The nightmares of Amy Darling

Amy was muttering curses towards her boyfriend. This was one of those times when she wondered whether she should call him her boyfriend. It was more like friends who fuck at times and share some food, which was not enough at times.

Amy Darling was not a girl to waste her time on unnecessary things, especially those things she considered to be an obstacle. She had broken up with many men before just because they couldn't contribute, or support her job. She was an influencer, and quite a well-known one. She didn't need crap from others.

Arin was different. He was a youtuber himself and their collaboration did well to both of them. He was a pretty face, too handsome for his own good, but garnered a huge number of views and subscribers. She was planning a couple channel, just that he had to fall for this new guy.

It was not the first time he had fallen for another guy. Even though he claimed to be a bi, he was more attracted towards men. He even had a type—the cute, nice people with bright smiles, black hair, brown eyes, height almost the same to his. All the men he had been attracted to in the past had the same feature. If she hadn't known him well enough, she would have suspected him to be a serial killer.

"???"

She stared at the DM for what seemed to be infinity. It was just better to tell the truth, especially when she could feel that there was no hope of him returning. It was not spoken or written anywhere; she could simply feel it in her heart. How many sane people do that, what he did? He literally jumped out of the train with a stranger.

Yes, he did ask for her opinion, but he did not ask for her permission or even had a discussion about it. It was a perfunctory question that he needed to ask to establish his credibility. He had probably decided to follow that guy the moment he laid his eyes on him.

Her phone started ringing. It was Emma again. The annoying girl had been asking for a couple photo shoots and videos for the past ten days. She was a fan but had mad skills in editing. She offered to help her on a new couple based project, a series where they would show glimpses of their life as a couple. Amy had not talked about it with Arin, but she had prepared herself for the idea. It was good.

"Romance always sells well online." The girl had said.

Amy shook her head. She shouldn't have agreed to it. Now Emma was chasing her and one of those crazy fans who would do anything to get a touch of their celebrity crush's life. In the past, Amy had felt proud and liberated in such cases, but there was something wrong about this girl. She picked the call and brought out her thin, cheery tone.

"Hey girl! What's up?"

"You were not replying to my DM so I called. Sorry if it seems intrusive."

She huffed. She had to come up with a good lie now. "It's fine babe, I was just going to reply when you called. Actually, I don't think we'd be able to do it. Sorry about that."

"What do you mean you cannot do it? I have made all the arrangements." She sounded desperate. "Is it about my profile? Or something else?"

"It's not about any of those things. He doesn't feel comfortable to show our personal lives to people on social media, you know how dangerous it is getting nowadays. He wants me to stick to what I am already doing. You get it, right?"

"But this series will make you even more popular than you already are. Do you know how much profit the last couple earned who worked on it with me? How about it, the two of you meet me, and I will explain everything in detail once again. I am sure your boyfriend will understand."

It was not exactly a bad idea to let her talk to Arin directly. It might turn the situation into a win-win one for her. "See, right now he cannot come, because he is not in town. He is taking care of some family business. I can't say when he will be back, nothing is scheduled. I am visiting him the day after tomorrow, why don't you join us?"

"Sounds good to me. Text me the details and I'll meet you." The chirpy voice was gone. Amy texted Jace and Luke, I'll join you. Need to talk to him. She switched off the phone almost the moment the text was delivered. She did not want to talk to anyone, and she knew Arin wouldn't call her. He hadn't since he had left her behind.

Come to think of it, their relationship had never been too intimate.

Their first meet was not even a cute one. It was Jace and Luke who introduced them. The two clowns had been gushing over his distinct work, and his good looks and how lucky they were to have him in their team.

He had looked indifferent, Amy was still not sure whether it was his trick to pick up girls. Maybe it was just him; he was not exactly that kind of person. He was a nerd who knew things about things. He told stories from Greek mythology, quoted poetries; he talked about stars, about religion, about a lot of things she couldn't understand.

Amy was the one who talked to him first. "They have great sushi there, want to try?" He shrugged and joined her. After some awkward conversation, she finally asked him about his work. That was a good move because that had him open up. Later when Amy shared about her dreams and type of work she liked to do, he listened to her, made good comments and gave her good suggestions. After a week Amy proposed to him, but he didn't say yes right away.

