' Sweet dreams are made of this..

Who am I to disagree?

I travel the world

And the seven seas,

Everybody's looking for something

***

Music blasted through her headphones and Nessa hummed at the sharp tune, tapping her feet to the beat of the music blasting on high volume. Swaying her head gently from left and right, she scrolled through instagram on her mobile, leaning back on her headboard, completely oblivious to her surroundings.

A small smile crept up her pale face as she tapped the screen twice and a heart shaped icon popped up over a photo she couldn't stop ogling. Nothing but a good beautiful phone to leave her grinning like a fool.

The Samsung Z flip she was drooling about looked too good to be true. Her hands itched to have them in their soft grip, showing off the phone like she showed off herself to the world. Rich. Classic. Latest Fashion.

Those three things appealed to her. Nothing else mattered.

Tucking her Iphone 11 pro max away, she laid back on her soft pillows, a hand over her forehead and one rubbing down her tummy as if reassuring herself of something. She wasn't quite sure what it was but either way, she needed it.

"Hold your head up, keep your head up, movin' on," she mumbled, singing along with Eurythmics.

Just outside her window, a cold breeze swept through the forest and thunder rumbled softly in the dark sky. Droplets of rain hit the window, drooling down like silent tears.

Behind the closed windows, the curtains moved freely to the tunes of the wind.

How could this be possible? The windows were locked, even the doors were shut.

But Nessa was oblivious to all these happening around her. The cries of the crow couldn't beat the sound of the music in her ears, the sudden action of her window flinging open as the cold began to creep in, still couldn't beat down Eurythmics beat.

She shivered lightly, goosebumps taking form on her delicate and oversensitive skin, but did she raise? No. Did her eyes even flutter open? No. She just laid there, her thoughts occupied with the task of trying to rest.

Indeed she needed it. She had a long day. Today was the 7th Year Anniversary of her mother's beloved twin sister and Nessa could not not go. As far as her memories could take her before going foggy — of course —her aunt was one of the sweetest people anyone could ever come across.

But unfortunately, her Aunt died 7 years ago, on this day. She was found dead in the woods, her body eaten by crows. When they found her, she was more like a zombie. With a shotgun in her hand and knives strapped to her leather boots. Her aunt must've gone hunting, as usual, and Nessa would always go with her but that day...

Her memory was all fogged up so she couldn't tell if she was there or not and thankfully, she was glad it was the latter.

She could remember staring into the empty eye socket of her aunt as she laid in the coffin. Her mouth was jerked open but it led deeper and darker into a hollow void without any sign of the pink flesh of a tongue. She laid there, her cheekbones very visible like that of Mamá Imelda Rivera in the movie, Coco.

She looked like she was sucked up from the inside...

The rain grew heavy and the thunder roared with such vehemence that could assure a heart attack but somehow not loud enough to stir Nessa from her thoughts as the music blasted through her headphones.

Nessa

It was as if the wind had a voice on its own, gently calling out her name on a sigh, more like that one word was dancing with the breeze, floating with it like a feather slowly making its way to the ground. The curtains swayed as the name made its way past them, brushing against their smooth form leaving echoes behind as it moved towards the brunette girl lying on a queen sized bed.

Invisible words, but still they were heard but not to the girl lying there, feigning sleep.

' Sweet dreams are made of this

Who am I to disagree

I traveled the world and..

Eurythmics continued, already at the end of her song.

' The seven seas

Everybody is... Nessa'

Her eyebrows twitched, scrunching in a frown and easing out. Unable to decide on one as she was indeed confused...

Nessssss

This time it was a hiss. Gentle, slow, and yet again, impatient.

She waited and as the song died down, she heard every noise around. For some reason, her breathing came out shallow and controlled. She could feel eyes boring into her and all of a sudden, cold hands gripped her and pulled...

She jerked, and with a sharp intake of air, yanked her hand away by reflex.

"Jeez! You scared me!" Nessa said as she placed a hand over her beating heart and the other pulled away the headphones.

"Scared you? Speak some sense. I've been calling out your name for hours now." her Mother rolled her blue eyes as she shook her head. She dropped the laundry basket on the bed as she began to take out the clothes. Her hands stopped midway when she caught sight of the opened window.

"Nessa!" she groaned and made her way there. "It's raining and you left your window open, what is wrong with you?"

"I didn't do that!" Nessa said, confused as she stared at the now soaked curtains. She couldn't even remember the last time she left her windows open.

Sammy turned to give her daughter a sarcastic look. "Sure you didn't," she said, rolling her eyes and shaking her head at her daughter's forgetfulness. "The window just…got mad and decided to punish you by helping the rain soak your curtains—"

"It wasn't me," Nessa groaned and fell back on her bed. She grabbed a pillow and laid it over her face, trying to block out her Mother's scolding.

The woman just never took her seriously.

"Nessa, get out of bed. Dinner's ready." her Mother said with firm persistence and walked out of the room.

