The final dream... Finally :)
I must have fallen asleep in the computer room, as I'm rudely awoken by someone forcefully jarring my chair. I catch my balance as I almost fall out of it and stare at the culprit. A face I know all too well. My own. I'm terrified and confused. I know St. Sebastian and I tied her up and left her to die against that Grecian piller almost a year ago. How'd she get free? I see there are ragged remnants of her bonds still clinging to her wrists. She is gaunt and emaciated. "Christ, bitch!" I hiss at her. "Don't you fucking die?"
Jessie cackled and sauntered over to me, gliding her hands over my chest before digging her fingers into my shoulders. I cringe in pain, though would never give her the satisfaction of hearing me yelp. "Not when I'm surviving off those table scraps you don't even realize you're throwing to me." She tightened her grip and I gritted my teeth against it. "I'm back to claim what's rightfully mine." She leaned closer to me. "We can be a partnership again, baby. You and I. We ruled your little world, and we ruled it something divine, didn't we?" I pushed her away from me, but she reeled herself back in. "You know you want me back." She leaned even closer yet. "Jessie!" She whispered into my ear. I jumped from my chair to escape her grasp. She stared at me sarcastically dejectedly. "You loved me until he came along. I never thought a man would come between us, baby." She sneered.
I shook my head and laughed. "No. It wasn't him. I did it for me." She slid into my chair and threw a leg over the side, twirling a lock of her hair.
"You keep telling yourself that, little girl." She giggled. "And when he finally leaves you high and dry for a cuter ass and a prettier face, what then?" She sat up. "I'll tell you. You'll realize how so alone you are without me. How incomplete you are with out me. And you'll know you pushed me away... the one person who never abandoned you... who never called you into question for your own mind, your convictions or your way with words." She winked at me. "You'll realize you did it all for him." She approached me again. "Bros before hoes, baby."
"You disgust me." I scoffed at her. "You never called me into question because it was all you." I turned to leave.
"You've got nowhere to run." She smiled at me. "You dug you're own grave here." I felt an icy chill run down my spine. "Go ahead. Try and run." She was suddenly over my shoulder. "Try it!" She growled. Fight or flight kicked in full force and I flew up the stairs. The stairs went on for a mile it seemed, but I ran as fast as I could. I felt as if my lungs were going to burst within my chest, but I pushed on with all my strength. She somehow stayed on my heels. I thought I'd never reach the end, but dove at the landing when it was in sight. I skidded across the floor and scrambled to my feet and slid towards the back doors. They were locked. I pounded at them and yanked on them with all the power I had, and they remained steadfast. I whirled past Jessie as fast as my feet could carry me only to discover the same with the front door. "I think you'll need these." I looked at her spining a ring of large keys around her finger. "Every door. Every window."
My heart sank. "You locked them all?"
She laughed. "Don't give me that much credit." I was confused. "You did." With a speed faster than anything physically possible, she placed herself directly in front of me. "You're all mine, little girl." Her voice and eyes were so hollow, it frightened me to the core. In a flash, I found her hand around my throat, squeezing. "And trust me. I know what you'd say now. But I'd rather have us both dead than lose my territory!" She bellowed at me increasing the pressure on my neck. I felt myself start to slip out of consciousness but fought as hard as I could. My eyes scanned for a way out. I saw a fellow dressed in black standing off in the shadows, his arms crossed. His head was down but he gazed at me through his lengthy raven locks as I struggled against Jessie.
"You need to things." I heard his voice in my head though he never physically uttered a word. "A backbone and a bag of tricks. I hope you came prepared." With those words he was gone. I searched my entire being for evidence of either of those and felt a surge of strength rocket through me. My hands searched the surface of the kitchen table she had me pinned against. Something cold and metalic met my fingers. I felt around this object and found the handle and gripped it tightly.
"What are you smiling at?!" She roared. I kept my eyes glued to her and with what little courage and strength I had left, I swung as hard as I could, embedding a blade in her temple. She stared at me at first, as if unscathed. Her grip became stronger and I choked for air. I watched her head begin to twitch, and a grimace spread across her face where a tryumphant grin once was. "You little bitch." She growled at me. Smoke began to pour from the wound, her nose, mouth and eyes. Her face was contorted in the most horrifying of ways and she let out the loudest, highest pitch scream I'd ever heard. I thought for certain my ears were about to bleed. She began to tremble. Her hand became firey hot to the touch and was burning my neck. With an unearthly explosion, she erupted, sending her black blood everywhere, knocking me onto, across and off the table.
It took me a second to recooperate from the impact, but as soon as I could, I had scrambled to my feet and searched the blast radius for those keys. They layed in a puddle of the black goo. I picked them up, dripping with the putrid stuff, and rushed to the back door, and unlocked it, only to see, to my horror, my home had become an impervious citadel. "Fuck!" I screamed. I felt as if I'd never get out. I felt around in the darkness for something. A fault in the walls, a gateway. To my relief, there was a large wooden door. I tugged on it and, like every other door and window in the place, it was locked. But I fumbled with the keys again. It took all my strength to pull it open, but after it began to crack, the most brilliant of sunlight poured in, excelorated by an incredible gust of wind that knocked me off my feet. So many familiar faces stood in that sunlight, and I felt safe to see them. My parents. Jonathan, Eric, Jess, Chris. My father. They paraded in. In this light, I saw how poorly constructed these walls were. Mo mortar, no cement. They were stones balanced upon eachother, held with rotting wood beams and support. I laughed outloud. "Heads up!" I called out, and gave a kick to the nearest wood beam. It crumbled under the impact and the wall tumbled down. More sunlight poored in. I saw Jon, Jess and Chris smile at the sight and each ran off and began kicking down the other supports. I took out two more. The crumbling of the walls took a short amount of time, but was unbelievably gratifying. I watched the dust settle and the light pour in. It was amazingly brilliant. But there was a face missing in my crowd.
I ventured outside of where the walls once stood, to find Ian sitting on the ground. His back against a tree. I gently touched his shoulder. He seemed startled to see me. I reached out my hand to him and helped him to his feet. "You all better now?" He asked.
I smiled at him and gave him a hug. "I'm getting there fast." I walked with him, hand in hand, towards the others who'd come to join the celebration of my release. My release once and for all.