Nightmares
Posted on May 21st, 2000 by Chloe Tiernee

Part One

It had been awhile since Chloe had danced. The light blue leotard hugged her frame, and the soft, knee-length see through dance skirt twirled around her as she danced around the the ballet studio, perfectly made by the holo-emitters. There was even rays of sunlight coming through a window, that cast rainbow streaks on the floor.

She had been dancing for a few hours already, in need of some diversion and some alone time to think. Chloe wasn’t sure what she needed to think about, but she heeded her intuition and took a desperately needed break.

Waddling to the barre, in her her pointe shoes, which did look funny if you were just walking in them, stood there and did a few stretches to cool herself down. Catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror, she tilted her head and brushed back a golden lock of hair. Chloe had never really liked the way she looked, and she gently explored her face with her finger, running it along her cheeks and poking at her lips. What did Allen see in her, anyway? All she saw was a plain, down-to-earth girl from a good Irish family, who had eccentricities, loved medicine, and music and dancing, and good Irish food.

Taking a towel, she wiped the diamond-like beads of sweat off her face and took a seat on the floor. She took her pointe shoes off and rubbed at her feet. They could be very tough on delicate toes like hers, but she just loved ballet too much to stop. It felt refreshing to be dancing again, there had hardly been anytime for it.

Putting on some more comfortable shoes, sandals, she stood, “Computer arch, if ye please..”

It complied and the arch appeared and she walked out of it, heading to the turbolift. She yawned and murmured her deck number and waited silently as the TL moved it’s way through the ship. As it stopped, she stepped out, walked a few paces and entered her quarters.

She slowly took off her clothes and slipped on a satin nightgown, and then pulled down the covers and slipped into her bed. Closing her eyes, and felt very tired and entered deep sleep with little trouble.

It was dark, and it was dreary … foggy and cold. Chloe shivered as she walked down the street, the cobblestones making out her footsteps in an echoing sound. She heard another echoing of footsteps and looked behind her, a man was following her, darkly dressed and gaining up on her. She started walking faster, and so did he. Then she started running. Suddenly, she was tackled from behind and he wielded a knife.

“I love you, ” he whispered and the knife came whishing by her throat….

She sat up in bed screaming, clutching at her throat and gasping for air. It took her a few moments to gain her composure back and she got up quickly from her bed and turned on every light in her quarters. Then she sat in her bed, the blanket swaddled around her … she couldn’t sleep anymore that night.

 

Part Two

Things had been so busy, in Sickbay, and well, Chloe hadn’t gotten much sleep lately. Any moment that she even dozed off… even for a second, she had this undeniable feeling, this dread and fear. Even more disturbing… it was a feeling of something, or someone, being with her constantly… and this energy was anything but good.

Personally, she thought that maybe she had been working too much lately. Knowing that Caine seemed to suspect something was going on, Chloe tried to her hardest to go through her shift with amazing grace and calmness, though the drudges of exhaustion was obviously creeping up on her.

As she entered her quarters at the end of her shift, she felt apprehensive and secretly wished that Allen was there with her, but even though she was afraid, she felt foolish calling him to keep the bad dreams away. Almost like a child.

Right away, she lay down on her bed, not even bothering to change out of her on-duty uniform. So tired, her eyes immediately drooped into a deep slumber.

The warm sun was shining, and Allen lay by the edge of the pool, and Chloe, who was floating around in the water could see he was dozing. She smiled and started to float towards him, taking small swimming strokes. The cool water felt good on her body, it was just the most perfect day.

The air got eerily still… the breeze that had been blowing quite steadily seemed to stop, and there was just a silence. Chloe could feel, and hear the water behind her move, and she whirled around to find a hand on her face, being pushed down into the crystal clear water.

Being shocked, she gasped automatically, a rush of chlorinated water going into her lungs, she forced herself to the surface, trying to call out to Allen, who was still sleeping by the edge. She was grabbed from behind again, pulled under .. looking up at the glistening surface of the water from underneath hearing a whispering voice …

“You’ll soon die, Chloe…. you’ll all die.”

… surreal and almost tranquil, as she gasped in more watery breaths .. the life draining from her ….

Coughing, her eyes opened wide, almost startled. She had her hands on her throat, desperately gasping for air. She sat up and coughed, the air finally becoming easier to breathe in. Slowly calming down .. she glanced down at her blanket and gasped once more.

There, soaked into the blanket, was water … and she touched her chin, feeling that it was indeed water, and it was indeed … the aroma of chlorine. But.. it had been a dream.. hadn’t it?