broad Australian accent as clear as day, "I need to talk to you, son." Luke sat up properly, scratching his head, this all seemed familiar somehow.

"What's up?" Luke asked, curious. "It's your mother," he said, crouching down next to Luke. "She didn't want to say anything, because she's afraid it'll upset you and the girls," he said, "but she went to the clinic the other day for an exam, and, well, they found a lump." Luke swallowed, oh, he remembered now. "They sent her down the hospital, and they think it's breast cancer. It's in the early stages, so they should be able to stop it from spreading. I just didn't want to be completely unprepared if something goes wrong."

[/i] He could definitely remember this memory now. After his Dad had given him that news, he had been completely distraught. The thought of his mother potentially dying had terrified him, and the feelings gripped him again now. "I just thought I should tell you."[/i]

Yeah, thanks Dad. [/blockquote]