Nightmares

Isla reached out her hands trying to touch the happy couple in front of her. The man was wrapping both his arms around the woman waist. They stood face to face, staring at each other with a lovely eyes, gently kissing each other. They only had eyes for each other.

Isla stood still, but still trying to reached out her hands to touch them. She can't move her body as if they were glued to the ground. Tears were falling from her eyes.

While Isla was staring at them with a broken heart, the man turned his face to her. Isla looked at him with a little hope in her eyes. But the man smirked at her. Isla's face was darkened. She was full of pain. Once again, the man eyes were glued at the woman standing in front of him. His expression experienced a 360° change. He looked at her with so much love that made the woman heart fluttered. She kissed him on the cheek, a little smile on her face. She wrapped her arm around his arm. They turned their back at Isla and started walking slowly, afar from her.

Isla was shouting and calling them "No! Don't leave me! Please!" She tried to move her body but she failed once again. She shouted and struggled to move her body again and again. Suddenly she felt dizzy and collapsed on the ground. She closed her eyes slowly as she watched them walking away from her.

Isla finally opened her eyes. Her whole body was covered with cold sweat. She heaved a sigh of relief as she noticed where she was. She was sleeping in her room. She was having another nightmare. One of the worst nightmare!

Though 8 years had already passed, her memories still haunted her. But these days, she doesn't have nightmares as much as before.

Isla slowly get up and abruptly sit on the bed. She rubbed her eyes gently. She looked at the clock beside her bed. It was already 7 in the morning. As she tried to prepared herself to take a bath, her phone went off. It was a call from Sylvia, her older sister. She picked up the call.

"Hello."

"Isla, did I wake you up?"

"No. I'm just trying to take a bath." Isla stood up and pick out some clothes.

"Are you okay?" Sylvia noticed that Isla's voice was different from the other times.

"I'm fine. It's just a nightmare." Isla forced a smile.

"Nightmare? I thought you already stopped having a nightmare." Sylvia asked with a worried voice.

"Yeah. It didn't occur as much as before. The last time was two months ago." Isla tried to reassurred her older sister, who was very protective of her.

"Okay. Then, I won't take much of your time. I'll try to visit you during your vacation. Take care." Sylvia ended the call.

As soon as the call ended, Mrs. Campbell quickly spoke to Sylvia. "So, how's she doing? Is she alright?" There was a worried expression on her face.

"Yes, mom. She's fine. She's having a nightmare again, but she's fine." Though Sylvia knew very clear that the nightmare will affect Isla, she didn't wanted her mother to worry so much as she was the type to overthink.

Mrs. Campbell stared at the window and thought about Isla. Nightmare again? What exactly happened to her? She recalled the day they left Houston. While she and her husband were packing their clothes early in the morning, Isla came to them. She said that she wanted to returned to New York with them. They didn't asked her much questions as they thought that she didn't want to be away from them. They don't even had any suspicion.

But from that day, Isla was like a new person. She spoke little and rarely laugh. She lived like that for six years. She studied very hard and she was always at the top of her class. She even got a Bachelor degree in Political Science from Felit University, Boston, Massachusetts; one of the top universities in the country. Currently, she's studying JD at Felit Law School.

For the past two years, Isla's mental and physical health were greatly improved, thanks to someone. Her nightmare had also went down a lot.

Many times, Isla's parents had tried to asked her what happened to her. But she never spoke up. She always refused to tell them. She'll say "It's nothing, I'm fine" all the time. But her actions never matched her words. Her carefree behaviour were gone for a very long time. But she improved a lot from two years ago. Though she can't be as normal as 8 years ago, her life became a bit better for the past 2 years.

She stayed alone at Boston for the past five years - four years for earning Bachelor degree in Political Science at Felit University and one year as first year JD student at Felit Law School. This is her sixth year of staying alone and her second year at the law school.

Isla's mother recalled how Isla changed during the past eight years. She sighed and showed a worried face. As a mother, she was always hurt to the core whenever she thought about how much Isla suffered due to all the nightmares....