Don't look back

From a book I'm writing with a friend.

Background: A time-traveling teen has found a new home in a garage of a lumberjack. She has no control on when she time travels or where she goes. At night she has nightmares - or are they reality?

I close my eyes. I won’t think about that now. I’ll think about that tomorrow…

“DIANE! DIANE RUN! DON’T LOOK BACK! DON’T EVER LOOK BACK!”  

I’m in the rainforest. The rain hits me, soaking my body. The leaves slap against me. The branches scrape against my skin. I hear the screams of my friends and my family. I hear them  fighting for their lives and fighting to give me more time.

I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t save them like i thought i could. I’m a failure, a coward. My tears become one with the rain as it cleans the blood from my body and face.

The screams stop. My heart pounds. It’s coming for me. I laugh at myself. I actually feel sad that the screams stopped. I was grateful for them because it meant that it was still there killing them and not coming after me.

But now - it’s searching for me.

“Run.” she said, “Run and never look back.”

RUN.

I sit up in my bed as the alarm blares into my ears. Sweat soaks by body, or is it the rain.

I jump from my bed throwing the clothes from my body. I hold my mouth as it tries to release a scream. She said never look back, but isn’t that what i keep doing. I keep looking back. I keep diving deeper into the past.

I stare at the clothes i threw at the wall. Is that blood i see?

I back against the wall and slide down to the floor. I hold my head in my head. Don’t think about it. Don’t look back. Don’t go back.