Left for Nessa, she would rather have her food in her room but her Mother would have none of that; always wanting to do things together as a family.

Not like Nessa had a problem with 'family'. She just believed she was a teenager and had her own things to deal with. Eating together was the least of her problems right now.

But under her mother's roof meant under her rules. So she had better not skip dinner!

She walked down the stairs in a haste and as expected, the sweet aroma of mouth watering delicacies filled the air.

Nothing like a good meal after a long stress—filled day!

"Well look who decided to show up."

Nessa chuckled and made her way to where her little brother sat glaring at her like she took away the most precious thing he owned. She ruffled his overly gelled black hair and he pushed at her hand.

"Stop, stop. It took a lot of time to look this good," he said, irritated at her actions.

"What do you know about good looks?" She took her seat beside him. Her eyes went to the food as she decided on which to start tearing first.

"Enough, you two." Sammy intervened, "I'm already stressed out from today. Let's just have dinner and go to bed." she indirectly pleaded, as she spread the napkin over her thighs.

A word of prayer was said, as usual, thanking the Lord for providing their daily meal and all Nessa did was roll her eyes.

Their 'daily meal' was thanks to their mothers hard work, nothing more.

Or maybe she felt that way because she wasn't big on religion or spirituality,

***

Their Mother kept them occupied with her jewelry company. One that she started alongside her twin, Jammie, whose death still got to her.

The two had been inseparable. Nothing came between them, nothing, but death.

"So, Ness, how are you and Kaitlyn doing?" Sammy asked with a bright smile on her face. One that Nessa knew too well.

"Stop it, Mom." she sighed exasperatedly.

"No honey, I know you're very upset with her but you have to let it go—"

"Just like that?" She asked flatly, not the least convinced.

Sammy gave a nod, " You two have been friends since middle school—

"Well that doesn't justify what she did—"

Hunter groaned, "So Kaitlyn recorded you saying you have a huge crush on Adams Aldrich and now everyone knows! Big deal!" His chubby cheeks made him look like an adorable kid, only he had an ugly attitude of not keeping his mouth shut when he was supposed to.

"How do you know that?" Nessa asked in one breath.

"It's everywhere on the School's website and YouTube, duh!" he rolled his eyes.

She turned to her Mother, leaned back on her chair, folded her arms and gave her the silent; 'You were saying?' Look.

Sammy's eyes were already wide with shock at Hunter's words. As she locked gazes with Nessa, she could only imagine what she must be feeling. Quickly she turned back to her food.

"Now moving to a less embarrassing situation," Hunter said with relief in his voice as his cheeks puffed up with a smile on his lips.

That got Sammy's attention.

"Guess who got a B minus in Geometry?" Sammy's eyes widened. "Not me!"

"Nessa!"

"You went through my stuff?" Nessa bellowed as she glared at her brother who was so impossible.

"I couldn't help not noticing it, it was just…lying inside your bag," the boy said innocently, lifting his hands as his shoulder came up in a shrug.

"B minus?" Sammy's questioning tone tore through her like a hot blade and Nessa only wished she could shove her annoying brother's face down the toilet.

She looked over at him, to where he was busy with his food like he didn't just drop a bomb.

"We got a new teacher—" she started to explain.

"Well a new teacher doesn't mean a new subject," Sammy scolded. "You know how I am about your grades dropping." she said the words like they had ever been another time when one grade dropped. Nessa had always maintained A's parallel. She was one of the best students the school had ever had. Alongside Kaitlyn, which was of course, thanks to Nessa. And James, the brightest student and her best friend as well.

"Do I have to get you a tutor?" Sammy sighed.

"No need, Mom. I'll ask for a retest and before that, get James to teach me some things."

As suitable as the word "Tutor" described that, she would never use it.

They made a deal and Nessa could finally breathe normally. She made a mental note to lock her bedroom as she shot him a sideways look.

***

Wiping her hands with a towel, she moved away from the sink and paced the kitchen, searching for anything she could put away now before her Mother would get her downstairs. Again.

The only sound that could be heard was the rain hitting the roof one at a time...glancing over at the sink, she noticed that it was just the tap— she could've sworn she closed it tightly— dropping one drop at a time.

Well, that wouldn't hurt anybody. Ignoring it, she dumped the towel on the floor and made her way to her room, to which she found the window open. Again!

Water was already on the floor by her window side and as she hurried to close it, a strong breeze blew at her from the open window in a rush, and goosebumps formed on her skin.

Grabbing the knob, she pulled the window closed, leaning her head on it as she gasped for air.

"Nessa,"

At the mention of her name, she spun on her heels, wanting to scold who dared enter her domain without knocking but the black dust she came face to face with was enough to make her swallow down her heart.

Her eyes widened at the sight. Cold shivers ran down her spine in the face of danger. She wanted to run away, but her legs felt like frozen slabs of ice.

But before she could act, something from nowhere hit her cheek, knocking her unconscious as she fell to the floor.