The fist coming towards me was the first thing that I saw when I came back out of my own thoughts. I backed off a few steps and almost fell over my own feet. Pay attention, Leah. I could hear my instructor shouting the same thing after me. But I never had been one for focus. It was one of my many shortcomings. The only thing that kept me from being the best fighter in the class. I probably was, anyways, but my lack of focus was the reason that I currently had a split lip.

Dodging out of the way of Amber's punch I jumped back up and jabbed quickly to her throat. She gagged and I didn't let her look of panic slow me down. Swinging my leg across my torso I managed to kick Amber heavily in her stomach. The older girl dropped to her knees and began to spit up blood. Immediately I took a step back. I knew when enough was enough. And Amber was a friend. I wouldn't hurt her more than I needed to. My trainer called the fight and I nodded, stepping out of the ring.

Grabbing my towel, I strutted into the locker room feeling happy with my latest victory. It wasn't the most impressive fight that I had ever been in, but Amber was still relatively new to the fighting circle and I had been explicitly instructed to take it easy on her. I never lost a fight, ever. It was in my blood to never give up. I had been taught that unless I was dead I would get up and finish the fight. And even if I was dead, shake it off and get back up. It came from having parents who were both in their own sports.

They each had their specialties. My mother was a competitive gymnast. She had been quite good, too. While she no longer competed, she still trained kids in town. Her hands were scarred from tissue that had been peeled off time and time again after years on the bars. She had tried to get me into gymnastics when I was young. Despite the fact that I had enjoyed it, it simply hadn't been a passion. So I kept on with it for training while I tried to find something that interested me a little more.

My father had tried after her. He had been an all-star athlete in high school and college. He had done a number a different things when he was in school. Track and field, neither of which I liked. Although I had kept up with track. He had been a volleyball player, which I quickly learned was not for me after breaking my thumb from a serve. Neither basketball nor softball had taken. Baseball and rugby had both been busts. Ice skating had been completely useless and I had managed to give myself a bruised tailbone.

But I had really wanted to do something. With parents who had both been athletes in their own regard, I couldn't just sit around and do nothing. So I had decided to go out on a limb and try something of my own. Jujitsu and MMA had come not long after I had made my decision to try something new. And I had immediately fallen in love. I was only ten when I started and now I had been doing it for eleven years. Despite starting a little later in life, I was a quick learner and with help from my parents, I was a top-ranked fighter.

It was something fun. It was something fun that I could do when I was bored. It was something that I could do to relieve my stress a little bit when I was angry about something. Particularly being a college student. Between classes and training and my parents and my sister, life was exhausting. But at least I had something fun to do. Plus my work in the gymnasium was exactly the reason that I had a scholarship to the college that I went to.

The University of South Florida. Athletic scholarship. Nothing that spectacular. But it was enough to cover the expenses that I needed for an average student. Since we lived in the area, I didn't need anything to cover the dorm or food. I just lived at home. Which had benefits and drawbacks. I didn't need to pay for my food or even rent, but, of course, I lived with my parents. Which could be a serious pain in the ass, considering that there was no privacy in my house.

Which was ridiculous, seeing as there was only four of us. There was myself and my sister. A younger sister by five years. I was twenty-one and she was sixteen. Still a struggling teenager. Bringing boys and annoying teenage girls around all the time. But she was sixteen and I had once done the same thing. Sometimes I still did bring my friends and boyfriends around. My mother and father were in and out pretty frequently, but they cared enough to be normal parents. They cared enough to chat with me.

They could be real pains in the asses, but at least they cared about me. I had a number of friends whose parents barely knew what they were studying. I supposed that it was better that my parents at least cared about me to talk with me rather than completely ignoring me. Although I hadn't seen them in a while. I hadn't really seen anyone in a while. I had been keeping mostly silent so that I didn't have to chat with anyone. I wasn't much in the chatting mood these days.

"Hey."

A hand laid itself on my shoulder and I jerked around. I had been so lost in thought that I had almost forgotten that there were other people wandering around. I blushed softly as I turned back to see who it was. I probably should have remembered to lock the bathroom door, but I hadn't really been thinking about who would be walking around. Everyone in the building was someone that I trusted. So came with the territory of being a fighter.

But I really should have remembered to lock the door when I had come in for a shower. My towel was wrapped around my chest and my damp hair was falling limply in front of my face. And my clothes were... somewhere that wasn't right in front of me. Laughing awkwardly, I glanced over at Brian and grinned bashfully. His hands were lingering at the bottom of my towel, playing with the strings that were hanging off. His other hand traced up to my eyebrows and started brushing off the water droplets.

"Hi," I said awkwardly.

"Getting bashful, are we?" Brian asked.

"I didn't know that you were here," I said.

"Forget that we trained at the same gym?" Brian teased.

Forcing a smile on my face, I shook my head. "Of course not. Just... A little distracted today," I muttered.

"Ah. Let me distract you properly," Brian said lowly.

