The Chosen Path

Jake woke up to the sound of footsteps on the stairs. He was thirsty anyway so he got up to go down to the kitchen. He saw Emily at the bottom of the steps, and she headed towards the living room.

He went down the stairs and frowned as she opened the back door. Instead of heading to the kitchen as planned, he followed her out the back door.

Emily pulled off a long white nightgown and revealed a white string bikini. Jake swallowed hard as he admired her body. She dove into the pool and started doing laps.

"Hey, Em," Jake called to her, sitting on a lounge chair next to the pool.

Emily stopped swimming and came to the edge of the pool and smiled.

"Come on in, the water's great!" She pulled back her long wet hair out of her face.

"Um, Em. Do you realize it's, like, three in the morning?" Jake asked concerned.

"Who cares about the time!" Emily laughed and swirled around in the pool. "It's paradise here! No worries. No worries. No one comes up here and we have no one to bother us!"

She smiled at him mischievously. "Come on in, Jake."

"Naw, you go ahead, Em. I'm too tired to swim," Jake answered, watching her curiously. She didn't seem like herself.

She laughed and continued to swirl around the pool. "Loosen up, Jake! You're in California now!"

"You okay, Emily?" Jake called out. Perhaps she'd been drinking, he thought to himself.

He was concerned not only of her behavior, but she was also starting to cough as she swallowed water.

"I'm fine. Just fine," she answered and coughed again, going under water. Jake waited for her to come up, but after a few seconds she didn't.

"Emily!" Jake called loudly. She still didn't come up. He could see her figure near the bottom of the pool. She didn't move. Jake dove in and swam to the bottom. He put his arm around her waist and pulled her to him.

Jake saw her eyes open and then suddenly they turned a glowing red. Emily pulled him toward her and pulled him down.

Her face disappeared and her body turned into dark black fog that surrounded him. Jake couldn't pull free. His lungs burned in lack of air. He tried to hit the fog but he could hardly move.

"Jake!" he heard Emily's voice call. "Jake, wake up! It's just a dream! Just wake up!"

The fog grew tighter around him. Its eyes glowed angrily at him. Jake could feel its hatred towards him.

"Jake!" Emily called again, louder this time.

Jake struggled against the fog. He thought of Emily's beautiful face, her enticing green eyes. He longed to see her again and he longed for fresh air. Jake felt if he didn't do something, and quickly, he was going to drown to death.

Jake pushed with all his might away from the dark fog. He felt air starting to rush towards him. He gasped and opened his eyes.

Emily was on his bed, holding down his wrists against the mattress. George was at the door and Raven was peeking behind him. Jake sat up, he felt his body drenched in sweat. Emily sat away from him. Ray came in with a glass of water and handed it to Jake.

"You okay?" Emily asked, her voice wavering in worry.

Jake took several gulps of the water. "Yeah," he said with a gasp. "Sorry guys. Bad dream." He set the glass down on the nightstand.

"No prob, man." George eyed him, not hiding the concern that was written all over his face.

Emily still sat next to Jake on his bed. She took his hand "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked, her eyes filled with tears.