Destiny

I woke up covered in sweat and my heart racing. “What-what the heck was that?” My breathing was heavy. It felt like I was about to die, for real. I lowered my head and tried to calm down. My heart wouldn’t slow down, I felt it pounding against my chest more and more. I took a deep breath to calm down, it helped very little.

“Destiny!” I jumped at the sound of my mom’s voice.

“C-coming!” I shouted. I got out of bed, but fell because of my weak legs. They were shaking like they were scared stiff. I heard my mother call me again, but this time with more anger. I mustered all my strength to stand and walk downstairs. I used the wall and railing for support. When I reached the living room, I found grandma in her chair and mom and dad on the couch. Axel was the only one who wasn’t there, so I assumed that he was in his room.

“Yes, mother,” I said with one hand on the wall.

“Go make dinner! The sun went down hours ago, you should’ve been making dinner!”

“Yes, mother. I’ll make it right away.”

“Good, and remember your father and I will be going to town tomorrow morning, so I expect all the chores to be done.”

“Yes, mother.” With those final words, I left to get dinner ready.

I tried not to let my weakness show, but someone already caught onto it. “Why are you holding onto the wall?” Axel asked with suspicion.

“Why can’t I?” I replied. Suspicion was written all over his face. I knew the only way to escape his suspicion was to let go of the wall. I carefully let my hand fall to my side, but my legs were shaking still. I put on a smile and walked away. However, to my hatred, Axel followed me.

I did my best to walk as normal as possible, but Axel kept his eye on me. When we reached the kitchen, I felt my legs ready to give up. “Satisfied?” I asked.

He looked at me straight in the face and answered, “No.”

I was so confused. I walked all the way here, clearly, I was fine.

“Destiny, you can't fool me. What happened?”

Axel’s eyes showed worry, there was no point in lying to him. “Can I tell you after dinner? Mom and dad will get mad if I stop to tell you.”

“Alright.”

Axel helped me to prepare dinner. We barely spoke, both while we were making and eating dinner. He even helped me clean up, despite mom’s objectives. When everything was clean, we went upstairs. No one questioned where we were going since it was late. We entered my room and sat on the bed.

“Now that we’re alone,” he said as he sat on my bed, “tell me what’s wrong with your legs.”

I sighed and told him about my dream, which made him worry even more. “Destiny, that’s two nights in a row. Why are you having these nightmares?”