Alluring Whispers

[Josephine (DELETED 2390)]

I had that nightmare again. Or what passes for one while resting through the daylight hours. The same one I have had since the accident. It is so vivid, like a memory I cannot purge- despite all the changes since two years ago.

I can even remember the smells in the dream. The musty scent of an enclosed car. The musk of Nathiel's colone, the tinge of baby power of the two sleeping babies in the back seat. Closing my eyes now the image is almost there, like the vague outline found after looking into a bright light for too long.

The nightmare changes from scent to sight, moving on to the flash of animal eyes caught in a headlight- the choking terror as Nate curses and slams on the brakes. I slide and see the car hit the human figure with animal eyes, then remembered pain lances through me again as we rebound into the guard rail.

I wake, always, where the children's screaming fades- where the remembered ghost images of pain. My hands tremble now with the after effects of remembered terror and pain

Josephine paused in her writing. The pen was placed down on the desk next to her before hands moved to idly play with her shining blond hair. The sensation was enough to draw her back to the waking world rather than the remembered terror.

For the moment the nightmare was over and the challenge of re-learning everything kept away the pain and grief that still caught her at moments. Teeth plied over her lower lip before she turned to dress and prepare to once more face this new world.