"Stop," I laughed, shoving him away from me. "The last thing that I need is to get kicked out of the gym because you can't keep it in your pants."

"They might like watching that," Brian teased.

"You know you're in the girl's locker room?" I asked.

"I'm aware. And we're alone in here. We might as well..."

"Get out."

"Alright, alright, I'll behave," Brian teased.

The two of us smiled at each other as Brian moved to the side and showed me my clothing that he had been hiding from me. I rolled my eyes and grabbed the clothes, dropping my towel and changing. Brian let out a low whistle and I flipped him off. Not that he minded. It was just a part of our relationship. I threw on one of my tank tops that was in the pile before picking up my shorts and sliding them over my waist. Brian watched as I redid the soft makeup that I had been wearing and brushed out my wet hair.

As soon as I was done, I turned on my heels and glanced into the mirror. I looked as normal as I ever did, save the dark circles underneath my eyes. Proof that I hadn't been sleeping much. Something that my friends had all noticed. My friends, my parents, and my sister had all noticed that I had barely been sleeping over the past month or so. I wasn't sure why. Dreams, maybe? I knew that I was having crazy dreams but I could never remember what they were about.

The moment that I woke up I would forget everything that had been in them. The only thing that I could remember was the fact that they always took place in the woods. Woods and some people whom I could never remember. Just people who seemed to be like a part of my family. It made my head spin every morning as I tried to remember who they were and how they fit into my life. If it meant something more or if my literary fiction class was getting to me.

Shaking my hair out again, I glanced over myself. My muscles were straining against my skin for now. Strictly because I had just worked them out. I didn't have the appearance of a fighter. I wasn't that tall. Just about an inch over five feet. It was likely because both of my parents were short. My hair was long and blonde, as both of my parents had it. My muscles were prominent enough, but being a naturally small person meant that they didn't stand out that much. They mixed in with the subtle curves I had.

The only thing that was genuinely interesting about me were my eyes. They were a brilliant amber. In the darkness they appeared to be just a normal light brown. But in the sun they were so bright that they looked almost yellow. It was something that my mother and father always said was incredible about me. My mother had brown eyes, my father had green, and my sister had blue. We were an interesting little mix, with none of us knowing how our eyes came to be. It led to a number of adoption jokes.

But I was my parents' own child. We had the unfortunate video tapes to prove it. Tapes that I would be sure to burn before I got married. I yawned softly and cracked my back. My muscles were straining from the workout that I had been in all afternoon and I sighed, picking up my backpack. Unfortunately I would have to spend all night trying to finish my homework since I had spent so much time in the gym this afternoon. I should have gone back home but I didn't. Because I didn't like being there.

There was just something strange in the air lately. Not with everyone else. All of my friends and family seemed completely normal. It was just something about me. There was something wrong with me. What it was that was wrong with me, I would likely never know. Not until I started sleeping again and got back to myself. It was easy enough to tell that something was happening with me. My entire personality had changed in a matter of a few short weeks.

Not long ago it had been almost impossible to get me to shut up. I had always been one of the chattiest people that I knew. It was an area of contention when I first started fighting. They thought that I was too loud. But with some discipline I had learned when the right and the wrong time to talk was. Now things were very different. I hardly ever spoke to anyone without having them speak to me first. I was slowly becoming withdrawn from my friends and family.

It was obvious enough that everyone had noticed it. But they didn't say anything about it. Maybe because they thought that it would just make things even worse. Maybe it would. I wasn't sure. All I knew was that lately it felt that I didn't really fit. I wasn't sure why. I just knew that things were strange with me. I had debated on going to the doctors a number of times but I had a feeling that they would just send me to some psychologist would tell me to get on some medication that would keep me from training. Which was something that I couldn't afford.

"You were good out there," Brian said.

"That?" I asked dumbly. Brian nodded. I shrugged my shoulders, drying out my long hair. "That was nothing. Amber is still new. She just needs some time to learn."

I had known Amber for years but she had only just started training. "She's not half-bad for a beginner," Brian commented.

"I suppose," I muttered.

"You all right?" Brian asked.

Was I alright? No. That much I knew. There was something very, very, odd happening to me. But I couldn't just say that I was losing interest in everything. That would make me sound like I was suicidal or something like that. And I wasn't. I really wasn't. I was just... bored. Like there was something else that I should have been doing. Even fighting was getting a little old. Everything just felt so worn out. I wanted to try something different. Not that I knew what that would have been.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I answered, trying to force a smile on my face.

"You've been oddly quiet lately," Brian said, placing a concerned hand on my shoulder.

I gently pushed him off. "No, I haven't," I argued.

"Yes, you have. Come on, you used to be one of the loudest people that I knew," Brian argued.

Letting out a deep breath, I leaned back against the lockers as Brian sat on one of the benches. "I don't know. I guess life's just been feeling a little monotonous lately," I complained, running a hand through my hair.

"Welcome to higher education," Brian teased.

