A woman tossed and turned in her bed. Her body was shaking and her breath was labored. Her raven hair was matted and plastered to her face and head. She moaned and groaned as she was in the grips of her night terror. She started to mumble.
“Please… stop… please… leave me alone… I just wanted to learn… please, I don’t want it… why won’t you believe me? I have the evidence… please not her… please don’t take her from me… please… please… take me not her… please… let me go… please… PLEASE!!!” With a wail she launched herself out of her bed in a blind panic. The blankets and sheets wrapped around her feet and legs taking her down. But just as quickly as she went down she was back up with wild eyes. Terror and fear ran rampant through her, her heart pumped, her chest heaved, and sweat beaded her brow.
To calm down, she focused on five things she could see: the open window, her pale blue curtains blowing in the wind, the lush grey carpet of her bedroom floor, the signed picture of Elven Pretzel the king of the music style boulder, and the large queen sized bed. Then four things she could hear: the rumble of traffic from the street below, the slow tick of her clock, her loud harsh breathing, and the soft patter of pawed feet. Three things she could feel: the grain of the wood beneath her toes, the cold sweat drying in the breeze that tickled her skin, and her nails digging into her palms. Two things she could smell: the smell of exhaust from the cars on the busy street, and the smell of sweet roses from the vase that rested on her nightstand. One thing she could taste: she could taste the iron of her blood as it trickled down her throat from where she had bitten her tongue. Slowly her body came down from its adrenaline high.
As her heart slowly stopped pounding, she sunk to her knees and stared blankly at the floor. Her mind was empty. She sat motionlessly as the patter of pawed feet drew nearer, and with them came a cold pink nose that poked her cheek and drew her from her shell. She looked at the soft animal as it rubbed it’s fluffy body on to her side. It looked up at her with it’s ponderous slitted green eyes, and gave a concerned meow.
“I’m alright Butterball. It was just a memory, an old one at that. So no need to worry.” As she tried to reassure her cat, her voice broke, belying how shaken up she really was. Butterball gave her owner a look that clearly stated, ‘huh.’
The woman looked down at her cat and gave a weak chuckle, and rolled her eyes. “Yes I’m completely fine, in fact I am so fine I talk more about my mental problems to my cat than to the therapist that keeps telling me to tell people about my problems. Yep, not crazy at all.” She mumbled to herself as she absentmindedly stroked her cat.
RING RING RING.
The woman startled and she looked around frantically looking for the perceived attacker. Her eyes finally fell on her phone as it began its second round of ringing. She reached for it with her slender fingers and flipped it open. The caller ID read ‘Maple Hedge.’
She answered with a curt but fatigued “Hello?”
“Good morning Ms. Martin, I was calling to remind you that yesterday you switched your 10 o’clock to 8 o’clock. Also your driver William will arrive in ten minutes, and just because I know you, breakfast will be in the car waiting for you.” Maple’s soft but businesslike voice spoke over the line. “Oh, and Morgan… I set aside time that you can go to the foundation, just before the rededication. Afterall it is her birthday.” At this last part her voice softened even more, almost like she was coaxing a small animal, or like a mom speaking to her weeping child.
Tears filled Morgan’s eyes. She had been trying to forget, trying to not dwell in the past, trying to move on, but she just couldn’t. Her throat began to clog with her tears. “Thank you Maple.” She choked out. She quickly whipped her eyes. “Well how is your little bundle of joy?” She tried to keep up a calm facade, as she scrubbed her face clean of her sultry tears.
“Oh she just got her first tooth! But she is still teething so she has been crying alot, and it is tearing poor Bill up that he can’t stop his little girl from crying.” Maple’s voice immediately brightened as she started going on and on about her little four month old Katy. Morgan was finally able to pull herself together as she got ready and listened to her friend babble on. A soft smile played at her lips as she thought about the daughter of her best friend and her goddaughter.
