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really needed him, he was trying to turn the situation into some wrong doing on my part. We were both standing now, right up in each other’s faces, shouting. My eyes were starting to tear up, which angered me even more than the things he was saying. I hated showing any weakness in front of him.
    But the watering wouldn’t stop, making me angrier and making them water even more. What a repulsive endless cycle. My head was starting to hurt, right along with the ache in my heart. “Alex, please help me make sense of this!” Choking up, I added, “I need you right now.”
    I didn’t really believe that though. At times I felt like I needed him, but it wasn’t really him that I needed. I wasn’t even sure why we were still trying at this. Or maybe that was the real problem, we both had stopped trying a long time ago.
    “Whatever, Allison, I am not the one who has been running away. Everyone knows how you feel about me now. You don’t even love me anymore. You haven’t in years. I just can’t figure out why. What did I not do for you? I have been here for you and Sam. I have helped support you both. We got engaged just like you wanted. What more do you…”
    He stopped with the abrupt change in my facial expression, from sorrow to complete horror. It was at that exact moment I smelled it again. No, I smelled him again! Him – the bloodcurdling, petrifying man Rick called Damien. This could not be a dream now. All of today had definitely happened. He was really coming. Coming for me! “Oh shit!” I let out under my breath, not really meaning to.
    “What is it, Allison? What?” Finally he seemed truly concerned about my feelings, though now it may be too late.
    “You don’t smell that… that nasty smell?” Scared, I started looking around frantically. “We have to get out of here, now!” I cried, already running toward my car.
    I did not even stop to look behind me to see if Alex was following me. This was my dream coming true, I was running through trees away from him, and I was terrified. No, saying that I was terrified was an understatement. I feared not only for my life, but the anguish that he inflicted on me every time I saw him.
    Then there he was, standing right in front of me with his perfectly white teeth gleaming through his evil smile. I was sure that I would never feel that agony again, yet here it was. My knees buckled under me and I fell on my knees to the ground. How could this be happening, I mean really happening? This could not be possible. Everything around me went black. Just like my dream, my sight was gone. My sense of touch went next. I no longer felt the ground beneath me despite knowing that it was there. I was filled with despair and defeat. Tears streamed down my face. I was more than ready to give up, until I heard my name called twice, once from the husky voice I had just been talking to and once from the older, deeper voice that I knew to be Rick’s.
    Slowly, I felt a calming, hopeful feeling wash over me, like warm water filling up around you in a bathtub. It was different than my dream though. This time it was not coming from my core, or from me at all, it was coming from behind me, and it felt wonderful and safe.
    I vaguely heard voices around me, though I could not make out what they were saying. I knew that one was Rick, and one was deeper, which was odd because Rick had a very deep voice. This new voice was more like a growl and it was saying something about, “…they die so easily anyway...” And then from Rick, “…leave him out…has no power...” then something else.
    I tried to focus, to clear my mind. The calming hope that surrounded me offered some much needed relief. I used it as an anchor for my wandering consciousness and was finally able to open my eyes, only to wish I hadn’t.
    I saw Damien push forward a pitch black wind, like the purple haze I had seen leave my hands last night. It moved to cover Alex who was laying on the ground writhing in pain, his