Yes, college, the epitome of schooling and the ultimate mix of misery and excitement. The late nights spent studying and the days spent in classes that I only wished that I could understand. I was a physical therapy major. Not that I really loved it. It was just something... to pass the time, I supposed. Just one more way that I really couldn't find my place in the world. College wasn't what I had thought that it would be. I just wasn't passionate.

If I was being completely honest, I wasn't passionate about anything anymore. And I didn't understand it. When I was a kid, I had loved playing all kinds of sports and fighting had been one of my favorite things to do. As much as I did still enjoy it, I didn't enjoy it as much as I once had. It had become something else that I did just out of habit. There was a time that I had loved school. Now I just did it because I knew that it was the next step in my life before a job, which I wasn't even close to being ready to think about.

That was something that I had never thought that I would need in my life. Passion. In some way or another. I had always thought that it was just something that dreamers wanted. But I had thought that at some point I would at least have some type of passion in something. I knew now that I really wanted passion for something, someone, but there wasn't anything. Not people, not school, not anything. But it still wasn't depression. It was something else.

It was almost like there was something that I was missing. Something that I had done once but had long since forgotten about. Not that I could understand what I even meant by that. It was one of the many things in my head that didn't make sense right now. And by the way that Brian was looking at me, I could tell that he was thinking the same thing. I smiled and stepped into him, letting my arms wind their way around his waist as my fingers hooked into his back pocket.

"Should we go do something?" I offered.

That definitely surprised him. "Sure. What do you want to do?" Brian asked.

What did I want to do? I couldn't figure that out for the life of me. Read, maybe. But that was something that I could only do on my own. See my sister? Probably. But she was a teenage girl and it was Friday night. She would have plans. Mom and Dad would be out on date night. There was nothing fun that I hadn't seen playing in the theaters. I really wanted to sleep, but I was sure that Brian was about ready to call my parents to put me on an involuntary psych evaluation if I skipped out on another Friday night.

"Oh, I don't know. Dinner?" I suggested.

Not the most original thought, but it was the only thing that I could think to say. "Sweet!" Amber chirped, walking into the locker room. She was holding a bloody towel under her nose. "We were thinking dinner, too."

"Because, of course, we're invited," Layla teased, jumping out on my other side.

"Right?" Jessica asked, following her.

"Of course, ladies. Shall we?" Brian offered.

Smiling softly, I nodded. In all honesty, I was glad that they were coming. Because I really didn't want to be alone with Brian tonight. Not that I was afraid of him. There was absolutely no point in being afraid of him. We were both fighters at our training gymnasium, but I could handle myself against him. We had learned that a long time ago. It was just because I didn't want to have another one of our deep talks where he tried to figure out what was wrong with me. Because I didn't know.

Brian was a sweet guy and I had used to enjoy our time together. For a long time just the two of us would go out together. Doing something or another. We used to be out all the time together. We would go out to the movies, some club, one of the bars, or just spend a night in getting to know each other. Which didn't mean that it was anything boring. Usually those were the most entertaining nights that we had together. But it had been a while since we had had one of those nights.

Ignoring the look that Brian was giving me - that inquisitive look that was wondering if I was okay - I glanced off towards where the girls were standing. My best friends. The three girls who had always been with me. The few people who had never questioned what was happening with me. They thought that it was just a little period of depression that I was going through. They had a feeling that I just needed some time to get back into the swing of things.

Amber had been one of my best friends for years. We had known each other since we were in the first grade, when she had moved to town. She had always made me laugh. She was one of the few people that knew everything about me. Every lie that I had ever told. Each time that I had snuck out of the house as a teenager, she had been the house that I had used as an excuse. And our age old joke to flirt with guys out at bars, going in the back to see if two blondes made a right.

Layla was two years older than us but acted like she was sixteen. It was one of the many reasons that she got along with my sister so well. We had met at the gym when I was thirteen and she was fifteen. It was surprising enough that the two of us had gotten along, considering that I was still in middle school and she was in high school. But our personalities had instantly clicked and we had become good friends afterwards. It was through our friendship that I had convinced Amber to join the gym.

Jessica had been the last of our little quartet to join. She was my age and had been at the gym since I had started there, but she had never spoken. Out of the four of us, she was always the most withdrawn. But eventually she had opened up to me after she had been badly beaten. I remembered seeing her on the floor, bloody and almost in tears. After that I had volunteered to train her myself. And, in time, she had gotten much better. Our friendship had gone slowly, but eventually we, too, had become inseparable.

The five of us headed over towards the diner that was just a few steps away from the gym. A perfect way to gain back all of the calories that we had just burned. No doubt would I pay for it in the morning, but the least that I could do was try and pretend that I was having some fun in life again. Try and pretend that I was doing more than going through the motions of each day before one of those days meant something again.

Maybe I am depressed. Maybe I do need to see someone.

