Jake's Nightmares: A Narrative Fiction

When Sean talked to the rest of his friends from La Huerta, they would always mention the nightmares. If you got Jake drunk enough, he would talk about seeing Mike die over and over again, trading his life for Jake’s. When Sean and Craig were alone, he would talk about finding Zahra’s “dead” body in the cave, but then, she was really gone. Estela’s dreams were of her mother and Lila. Aleister’s were of his father. Everyone had their own version of catastrophic events that haunted them, but the one consistency was always Callie. Callie was by Jake’s side when Mike died. Callie had held Craig when he though Zahra was dead. Callie was sitting next to Estela when she watched the video of her mother being murdered by a woman she thought was her

He would weave a story about watching Callie fall from the helicopter into the choppy, bright blue, Caribbean waters. About the way she hanged off, and how he tried to reach about a grab her, but it was too late. The truth was though, that none of Sean’s dreams about La Huerta were nightmares. In a way he wished that they were, because in his dreams, Callie was always alive. Then, he would wake up the next morning to an empty bed, and the stinging realization that it wasn’t real. That she was gone. They always would start at the same place. He would be walking along the beach right next to the Celestial, the place where Callie first found the sabertooth. He would be barefoot, the sand warm underneath his feet, walking comfortably for a few minutes until he saw a beautiful woman in a flowing white dress. There would be something undeniably familiar about her. He would walk closer, watching her long, brown hair flow in the wind, and the way that the waves hit her ankles. He would walk towards her until she turned around, and he was face to face with the woman he loved. “Sean, you came!” she would always say, flinging herself into his

I’m safe, I promise you that. I’m just not with you. I wish I could be, but I can’t.” Sean searched her eyes, trying to find something to hold onto. Callie looked so real, everything felt so real. This couldn't be a dream. He didn’t want this to be a dream. “Sean…” she traced his jawline with her finger. “It’s going to be okay.” “I know it is,” his voice was a whisper as a single tear fell down his cheek. “I just want you. That’s all.” With that, she pulled him close, pulling his lips to her’s. She tasted like jasmine and sea salt, like jungle rain and wild flowers. When he was kissing her, he felt the spark between the two of them. His body was on fire, except he like the way that it burned. With one of his hands on her waist, and the other in her hair, it seemed as if she was really there. It seemed as if she was alive again. In that moment, the world was weightless, and only consisted of the two of them. When they broke apart, their foreheads touched. “Thank you,” she said softly. “For what?” he asked. “For this,” she said