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Chapter 2 - Agony of Knowing



Dark flames of Hell whirled around Ana as she walked through a deep midnight haze. So many pictures began to flash about her as blood rained down upon her. Ana shielded her eyes as thick droplets of blood flowed down her face. The strong aftertaste of metal remained in her mouth as the blood continued to coat her pale skin. She struggled not to vomit as cars crashed in front of her and buildings toppled. Sharps knives lunged at her body as gunshots rang against her ears. She screamed in surprise as several thick ropes made into nooses tried to wrap about her neck. She struggled to get away as she was pulled under a thick sea of red. Several faces exploded in her mind. The five men looked so familiar, but their eyes were gouged out from the sockets and their lips sewn shut. Suddenly, she fell hard against a black road. She struggled to orient herself as a bright orange flame wrapped around her ankle. She screamed loudly.



“ANA!” Jamelet screamed. Ana jerked from her sleep and inhaled deeply while she plunged into a sea of bubbling water. She surfaced quickly, pulling her long blonde locks away from her face. She coughed deeply, struggling to orient herself once again. She wanted to fight whatever was holding her, but soon realized it was only Jamelet’s hands. Her heart raced wildly and she glanced up to see Jamelet join her in the bubbling Jacuzzi on their veranda. Jamelet offered a playful smile. “You fell asleep in the Jacuzzi you ditz. I bet you’d sleep anywhere!”



“I was dreaming then?” Ana asked in wonder, checking her bounding pulse.



“Yes, dreaming. That’s usually what people do when they sleep,” Jamelet replied sarcastically.



“But it felt so real…”



“What are you talking about?”



“I had these…visions—”



“Visions, who do you think you are, Miss Cleo?”



“Not funny!”



“What did you dream, then?”



“I dreamt that blood was raining down on me as fire consumed my soul. Then there was this car that crashed into other cars and a building collapsed. Knives were whirling and gunshots were firing. Then these thick ropes kept tangling around my neck. I saw these faces… They looked so familiar… Then I fell into this sea of red…”



“Damn, you dreamt all that?”



“What if it wasn’t a dream?”



“What do you mean?”



“It felt so real.”



“Girl, you’re crazy.”



“No, I’m not!” Ana defended.



“They’re going to throw you in a padded cell and give you Jell-o for a lifetime.”



“Jamelet, bite me!” Ana huffed.



Jamelet smiled softly when she noticed the serious look that had crossed Ana’s face. She leaned over and ruffled her friend’s blonde curls. “Fine, than it’s that blonde hair of yours!”



“Are you telling me that you think I’m insane?”



“I don’t think that you’re insane, because I already knew you were insane.”



“Must you always infuriate me?”



“Yes, because you’re younger.”



“I’m going to get you back,” Ana avenged, curling her right hand into a fist.

“You’ll get me back the day that death knocks on my door and tells me how I’m going to die,” Jamelet declared, not noticing the flicker of black that accumulated in the bright midday sky.



*~*~*



Nick smirked with knowing as he waited for Brian around the corner. They were engaged in a brisk game of paintball while Kevin, Howie, and AJ lazily lounged about Nick’s pool. He and Brian had invited the others to play the game, but they decided against paintball, knowing the bruises that could occur when Nick adjusted his gun to a higher power than agreed upon. Yet, Brian had already attacked Nick and shot him three times in the chest with his blue paint. Nick had hit Brian only two times. He needed two more shots to win the game. Nick shook the thoughts free, concentrating on his game. He listened quietly, hearing a sneeze near the side of the house. Nick rolled forward, jumping to his feet in time to aim. “CARTER IS THE WINNER AGAIN!”



“DON’T EVEN THINK OF FIRING THAT SHIT AT ME!” AJ rasped in surprise when Nick faced him with the gun.