But I was too stubborn to do something like that. It wasn't that I needed help. I wasn't going to do something. I wasn't going to kill myself. I was still far too fond of myself to do something like that. It was just a never-ending boredom. A wish that my life meant something more than just doing what everyone else was doing, as cliché as that sounded. I let out a soft breath and smiled at Brian, who had his arm thrown over my shoulders to keep me pressed together.

The strange thing about everything was that Brian should have been the one thing that was making me happy. That made me feel like I had at least something to amuse myself with. Because Brian and I had been dating for about six months. We had known each other for years but one night, after a few too many drinks out at one of the bars on campus, we had gotten a little too close and things had just changed. We had just kind of... gotten together. There was no need to say anything. We just were.

Neither one of us wanted to say anything to ruin it. We weren't really dating. We were, but we weren't. It didn't make sense to anyone but us. Although the girls seemed to understand. So did my sister, the one person who knew exactly how I was feeling about Brian. A good friend and someone who really did make me laugh. We had been friends for years and there had always been some little part of me that had a crush on him. But now that I had him...

What did I feel about him now? I wasn't really sure. I definitely wasn't in love with him and I knew that he wasn't in love with me either. It hadn't bothered either one of us. I wasn't sure why we were even still together. I supposed that it was more because we were out of habit than anything else. I really liked him a lot and I didn't want to lose him. That was probably the reason that neither one of us were willing to say anything about our situation. Because we were comfortable. Not passionate.

Perhaps one day that would all change. But that day wasn't today. It likely wouldn't be for a long time. Things would change at some point; that much I was sure of. Maybe it would have sounded a little stupid for me to say that I felt like I was destined for something more than the monotonous daily routine that I was going through. Wake up, go to classes, train, spend time with Brian, go home, do homework, fight my way through a restless sleep, repeat. Every day. No differentiation.

The five of us finally made our way into the small diner and took a seat in the back corner. The same seat that we had always taken. The same... Always the same... My head was starting to throb at my temples as I felt a headache coming on. Just the way that it always did when I started thinking too much about everything that was happening. So I laid back against the seat and closed my eyes. I could hear the others chattering back and forth with each other.

"Leah?" Brian asked after a beat, placing a hand on my thigh.

Glancing up, I saw that the others were staring at me. "Yeah?" I asked.

"You still in there?" Brian asked teasingly.

"Yeah. Sorry. Just a little distracted," I muttered.

"I don't think that I've seen one day lately that you haven't been distracted," Amber said, only somewhat accusingly.

They must have been conspiring with each other lately. I recognized the way that they were looking at each other. It was the way that we always did forming an intervention. "I know. I don't - I don't know what's going on with me," I muttered awkwardly.

"Maybe Brian needs to properly distract you," Jessica teased.

Everyone started laughing as Brian then went to poking fun at Jessica, who we all knew hadn't been with someone in a long time. But, to be fair, Brian and I hadn't spent any quality time together lately either. Sort of because I had been distracted and sort of because I just wasn't in the mood to be with Brian right now. I wasn't in the mood to be with anyone. Maybe I just needed to be with someone new. But I didn't need a man to make me feel complete.

No. Right now I need to beat the shit out of one of those punching bags. The girls continued to giggle as I rolled my eyes and sank back into the chair again. I let out a deep breath as I started stirring the sweet tea around. I could feel Brian gently running his fingers along my leg but I didn't look at him and he didn't push me to go back to his place. He just let us sit there as the five of us chatted back and forth for a while, talking and laughing like it was the good old days.

At least, they were. Amber was telling us all about her newest move that she had learned. Something that we had all perfected years ago, but was still relatively new to her. Jessica was telling us about her newest boyfriend. Not that he was really a boyfriend. More a friend that she would have until she had a new one in a few weeks. She was easily bored. Layla was telling us all about her nightmare little brothers. Twins, eight years old, and destructive beyond belief.

But I wasn't speaking to them. I was lost in my own little world. I was thinking about everything that had happened in my dreams last night. The woods that we were trekking through. The horses. The growling. The screams and shrieks. The clangs of weapons. The feel of a blade against skin. Dark hair floating through my vision. A heavy cloak. The feeling of icy water rushing past me. Flames burning. Falling deeper and deeper into some chasm. A deep and horrible voice...

"Leah!" Layla shouted.

"What?" I asked, surprised.

Layla exchanged a quick look with the rest of the people at the table. I narrowed my eyes. "What the hell is going on with you?" Layla asked sharply, momentarily forgetting her normally carefree nature.

"I don't -" My voice dropped off when I realized that I couldn't figure out what I wanted to say. "Nothing. I'm gonna head out, okay?" I said, getting up from the table.

Brian's hand wrapped around my wrist. "Where are you going?" he asked.

"Home. I've gotta practice," I said, trying to find a way out of lingering here.

The memories of my dreams kept coming back and I was sick of having them. I never remembered much about what happened in them but I did remember little bits and pieces. Maybe I needed to go to the doctors and get them to give me some type of medication to help me sleep without dreams. There was always something a little haunting about them. Something that made them seem so realistic, even though I knew that they were anything but.