“Well we are here, so you might want to get down here really fast, or we’ll be late.” With that Maple hung up before Morgan could respond, which elicited an irritated groan and then a longsuffering chuckle. Before she left, she turned to check herself over one more time in the mirror. In the mirror, a tall willowy woman looked back, her raven hair was pulled back into a high ponytail, under her warm blue eyes sparkled from under glasses. There were dark circles staining under her eyes, the result of long sleepless nights and the infernal night terrors. Her frame was wrapped in a pair of soft light blue jeans, a light green shirt, a jean jacket, and brown hiking boots.
She quickly put makeup on to cover the dark circles. Once satisfied with her look, she exited her penthouse apartment and took the private elevator to the lobby.
“There you are!” As soon as Morgan exited the elevator she saw Maple. Maple was a short brunette with chestnut brown eyes that sparkled in unadulterated and genuine joy of life. She had been leaning against one of the pillars that lined the opulent lobby, she was wearing a bright red shirt, dark blue jeans, and grey running shoes, which Morgan knew had been tapping the floor with impatience before Morgan had even exited the elevator. Morgan stiffened as Maple looked at her with an impatient look.
“I was coming.” Morgan said petulantly, and puffed her cheeks in annoyance.
“Mhm. That’s definitely what you were doing. It’s not like you were stalling or poorly putting on makeup to cover dark circles under your eyes now was it?” Morgan looked at her friend and saw the worry hiding beneath the impatience. Sometimes Maple was to observant for her own good. “Was it the nightmare?” She looked at Morgan with thinly veiled sympathy.
Morgan bristled at what she considered pity. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I am just fine, in fact last night I had some of the best sleep I’ve had in years.” She looked at her best friend in defiance, daring her to contradict her. But Maple saw through her tough act, and did the one thing that Morgan needed most, she pulled the other woman into her embrace. Finally Morgan couldn’t hold it in anymore, and just cried.
“You don’t always have to be strong. You’re not alone anymore. You have to let me help you. You don’t even have to tell me anything, just… let me be there. I can’t stand to see you like this.” She held her friend and just gently stroked her hair. “Now let’s dry your tears and get to work. There are people that need you, and next weekend you and I are going on a vacation. Just you and me, and you are just going to vent. Okay?” She stepped back from the embrace, held Morgan’s shoulders and looked into her eyes.
“Alright.” Morgan’s voice was quiet and her eyes were watery. She was glad that her friend was so caring and worried about her. She straightened up and walked with Maple out of the building and entered the car waiting for her.
***
Morgan sat looking at the news broadcast on the TV.
“BREAKING NEWS! BILLIONAIRE PHILANTHROPIST MORGAN MARTIN REDEDICATES A GATED COMMUNITY FOR “THE MAYGEN HOME PROTECTION FOR ABUSED, RAPED, AND LOST WOMEN AND CHILDREN.”
“So we are here to discuss the actions of Teny’s own billionaire sweetheart Morgan Martin. Just this morning she rededicated a project that she has been working on for about two years. This is a gated community designed so that women and children who have been raped and abused can feel safe and protected. It is being patrolled and protected by a private security force. This community is very exclusive, so exclusive in fact that all News Crews, police and even heroes have been denied access unless they have a signed warrant. When she announced this it was meet with great controversy, but based on the fact that it is private property and outside of city’s jurisdiction the heroes, police and city council can’t get this restriction lifted without the governor's approval, which is unlikely, based on the fact the governor does not like the heroes of Teny in the slightest.
“At a press conference with Morgan, later in the day, the representatives of the Hero League of Teny, asked her why ‘she who was once an apprentice hero,’ would deny the hero league not only access when on official business, but also refused to let any hero to purchase or rent a home in her gated community, when all other gated communities were begging for even the weakest of heroes to live there. To this she responded, ‘Well, they were never a part of the League now were they?’ Which definitely silenced the representative but also raised many questions about our cities sweetheart. This is Ally Bend on channel five news, back to you Ben.”
Morgan snorted and turned off the Television.
“I don’t know what they think I’ll say. It’s not public knowledge for a reason. They did cover it up after all.” She looked at her reflection. She looked tired, there were great blue bags under her eyes, her cheeks were slightly halow, and her skin was pale and drawn. “I need some sleep.”
With that she stood from her large lazy girl recliner and trudged off to bed, where she collapsed onto her bed and was fast asleep before her head hit the pillow.
