Breathe Into Me by Amanda Stone

terrors. It had been a few months since my last one, though, and I wasn’t sure what would just bring them on again.
    This one was just like the others—I was back in my old house, reliving the whole thing all over again and again. The last thing I remembered when I’d woken up was those eyes staring back at me.
    It was the same eyes I looked at day in and day out. The warm, honey color would make you believe the person who wore those eyes would be full of warmth and love … when in reality he was as cold as ice, and as evil as the days were long. My eyes were the only things my father had given me; but he had taken everything .
    He had taken my mother from me the night he murdered her.
    The night I did nothing but sit there and watch.
    Jessi sat back on her heels, giving me room to sit up on the edge of my bed. I pulled my hair at the roots, hoping the pain radiating from my scalp would dull the pain I felt at my core after reliving that night through my dream. But honestly, nothing ever soothed that ache and it never would. Throughout the years, the guilt had lessened a bit but I knew it would never fully go away. Some days it was easier to deal with, some days the pain and guilt was so crippling it was hard for me to even get out of bed. That’s why I would forever be in debt to Jessi and her wonderful family. I wouldn’t have made it through the last six years without them.
    “I know this is a stupid question, but are you okay now?” Jessi whispered.
    I nodded. “Yeah, Jess, I am. But could you do me a favor? Will you sleep with me tonight?”
    This wasn’t a strange request to her. For the longest time after I had moved in with her, the images of that night came back so strong and real that she slept most nights in bed with me. I couldn’t stand to be alone. Every time I was alone, I was left with only my thoughts, and at that time my every thought was of that night. Being alone was just a reminder that I was—in every sense of the word—alone.
    “Sure, silly. Now scoot. These beds are a lot smaller than the ones we have at home though. So just know if my ass ends up on the floor sometime throughout the night, I’m going kick yours when I climb back in bed with you,” she joked, trying to lighten the mood.
    “Deal,” I said and scooted as far as the wall would allow.
    “Thank you, Jess. For everything,” I whispered to the dark room, and her tiny hand grasped mine.
    “You’re my best friend, Kelsey. I’ll always be here.”
    Exhaustion from the dream finally took over and I drifted off to sleep again, holding tight to my best friend’s hand.
    I slept through the rest of the night in a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

    A thump that I assumed was Jessi’s body hitting the floor, was our wakeup call the next morning. After the thump, I heard muffled curse words being thrown around before Jessi’s wild red hair popped up over the side of my bed.
    “Good Morning.” I sweetly smiled at her.
    She grunted at me before returning my greeting with a quick, “Mornin.’” before she crawled over to her bed, climbed in, and went back to sleep.
    I silently laughed before making my way to the bathroom for a quick shower. Lucas said it would be okay to shower the next morning, just as long as I tried to keep my more fragrant-filled soaps away from the tattoo as much as possible.
    I hopped in the shower and began washing my hair, making sure to keep my hair away from my new tattoo. After I was done, I used a clip to hold my hair on top of my head as I began to wash my body. All and all I think I did a pretty good job keeping my tattoo out of harm’s way, but I was stilling going to have to wake Sleeping Beauty in there to help me clean the tattoo and reapply the ointment Lucas had given us for them.
    After finally waking Jessi, and more or less pushing her into the bathroom so she could take her shower, we doctored our tattoos and set out for the day. We started the morning off with a cup of coffee and small