"We just left practice," Amber said disbelievingly.

"Yeah and you have to keep practicing if you want to stay on top," I argued weakly.

They exchanged another look. "Are you sure that you're okay? You haven't looked right for weeks," Jessica said, giving me a deeply concerned look.

"Thanks for that," I snapped, angrily tapping the ring on my thumb against the glass. "I'm fine, guys. I'm busy and I'm exhausted. I just need a good night's sleep and to refocus myself. I'll see you guys tomorrow."

That time Amber grabbed me before Brian could. "Hang on! No. Come on! Let's go out for the night," Amber said brightly, grabbing my hands and pulling me into her.

"No, I'm good," I said.

"Come on, Leah. One night," Brian pleaded, wrapping an arm around my waist.

"You know you want to!" Layla cheered.

"Mike will kill us if we come in tomorrow hungover," I grumbled.

Mike was our trainer and very strict about everything having to do with training. Not that anyone blamed him. That was his job, to make sure that we were staying on track. He watched what we were eating, how much we were drinking, and was always there to whip our asses back into shape. Coming in hungover was one of his biggest rules. If you threw up on the mats, it didn't matter how hungover you were. You would run suicides until you dropped and then be forced to clean your vomit up.

"We all know that you can hide a hangover better than anyone else," Layla teased.

We all laughed softly again. That was true. Just a few months ago I had been the biggest party animal, always an issue with Mike. "You know you want to," Amber said teasingly.

"And we're not letting it go until you come with us," Jessica said.

"Come on, Leah," Brian goaded.

"Well..." I trailed off, finding fewer and fewer reasons not to go out, other than the fact that I didn't want to.

"An hour. Just an hour!" Jessica begged.

Time for two beers... That would be my limit. "An hour tops," I promised.

Everyone at the table cheered and raised their glasses together in a clink. I rolled my eyes but couldn't help the little giggle that escaped my mouth. Something that I hadn't experienced in quite some time. Not that I was really excited to go out, but I did want to try and get myself back to normal. I missed the days that we could all go out and I didn't have to deal with my batshit insane dreams and permanent exhaustion and boredom.

As the others went back to chatting back and forth with each other, I leaned back in the chair, feeling just the slightest bit better about everything. They didn't bother me to chat more. They knew that it had been enough of a success, just getting me to decide to go out with them. Maybe that was the problem. Maybe I just needed to get out for a little while. Maybe I had spent too much time being cooped up and not doing anything. We all needed to be social from time to time.

Turning my phone over and over in my hands, I decided to pull it out and go through it. I hated phones. I hated modern technology like smartphones. Mostly because of social media. There was something about it that I despised. Exactly why I didn't have a Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or anything like that. Just good old fashioned texting and the occasional boredom induced moments of surfing the Internet. After a few moments I opened my texts and decided to send one out to my mother.

I'm going out with some friends. Won't be back until late.

In all honesty, I wasn't really sure why I had decided to text her. Maybe it was just because I missed her. I didn't see her much these days. I hadn't seen her in a while. Mostly because she always seemed to be so busy. But her text came back quickly.

Have fun! See you tomorrow.

It was one of the fastest responses that I had ever gotten from her. My mother was a lawyer. Successful and very important. At least, she thought so. She was good at what she did, but that meant that I never really got a chance to see her. She tried to be around whenever she could and she always went out to my matches, but it always just seemed to be because she thought that she had to, not because she wanted to. At least she came. That was what I had always told myself.

At least I knew that she cared about me. She did text me whenever she got the chance and she frequently did question my love life and other things. It was enough to let me know that she at least tried to act interested in the things that I was interested in. But lately I had been forced to make things up. Because nothing interested me. Except for those stupid dreams about the woods... But that would just earn me a trip to the mental ward in the hospital.

Turning my phone over in my hands a few times, I briefly tuned back into the conversation long enough to exchange a few comments about some assignments that I had. Just enough to keep the others from getting concerned about my lack of involvement in the conversation. After giving a few half-hearted attempts at speaking, I stared back down at my phone. Batting the idea back and forth for a few minutes, I decided to text my father.

I'll be out tonight. Want to go for a run tomorrow?

Can't tomorrow. Sunday?

Sure. See you in the morning.

Goodnight, sweetheart.

It was something more than I had gotten from my mother. Not that I could be surprised. My father was a personal trainer. It kept him home a lot more than my mother was. I had more time with him. But he wasn't the emotionally supportive kind of father. He would rather take me out to the gun range or go on a run or bring me hunting when I had some type of stress to get out. It was surprisingly therapeutic. He didn't like to talk about my problems but I knew that he did love me.

Although it had been a while since I had been out with my father. The last time that we had been out together, just the two of us, was just a few weeks before my twenty-first birthday. He had taken me to the archery range back near my house and let me try out a few bows. It turned out that I wasn't half-bad. He had told me that with some practice I would be a natural. Of course that had been the last time that he had taken me. I never had gotten an answer about why we had stopped going.

