Visions of burning embers, smoke, and burning corpses. A sensation of fire raking across her body, blisters, scorching burns forming across her body. Anna opened her mouth as a wail of pain, loss, and confusion rose from her throat.
Whimpers
When Anna opened her eyes, she felt the dampness from crying in her sleep, causing swelling in the corners of her eyes.
"Fuck sleep." (Anna)
Anna muttered to herself, her body not feeling rested, but she got up and opened her tent to see everyone else besides Greyson outside their tents, looking at her tent.
"I woke you, didn't I?" (Anna)
Anna knew the look of people deprived of sleep when someone wakes them up, the only one looking somewhat rested but concerned was Mark.
"Do you normally scream and whimper in your sleep?" (Justin)
Anna took a deep breath and exhaled, going to the fire pit and sitting down.
"Yeah, I'm guessing you want to know why?" (Anna)
"Yes, Ouch the hell man?" (Kyle)
When Kyle said yes, Mark hit Kyle with a metal rod that stoked the fire, leaving soot on Kyle's leg.
"You were being an ass." (Mark)
"How was me saying yes being an ass." (Kyle)
"Sorry, man, but even I noticed the expression she had." (Justin)
Anna smiled softly but took a deep breath before speaking.
"It's alright, I'll tell you guys as we all can tell Greyson is a deep sleeper though, so I haven't had a reason to tell him." (Anna)
Anna cleared her throat before continuing. Kyle still looked offended that the others practically ganged up on him about something she followed through on.
"The day the towers appeared was when I was twelve. It was only a city away from where I grew up. The pressure of its appearance caused the pipes in all the neighborhoods closest to the tower to explode. My little brother was barely ten, and both my parents died instantly. I was thrown across the house. I had a concussion, but I crawled over to my dad, hoping he and my brother were alive. My mother was in the kitchen where the fire originated. She was dead as soon as everything exploded. My father was burned alive trying to protect and hold my brother, who died when debris shot through his temple. I couldn't accept that they were dead and stayed too long in the house. The roof started collapsing, so I was forced to try to leave. A burning wooden beam landed on my legs. Breaking my bones and pinning me inside the burning house. I used both my hands to push the beam off myself. My hands and legs got covered in third to fourth-degree burns. I was barely able to keep my limbs. Some families were driving by, rushing to get away from the fires, when someone saw me crawling out of what was my burning home. They rushed me to the hospital I was permanently crippled before I evolved. Now... I don't have the scars that made me lock myself in my apartment. I don't have to use a walking cane to stand and walk. I still have nightmares about the day I nearly lost my life with my family. I still remember the feeling of the fire burning my flesh after the beam snapped my bones like twigs." (Anna)
Anna took a shaky breath and got a granola bar out of her inventory, no longer feeling the will to cook.
"Anna, look, I'm..." (Kyle)
Anna shook her head.
"I think we should wake Greyson and pack up." (Anna)
"An-" (Justin)
"I don't want to keep talking about it. I told you the cause of my nightmares, so now you know and understand that I may scream in my sleep from flashbacks." (Anna)
Anna tossed the wrapper into the fire and summoned more food, placing it on the ground for the others to eat with a few water bottles as she headed back into her tent.