“Damn, I thought it was—”



“Over here, Blondie!” Brian called, aiming the gun directly at Nick’s chest. Nick turned, catching his foot in a hole. He fell forward as the gun exploded with a violent power. The paintball zoomed forward as Brian was knocked onto his back from the kick of the gun. The paintball whizzed past Nick’s head and blew a clean hole through his thick wooden fence. Everyone grew dangerously quiet as Nick quickly checked to make sure that all his body parts remained. Brian lay on his back until Kevin grabbed him by the shirt and tugged him upward.



“What power did you have that on?” Nick burst, looking behind him to see the large hole in his fence.



“I-I-It wasn’t that high!” Brian wheezed, struggling to get away from Kevin.



“You could have killed him!” Kevin burst, examining the gun. Indeed, the power had been fully maximized. Kevin reached for the lever to turn it down, but noticed that it was stuck. Kevin knitted his thick eyebrows together in surprise, struggling with the simple lever. “It’s jammed.”



“What do you mean?” Howie questioned in surprise.



“It must have gotten hit on a wall or something,” Brian mumbled in surprise, tossing the gun in a nearby garbage can.



“Dude, I could have had a hole in my chest!” Nick exclaimed, admiring the hole in his fence.



“Just what the Blonde needs,” AJ muttered, rolling his eyes.



“I think we might want to head to the beach where Nick and Brian can’t hurt themselves,” Howie suggested.



“Hey…” AJ drawled with amusement, clapping Nick on the back. Nick stumbled a few steps forward, glaring at the older man. AJ held a devilish smirk. “Death was trying to get you, Nicky-Boy. The gun was jammed and it could have blown a hole through your body. Ooooh! Maybe we should be hanging out with you. You’re next on death’s list of murders. Oooooh! Dead Man Carter Walking!”



“Shut up, J!” Nick snorted, pushing on the man.



“Can I make out your tombstone? Here lies dear Nicky Carter, killed by Lady Death, because he didn’t pay after sex,” AJ teased, continuing to annoy Nick.



“AJ, drop it!” Nick growled, feeling odd about the entire incident.



“Lady Death – The Prostitute who kills—”



“AJ, shut up,” Kevin ordered sternly, taking authority.



“Kev—”



“It was an accident, nothing more. So just drop it and get your stuff ready for the beach,” Kevin decided, dropping the incident immediately without further questioning.



*~*~*



Ana yawned as she turned onto her stomach while the hot sun beamed down against her pale flesh. She had been lying on her large beach towel for about an hour, hoping to start some kind of tan. Yet, she wasn’t making any progress, while Jamelet seemed to darken the second she stepped out into the sun. Jamelet sat beside Ana on her own beach towel, lazily gazing at a magazine. She licked her fingers and turned another page before glancing toward her watch. “Naughty-Angel, you might want to lather some more sun block on your skin before you start looking like a lobster in a steaming pot,” Jamelet called, using a nickname she had developed from years of knowing the younger woman.



“Jamelet, bite my bikini-ass,” Ana quipped back with a smirk.



“Were you always this mouthy?” Jamelet laughed.



“Only when the professors weren’t watching.”



“Point well taken. I suppose that is why I call you Naughty-Angel.”



“If the bikini fits,” Ana laughed.



“You’re all about that bikini aren’t you?”



“Dude, it’s cherry-printed, my favorite!”



“Ana?”



“Yeah?”



“You are insane.”



“Thank you,” Ana chirped, pushing her sunglasses further onto the bridge of her nose. With that being said, she closed her eyes and laid her head against her folded arms. She sighed softly, inviting the warm rays to tickle her skin. She was having a fantastic time in Florida and it had only been her first day. She was about to drift off into a dreamless sleep when an image flashed against her brain. She watched a volleyball hurling toward Jamelet with a fevered pace. “Jam – watch out for that ball,” Ana murmured, before turning onto her back.



“What ball?” Jamelet asked, looking upward quickly, yet she saw nothing. She turned toward Ana, smacking her sharply on her bare thigh. Ana yelped, jumping upward in surprise. Ana tore off her sunglasses in surprise, glaring toward her friend. Yet, Jamelet offered the same glare. “Would you stop teasing me?”