Letting out another deep breath, I went back to my phone. The only friends that I really cared to speak to were standing right here. There was no one else that I felt the need to speak to. Just as I was about to put away my phone, it started to beep. I rolled my eyes and pulled it back out. It was my sister, one of the few people who would text me first. My sister was at that age that she could never actually pick up the phone to call someone or see them in person. She just liked her emoji's.

Her name was Harley. She had always been bold, just as I used to be, but she really wasn't into sports. She was the one person in our family who wasn't, making her the freak of the family, even though she was probably the most popular. She had always been more out and about when it came to the social scene. Ever since she was fourteen, when she had first started high school, she had been going out with her new friends and dating up a storm.

But she was a smart girl and a sweet one. Sometimes, at least. She knew how to be careful and she knew who she could and couldn't trust. It also helped that I was her sister. Everyone knew that it would have been foolish to screw with her because of me. Everyone knew who Harley's sister was. It made me not have to worry about her too much. I would always protect my little pain-in-the-ass sister. So I opened her text and read it over.

Hey! I won't be back 'til later.

Me either. Where are you going?

Movies, Mom.

Seeing anything fun?

They're playing a Hobbit triple-feature.

The Hobbit? She was seriously going to see The Hobbit? I hadn't even known that she liked those kinds of movies. She usually liked seeing the stupid movies that were based on dramatic and romance books. I raised my brows at her text and snorted. She was probably going just to see the few cute men in it. The brothers, particularly. They were how I had gotten her to see the first one when it had come out a few years ago. They must have been replaying it since nothing else interesting was out right now.

Didn't know that you were a nerd.

You like those movies.

That's true. But you don't.

No, but there are cute boys going tonight. And some of the actors in it are super-hot!

Well lick the screen for me.

Will do, Leah. What are you doing tonight?

Going out. They won't leave me alone.

Good! You've seemed super out of it lately.

Just haven't had a good night's sleep in a while. I'm thinking that I need to relax.

I'm sure that Brian can help you out.

I guess.

Don't tell me... Are you really thinking about ending it?

Make me feel a little worse about it, Hay.

What happened?

I don't know. I'm just not feeling it anymore. I think I need a major change in life. I'm thinking that it's time to just change things up. I've been doing the same things for so long.

Including Brian?

He's sweet but I really don't see us as anything more than friends.

Hint. End it before he gets any more attached.

You're right, as much as I hate to admit it.

I always am!

Whatever. I miss you. Let's do something tomorrow.

Won't you be hungover?

Are you kidding me? When I was sixteen we went on a day trip to Universal after I went out with my friends. Remember that? We were on the Incredible Hulk Roller Coaster and I was hungover and I didn't throw up! I can manage a night out at the mall.

I didn't know that you were hungover!

Yep. Could have had a future as an actress.

Not too late to change.

Yeah, right. Have fun at the movies, alright? I'll see you tomorrow.

Sure thing. Have a good night. Say hi to everyone for me.

Night, sis. Be safe.

You too.

That was the way the two of us had always been. Teasing and annoying. But we loved each other. We would protect each other until the death. I had thought about asking her to come out with us, but she wasn't old enough to go into the bar. I even thought about going to the movies, but there were too many woods in the Hobbit movies. I had a feeling that those would make my dreams even worse. So I passed and simply wished her fun out with her friends.

Hayley was far too smart for someone who was only sixteen. She was smarter than I had been at sixteen. I grinned and locked my phone again, slipping it into my back pocket, letting out a soft breath. She was a good kid. I missed her. I wanted to see her tomorrow. We used to be so close but age had forced us to grow apart. It would be good for the two of us to get out and about for a little while. Even if it was just to gossip about her stupid high school friends.

On one hand, speaking to Hayley had helped a little bit. She was always one of the few people who I wasn't afraid to tell anything to. I hadn't mentioned the dreams, but I was planning on telling her about that tomorrow. She would probably laugh at first, as she was her pain-in-the-ass little sixteen-year-old self. But I did love Hayley. I always would. And I would do anything for her. Including listening to her gossip about her newest boy crush. Probably some senior on the football team.

The five of us finished our meals together before getting up and heading to one of the many bars in town. It was one of the many favorite places of the people in college. The moment that we had arrived, I had almost instantly felt better. It had been a long time since I had been here, one of my favorite places. It was a college town so that meant that there were bars all around. But there was only one Irish pub that we had out at the beach. Live music, hazy and smoke-filled, with singing drunks.

For some reason, it felt like a place that I actually fit in. Not that it made any sense that I liked that kind of place. But I liked it much more than the loud bass and fist-pumping kids who littered the rest of the bars. I would have much rather had a place like this, filled with people of all ages and waitresses who didn't have to dress in their underwear just to earn themselves a decent tip. Plus the people were far less groping than they were at other bars. Unless you wanted it, of course.

