Today is our first day of winter break. I’m Amy, typical small town girl with two best friends; Cooper and Lexie. Cooper is the quiet type and kind to everyone, unless you do something wrong to his friends or family. Lexie is the wild one in our group. She has a new boyfriend almost every month. Don’t get me wrong. I love her and she is like a sister to me. She just needs to slow down. Her latest man is a bit of a psycho. Lewis is his name and controlling is his game. For Lexie, that didn’t fly. 

As I walk out of my final college class for the winter term, I see Lexie leaning against the hood of Cooper’s black mustang. She’s giving him her flirtatious smile and laughing at something he just said to her. I kind of wish she would just come out and tell Coop that she likes him. All this dating one guy after another is just to get his attention. Poor Lexie. 

She looks over at me and squeeze in excitement. “Amy! Have you packed for our winter get away? Skiing, just the three of us!”

“Lexie, I told you I was all packed up last night.” I rolled my eyes and laughed. Her beautiful blonde curls blew around her face in the wind. “I’m ready to go whenever you guys are!”

“Hey, bitch!” We all turned and saw the oh so charming Lewis heading our way. “Do you really think you can end things? I end this relationship when I want.”

Lexie kept her back to him. “Oh poor Lewis. I guess you’re not used to girls calling it quits. I don’t go for controlling abusive types. Besides-” she put out her arm around my waist and turned to face him, “I think I’m gonna try it with my girl here for a bit. Men seem to think they can own a woman. I’m so over that scene.”

Lewis looked at me and glared. “This isn’t over. We will be talking about this later.”

Lexie twirled her fingers in a bye bye wave and turned me towards Coop’s car. Cooper was standing defensively behind us and put his arm around my shoulders. He led me to the passenger side of the car while Lexie got in the back behind the driver side. Once Coop was in the car, we were off to Lexie’s and my apartment.

Cooper was not happy in the slightest with Lexie. “Why do you insist on teasing Lewis like that, Lex? You know he is unstable.”

“Please, he wouldn’t do anything stupid. He’s trying to become a lawyer, remember?” Lexie rolled her eyes and looked over at me. “Don’t you agree with me Amy?”

“I actually think Coop is right. Lewis seems really edgy lately.” I shrugged and looked out my window. “Just be careful how far you take things, okay?”

I heard her sigh from the back seat but that was the only answer I got. I leaned my head on the head rest of my seat and closed my eyes. Lexie still acted like we were in high school at times. I sometimes wonder if she misses that high school drama. She certainly likes to stir it up on occasion. I just hope she doesn’t take it too far. She doesn’t realize that she could cause huge amounts of pain. 

***

Our commute back to our apartment takes us about 45 minutes. It was the closest we could get that didn’t break the bank, as my dad used to say. In the time it took us to drive back I fell asleep. I dreamt I was walking through a field of beautiful purple flowers. Not just one shade either, but so many different shades of purple. I had this dream before and every time, he shows up. I could quite honestly say he is the man of my dreams (pun intended). But he has a very broody side to him which tends to get on my nerves. And he is never happy to see me. It’s as if I am a bother to him. 

“Back again, I see.” His voice was not hard, but soft and thoughtful. “Don’t you ever get tired of visiting the same place?”

I turned around and saw him laying in the long grass with his hands behind his head; his eyes closed. “Don’t you ever get tired of waiting here for me?” I smiled and walked over to sit beside him. My red hair blowing gently in the breeze. 

“I don’t wait here for you. I come here to think, little flame.”

“Ugh, I told you not to call me that. My name is Amy.”

He opened one eye and looked at me. “But your hair is red so little flame suits you.” He closed his eyes again and became silent. 

I sighed and looked out over the valley. “Why am I here again? I keep coming here in every dream and I don’t understand it.”

Kyle sighed and sat up. “There you go talking nonsense again. It’s not a dream, little flame. It’s real. You are so strange at times.”

I drew my eyebrows together in concentration. “This is most definitely a dream, Kyle. I don’t belong here.” 

Kyle grabbed my hand and made me face him. “You belong here just as much as I do.”

For a moment, I thought he was going to kiss me. My face turned red and I looked away from his intense gaze. He always makes fun of me in these dreams and can be so infuriating. Then he says these things and looks at me in ways that make me go weak in the knees. I looked back over at him and saw he was still staring at me intently. 

“Now who’s the one being weird?” I asked smiling at him. 

He came closer and I heard him whisper my name. I leaned in and heard it again. Only this time it wasn’t Kyle’s voice; it was Cooper’s. 

***

I jumped awake and looked around me. We were parked in our apartment parking lot and Cooper and Lexie were looking at me with questionable looks. 

“Sorry guys, I didn’t sleep well.” I sat up and cleared my throat then stretched. 

“Oh that’s not what is on my mind.” Lexie leaned forward and put her chin in her right palm. “I’m wondering who this ‘Kyle’ is.”

I looked at her and began to blush. “Just some dream I keep having. No one I actually know.” Lexie just smirked at me. “Don’t give me that look, Lexie. I’m too busy for a relationship and you know it.”

She put her hands up in surrender and started to get out of the car. “Fine, fine. But I don’t believe that for a second. Let’s go grab our bags and get the hell out of here!”

We went to turn around and go to the locked door when we heard a loud screeching of tires. Lexie and I both looked over our right shoulders and saw a big red truck. I heard a bang, almost like it backfired, and jumped. My right side felt a sharp pinch and I saw Lewis leaning out of the passenger window of his friends truck. He was holding a hand gun. The truck sped off. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. 

“Oh god!” I heard Lexie scream. I turned to look at her. She had her hands covering her mouth and tears in her eyes. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Cooper running towards us, his phone out and calling someone. 

“What happened?” I couldn’t understand the concern. My right side was burning. I looked down and saw my green jacket was turning a dark black color. I couldn’t make sense of what just happened. “Lexie?”

I looked up at her and that’s when everything started to swim out of focus. 

***

I was laying in that field again. I was looking up at the sky and it was beautiful. The only problem was that my right side was burning. 

“Little flame! Amy!” I heard Kyle yell. I looked over to my left. 

***

Cooper was there beside me. Didn’t I just hear Kyle? Maybe I’m still asleep. I could hear sirens in the background. 

“Just hang on, Amy!” Cooper yelled. He got up and went to the edge of the parking lot. “Here! She’s been shot!”

“I’ve been shot?” I looked over to my right where Lexie was. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

***

I didn’t see Lexi this time. I saw Kyle. 

“Did who hurt me? What are you talking about? What happened?”

I couldn’t make sense of what was going on. Suddenly I felt his arms go around me and I was being lifted. I screamed weakly. 

***

I was looking at Cooper and some paramedics this time. I was being loaded onto a gurney. What was happening?

“We have a 22 year old female, she’s been shot in the lower right abdomen. She’s lost a lot of blood so we will need blood ready for a transfusion at the hospital.”

“It’s going to be all right, Amy.” I heard Cooper say. I looked over to my left. 

***

I saw the sky. To my right was Kyle. He was running and carrying me. Where were we going? He’s never taken me anywhere except the field. 

“It’s okay. I’m taking you to my sister. She can help you.”

“I’m cold.”

When Kyle looked down at me I saw one blue eye that looked like Cooper’s and one brown eye that looked like Kyle’s. Then the world went dark.