“Teasing you about what?” Ana groaned.



“THE BALL!” Jamelet shrieked as a volleyball smacked her sharply in the side of the head. Jamelet tumbled forward into the sand. Ana’s eyes grew large in absolute surprise as she sat straight up. She struggled to maintain her laughter as Jamelet pulled herself up from the sand, brushing the particles away from her dark curls. She sputtered, wiping away the sand in her mouth. She then reached to rub the tender spot where the ball had hit.



“Told you,” Ana sniffled, struggling to maintain her smirk.



“Oh, man! I am so sorry!” a male voice called, running over through the sand. He stumbled as he reached the girls, falling to his knees right in front of Jamelet. His dark blue eyes immediately connected with Jamelet’s warm brown eyes. Jamelet’s cheeks flushed furiously as she admired the handsome man that had hit her. He was a natural pretty-boy with sharp blonde locks, deep blue eyes, and a muscular body. “Are you alright?”



“Nicky! You pegged a hot chick!” a raspy voice announced with a high-pitched laugh.



“I’m f-f-fine,” Jamelet stammered with embarrassment.



“Are you sure?” the man asked once more.



“I’m positive,” Jamelet replied.



“I’m really sorry by the way,” he said, raking his hands through his short blonde spikes. He offered a lopsided smile as he stuck out his hand. “My name is Nick.”



“I’m Jamelet and this is my friend Ana,” Jamelet replied, motioning toward Ana.



“Nice,” Nick laughed, motioning toward his four friends that stood behind him. “This is AJ, Howie, Kevin, and Brian. Guys, this is Jamelet and Ana.”



“Hey,” Howie replied, studying Ana. He admitted silently to himself that she was quite cute. Her blonde curls were tossed into a high ponytail, delicately falling down against her defined shoulders. Her lithe body was wrapped in a small cherry-print bikini. Howie could already tell that she might be the bubbly energetic type, but something about her facial features startled him. He leaned toward her and offered his hand. “Are you alright, Miss?”



“It’s Ana…” she drawled quietly, staring at all five men in wonder. Her mind immediately clicked with her previous dream of devastation. The five men had been the men in her dream with their eyes gouged and lips sewn shut. She shivered uncontrollably, trying to forget the images.



“Well, Ana, are you alright?” Howie repeated.



“I’m fine, just a little too much sun,” she replied, offering a shy smile.



“Well, maybe we should get out of the sun before you burn that soft skin of yours?” Howie suggested, pulling her up from the sand. Ana offered him a surprised look, staring at him intently. Howie returned a smile. “Is there something wrong?”



“You hardly know me, but I think I know you…” Ana trailed.



Nick offered a snort of laughter. “Of course you know us!”



“We do?” Jamelet asked in surprise.



“The Backstreet Boys,” Brian drawled.



“Oh! That group!” Jamelet laughed. “I got beamed in the head with a volleyball by a famous man?”



“Yes, you did,” Nick chuckled, helping her up. “Are you staying in Florida for awhile?”



“Yes, for a few weeks,” Jamelet replied.



“Then how about we take you girls to our house for dinner tonight? You know, to apologize?” Nick offered, admiring Jamelet’s dark beauty. He wanted to get to know this woman better and could tell that Howie was searching to know the blonde better. They had an alluring quality that Nick couldn’t shake.



“Dinner?” Ana repeated, still somewhat unnerved by the images flashing against her brain.



“Yeah, it’d be fun,” Howie encouraged.



“And if you don’t like what we cook, we’ll take you out the next day,” AJ replied.



“It would be nice. We haven’t had much company lately that doesn’t try to tear our clothing off,” Kevin joked.



“Sure, let’s go Ana,” Jamelet encouraged, pulling on her friend’s arm before she could disagree with her fatalist instinct.
~**~

**~To Be Continued...~**