Amy did jump into conclusion, took his silence as yes and announced their relationship. He didn't disagree. After another couple of weeks they had started acting like a regular couple, although sex was still not on the table.

If she could, she would go back to that day when she had proposed to him. She drew small stars on his hands and told him a silly fairytale from her childhood. She was drunk, and with a drunk kiss she had declared her love for him.

Now she knew, it was not love. They had never come to love each other. They like each other, care for each other, even worry for each other's well-being, but that was not love. And hence, Amy now thought of all the things she would do if she could go back to that day. She would undo everything, every move, and every step she had taken towards the man.

She decided that she would break up. Arin would never break up with her; he was just too caring towards her, so she had to be the one to do it. She would go and face him, tell him what was in her mind and break up.

It would be a mature affair, not the childish things she did with her past boyfriends. They would still remain friends and for the channel's sake, they would never share the fact publicly. They'd appear as a couple when required. If it brought money then nothing else would matter.

She wanted to sleep well. When you made a decision, you were supposed to sleep well, right? Things turned out well, or maybe not, but the thing is that you needed to make that decision. That was the very first step. Tonight Amy was supposed to sleep well. The nightmare should not haunt her today.

She was walking down an empty street, alone. Her phone had no service. She had to tell something to Arin, something very important, a matter of life and death in a very literal sense. She wanted to leave the street as soon as possible. She started running. Her long dress was flowing behind her, giving an impression of leaving a trail of green darkness as she ran.

She had to leave the street and reach the hotel they were in. only if she remembered earlier how difficult it was to run wearing 6 inch heels. She stopped at a corner and started huffing. Taking off the heels would help but she couldn't run bare feet.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a strong pair of hands that grabbed her from behind. There was a sharp sting in her neck. She screamed loudly, but there was no sound. She could not speak out. A face emerged in her sight—a woman. She had flaming red hair, and beautiful blue eyes. She was not the one who had attacked her, because she was just too thin and weak looking for that. It was somebody else.

Amy realised there was someone still holding her by her neck. They tugged her hair, and hissed something. It was a language she didn't know, and didn't care. She had to reach Arin.

She never felt so helpless and scared in her short twenty two years of life. Was she going to die? She was too young to die, wasn't she? She wanted to beg for her life, or make an excuse, or come up with a clever lie. It was not that difficult, just she had to open her mouth and say something.

Now that was the difficult part. She couldn't speak. As time passed, she realised she couldn't even breathe. She realised what that sting was in her neck. It was the drug that was sending her to oblivion. No, she was not fainting. She was dying. She was being murdered, just like she had thought of.

Strange, how her imagination was turning into a reality. Wasn't it also a dream? A nightmare that had kept her up for several nights lately. It was the same nightmare that screamed at her, begging her not to leave her house or make new friends.

Her nightmare had turned into a reality and she had nobody around her to help.

"I am sorry, Amy. You seem like a sweet girl, but you have to understand, my life depends on it. I have to do it,' the red-head said grimly. At least she was not behaving like those phoney villains from tv series, smirking and telling her the whole plan because dead people told no tales.

She was feeling cold now. Her body was stiffened, and somewhat numb. She felt the touch of the concrete of the road, but it didn't pain her when she fell. The strong hands had let her go. "Should we make sure?" A man said, in a very known voice. Gruff, rushed, like he had a lot of things to do after this. "No need, she will cause no problem. Just make sure nobody finds her."

There, it was probably the last thing she was going to hear. She was dying. Before she died, there was just one more thing she needed to do. She needed to talk to Arin. She tried to open her mouth and utter his name one last time. "Arin…"

When she made a decision, she was certain that the nightmare would stop. But there it was, still haunting her. She sat up on her bed, coughing. Her dog Jumbo jumped away from her, out of her reach. She coughed for a while, then tried to calm herself. She inhaled and exhaled, and grabbed the glass full of water from the bedside table. Jumbo was still sitting away from her; he was visibly scared of her.

"You know, Jumbo, this is when I need a hug."

It was two in the morning. Today was the day she was going to meet Arin. She was scared to face him now.