A few hours passed while I was genuinely having a lot of fun. For the first time in a long time, I was enjoying myself. Taking shots with the girls and dancing with them and Brian, all of whom looked thrilled to see me back in the party atmosphere. I could feel the familiar haze in my brain from the alcohol consumption and I completely forgot everything that I had been planning to do; studying, practicing, and having no sleep. Well, the last one was accurate. But at least my slight depression was gone.

The five of us were all on the little dance floor that surrounded the bar as we went into one of the many line dances that we all knew. The line dances that none of us could really do, but we at least tried. I laughed as I stumbled back and forth along the floor, attempting to at least look somewhat normal. Trying to appear like I wasn't too drunk. But I had been in the drunk state enough to realize that I wasn't at all sober. Something that I probably needed.

Although I knew that I wasn't going to be able to go home tonight. There was no way that I could come stumbling back into the house. If there was one thing that my parents didn't like, it was me being drunk. They had always said that I was so much better than that. Destined for something more than being a simple drunk. I hadn't understood it at the time and, to be honest, I still didn't understand what they were talking about. Maybe it would be one of those reflection things.

Brian interrupted my thoughts, grabbing my waist and bringing me into a long kiss. I giggled softly as he pushed me back against the bar. Only breaking apart the kiss when I felt the sudden urge, I gently pushed Brian off of me. He was obviously a little drunk too as he stumbled back away from me. A middle-aged man just managed to catch him. Brian walked back up to me, giving me a questioning look as to why I had pushed him away.

"I'm going to the bathroom!" I shouted over the music. "I'll be right back."

"Hurry up. I'll be lonely without you," Brian teased.

"You ready to go home after this?" I asked.

It was the first time that either one of us had been like this with the other in a long time. "To your house with your parents?" Brian asked, laughing loudly.

Yeah, and they'll kill us both. "I meant yours," I said.

Brian gave me a small smile. "Now that I'm ready for," he said lowly.

Maybe I was an adult, by my parents would never want to hear about my relations with the opposite gender. I giggled softly as I stumbled towards the bathroom. It was a good thing that I hadn't worn heels. I would have collapsed a long time ago if I was wearing anything but the combat boots. I had definitely had way too much to drink. But I managed to find the bathroom and easily finish my business. When I came out of the stall, I realized that the other girls were out by the mirror.

"You look happier tonight than you've looked in a long time," Jessica commented.

"I guess I just needed to get out for a while," I admitted.

"We told you to just come out with us!" Layla cheered, probably about as drunk as I was.

"Well I didn't feel like it," I said, although the laughing and slurring of my words put a stopper in my argument.

Layla laughed and slung an arm over my shoulder. "Whatever. You used to be the biggest party girl of us," she said teasingly, practically holding herself up against me.

"I guess things changed," I giggled.

"Evidently not," Amber teased, helping me straighten up.

"Come on! More shots," Jessica said, pulling me with her.

We were about to leave when I gently pulled myself away from them. I needed just a second to recover. "You guys go. I'll be out there in a minute," I said, leaning against the sink.

"I'd hurry up. I think Brian's getting sick of waiting for his girl," Amber teased.

Softly giggling, I pushed the three girls away from me. They needed to be by themselves for a minute and I needed to recover. Maybe give myself a minute to try and sober up a little bit. There was no way that I could attempt to drive in the condition that I was or even walk. I was close enough to walk back to Brian's apartment, but the smarter part of me knew that it would be right to go home. Because I wanted to end things with Brian. Not sleep with him again or say it while I was drunk.

Jessica, Layla, and Amber giggled as they headed out of the bathroom, stumbling along and shouting back obscenities for me to hurry up. Standing over the sink, I grabbed onto the sides and turned on the water, keeping it as cold as I could take it. I pulled my hair back and splashed some water on my face. Sober up, Leah. You've got to go home and not make a ton of noise tonight. Tomorrow starts your new life. Tomorrow I would manage to get back to my old self. Or at least, a better version of my new self.

The moment that I looked back up from underneath the water, I took a paper towel and started running it over my face, accidentally taking off my makeup with it. I placed my hands back on the side of the sink to keep myself steady. The alcohol was definitely still getting to me. I had to keep my hands there to help keep myself upright as I began to feel myself swaying back and forth. I groaned softly and looked down as the water went down the drain.

Was I going to pass out? If I was, I needed to get to Amber. She could help get me back home and keep me safe from any of the stranger people out at the beach bars. I glanced up quickly into the mirror and felt myself slowly becoming sick. My stomach was roiling around as I leaned over again. I was going to be sick. I had never been sick at a bar before. It was always the next morning that I got sick, if at all. Maybe it was something that I had eaten. But I quickly realized that it was something more.

Because the moment that I looked back into the mirror I saw that it was much more than just being drunk. My own reflection in the mirror was distorted. Almost like I was looking at it from underwater, slowing morphing in front of my eyes. I was breathing heavily, trying to figure out what the hell was happening. Was I really that drunk? I had never seen this before. I made an attempt to call out for Brian or for someone that I knew to help me, but no one was around. I was alone.

