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No...

I couldn't scream. My mouth had been gagged. The forest was so dark, and all I hear was the wind rustling the leaves. I was tied to one of the trees. The rope cut into my chest and the tree dug into my back, sending searing pain ripping through my body. So dark. I glanced up, searching for light. The sky was completely black except for that white circle shining through the trees. Where am I? "Nnnggg..." I rolled my head, trying to adjust for my breathing. My chest hurts... I glanced to my left, peering through the trees for an exit or a sign of another living person. Somebody help me...

And there it was. That pale white face with the bloodred, carved smile jagged across his skin, the black hair a border to blend his face with the darkness. A knife in his hand.

"Go to sleep."

And those eyes. Lidless brown eyes. Staring eagerly into mine. He's reaching out to me with the knife. Scraping it across my face. Pain in my sore cheek told me that he had pierced the skin. He put his free hand over my face as he pressed it in harder. "Nngg!"

"Just go to sleep..."

"Alex! Alex wake up!"

My eyes shot open and Destri's face was just above mine. Worry was written all over it, visible even in the dim light. His computer must be on nearby. The floor is so hard... "Man, I thought you weren't going to wake up. Alex, you're super hot... I think you have a fever."

It took me a minute to realize I was crying. Why am I crying? Why can't I move? "I don't feel anything," I mumbled.

And then the dream came back. That haunting face.

I struggled into a sitting position, glancing around the room. My stuff was in the corner there, by the computer. Band posters covered the walls, and his clothes were strewn across the floor. I'm guessing that they had made the pillow my head was on. Every few seconds his face would come into my head again. I shut my eyes tight, trying to squeeze him out. But he would push back. With that knife. I could even feel the pain in my chest and my cheek, like it had really happened.

"Destri, I keep seeing his face," I whispered, wiping my eyes. His eyes were on me the whole time. There was a lot of sweat too though, so maybe he didn't notice. "He was cutting me up like he was going to eat me..." Destri got up and went into his bathroom. -"and he told me to go to sleep and I was tied up and gagged and in that forest and couldn't move or speak and it hurt so much..."

He came back with some damp paper towels and a couple pill bottles. "These should help," he said, sitting down before me and opening the bottles.

I took the paper towels and wiped my forehead. "Thank you," I said. It was so suddenly cool that it made me lightheaded. "Lay back down, stupid," he said, pushing me down. He handed me the pills, five total, and I swallowed them. Gross. But I felt better already. Until I thought about that dream... Damnit... How had I gotten there in that forest in the first place? How did he get me all tied up? What was he going to do? That knife... Was this like a premonition? Was this really going to happen tomorrow?

"Hey..." Destri nudged my arm. "It was just a dream. It's going to be fine. And I'm there too. Nothing will happen."

His ceiling looks so far away. I don't want to go tomorrow. He's going to kill me. The fever must be taking over, because I was slowly losing sight of Destri's face, black hair, staring down at me. Reassuring.

"Ok. Ok, I know."

He's going to kill me.