All of a sudden I began to fall. This wasn't just me being drunk. It was worse than that. My heart was hammering in my chest. Had someone drugged me? That was what I imagined that this was. My last sane thought was that the floor was going to be disgusting. A strange thought, but it was the truth. The bathrooms in bars were notoriously disgusting. At least my clothes weren't that nice. But when I hit the ground I realized that it wasn't the tiled floor.

Instead it was grass. Grass... Where the hell had grass come from? My head was no longer spinning. Why was my head not spinning? There was no way that I had gotten over my drunkenness that fast. It was something else. Suddenly I felt so much better. But I hadn't thrown up the alcohol and whatever else was in my system. No. This was something else entirely. Had I passed out? Was this a dream? Had the bar been a dream? I didn't understand what had just happened.

Was there a chance that I had somehow made it outside before passing out? Not a chance. No. Of course not. Number one, we were out at the beach. There was sand and cement. Not grass. And there was the issue that now it was light out. It was nighttime before. Was it tomorrow? Or today, I supposed. Did someone get me home? What the hell happened? It couldn't have been my house. Because I wasn't in my neighborhood. The panic started to settle in.

Where am I? How did I get here?

Desperately wanting to be anywhere but here, wherever here was, I tried to stand up to find my way back, but I couldn't. I merely stumbled against the ground and coughed. I wasn't as sick as I had thought that I would be. In fact, I wasn't getting sick at all. They were more of dry-heaves from nerves rather than drinking too much. Suddenly I realized that I was wide awake and I felt like I hadn't drank at all, even though I should have been plastered.

Slowly I glanced up to try and calm myself down. There was no point in panicking. That wouldn't help. The only thing that would help was to try and be level-headed about this whole thing. As I glanced up and looked around I realized that I was in a place that looked vaguely familiar. It was like I was in a place that I had seen before. Somewhere in a far-off corner of my mind. Slowly and nervously I looked around at all of the strange people in the strange place.

Immediately I realized that I looked so much different than all of the other people. For one, I was a number taller than they were, which was strange, considering that I wasn't that tall. I also wasn't wearing a dress and apron like the other women were wearing. I was in a pair of tight jeans, worn combat boots, and a low-cut tank top. And my slightly curly hair from air drying earlier was hanging around my shoulders rather than being pulled back by a bandana.

Now my head was spinning again, but this time it wasn't from alcohol consumption. This time it was from something much worse. You wanted something different. But I didn't want something to happen that was this different. I stumbled backwards, hitting the grass again. Because I knew exactly where I was. I knew, and so did most other people in the world. Harley would fucking lose her mind if she could see me right now. Because I was in a place that I had dreamed so many times of being.

This was the place that I had been dreaming of so often over the past few months. It all made sense now. These were the woods that I had been dreaming about. This apparently was why I had been dreaming about the woods. Because I was supposed to end up here. Apparently in another very realistic dream while I was sobering up. This was why those woods had looked so familiar. Because I had seen them in a number of movies that I had always liked before.

No part of me could tell whether or not I was terrified or fascinated. Because I finally realized where I was. Not by my house, not somewhere near the bar, nowhere near any place that I had been before. I was in Hobbiton. The place where Bilbo Baggins lived in the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. I must have been even more hammered than I had thought that I was. There was no way that I would imagine something like this. Unless someone had drugged me. Someone must have actually drugged me.

"Miss? Are you alright?" an eerily familiar voice called.

No - fucking - way. Fearfully I whirled around. Maybe not fearfully, but there was some emotion that I couldn't quite place. It was hysterical, whatever it was. Because, right behind me, was Gandalf. Grey-robed, pointy-hat, wooden-staff bearing Gandalf. Ian McKellen, who evidently didn't know that he was Ian McKellen. At least, in my world he was. Leaning back against the grass I bit my tongue because I was about to burst out laughing. Because this dream was far too realistic.

"No. No. Gandalf is not real. The Hobbit is not real," I said hysterically, weakly stumbling to my feet. "Send me back. Puking in the toilet or a back alley or half-dead at home... I want to go back."

I wasn't sure how a dream Gandalf could help me, but I needed to get back to my drunken night out. "I think that we should talk, Miss Ambrose," Gandalf said.

"How the hell do you know my name?" I asked desperately.

Because it's a dream, idiot. Gandalf smiled at me. "I've been expecting you," he said.

"What?" I asked dumbly.

Gandalf laughed softly. "This is not a dream, Miss Ambrose. Welcome to Hobbiton."

A/N: Here's another story, since I can't focus on one at a time and I've always wanted to write a Hobbit story. This serves as more of a prologue. Not super interesting or long. They'll get better, I promise! If you know me as a writer, you know that I write very long and detailed chapters. They will follow that format in the coming chapters. Next chapter will start the Hobbit storyline. Let me know what you think! Until next time -A