14 - This Is Just A Fuckin' Nightmare

"Jackson!" I scream, going to my knees to his side. 

"Cristina." A very familiar voice calls from behind me. 

FUCK! Am I just dreaming? I slowly turn to my side and up at the man standing beside me. 

"We have to go!"

This is not possible. He's supposed to be dead. My legs are shaking under me but I manage to get up and look closely at his face, not believing what I'm seeing. It's the same man I've seen many times in different occasions before. The man with a scar on his chin. At this close proximity, I can clearly see his face under the cap and I gasp, taking a step back, putting my hand over my mouth. "U...Uncle E..Ed?"

I want to run, but my feet won't move. Instead, I feel myself feeling faint and I collapse beside Jackson. 

____

"Run, Cristina!" Trey shouts from a distance. I can't see her anywhere though. 

"Trey!" I cry, looking left and right. "Where are you?"

"Cris. C'mon!" I feel a hand on mine and I'm being pulled somewhere, getting farther from my friend's voice. 

"No. Let go of me." I try to yank my arm free but the guy just keeps on pulling. 

"Babe. We don't have time. Let's go."

"Mark?"

The pillow is wet with my own tears when I finally open my eyes. I notice I'm in a hotel room somewhere. I quickly get up, recalling what just happened last night. Uncle Ed. He's alive? 

"You up?"

SHIT! I turn around and see him entering the room carrying what looks like take out. Instinctively, I clutch on the blanket, holding it tighter to me as I move back on the bed, farther from him. 

"Eat." He says, putting the food down on the table at the other side of the room. He takes off his jacket and I notice the burn marks from his hand up to under his sleeve. "You have to hurry up. We have to get going."

I just sit there, cowering, shaking in fear as I watch him come closer to the bed. I try to move back, but I'm already against the wall. 

He sighs, sitting at the edge of the bed, taking off his cap. I see a part of his face deformed, too with more burns. What happened to him?

"I'll tell you, as long as you eat." He says, noticing my discomfort. 

Because of fear, I quickly get up and do what he says, scrambling towards the table where he just set the food earlier. I have a lot of questions I want to ask, but my mouth won't open to speak. 

I shake even more when he walks towards me, opening the box of food and then handing me the fork. "Eat."

I obey even if I'm having a hard time putting the food in my mouth while wearily watching his every move. He then pulls up another chair across from me and leans back, folding his arms across his chest. 

"I'm not dead, if you still haven't noticed," he shrugs his shoulders, trying to chuckle but stops when he sees the terror on my face. He sighs again, leaning his elbows on the table. I move my head back, away from him. He notices it and he leans back on the chair again. "I'm not here to hurt you Cristina. I want to help."

I just stare at him. I actually forgot how to react, more so, talk. There are lots of things running in my head and I don't even know what to do with the fork in my hand, halfway to my mouth. 

"I'm not gonna hurt you." He repeats himself. "I'm sorry if I came at your friend like that last night. I didn't mean to."

Jackson. Shit. Just then that I remember the boy unconscious on the ground last night. That's when I finally find my voice. "Wh...Where is he?" I ask, fearing for the worst. 

"I left him there. I only took you."

"Why?" I let my fork down on the table, giving him all my attention now. I'm trying so hard to look brave, but, I think I'm failing since I can feel my hands shaking on my lap. 

"Sean is out and he's after you. He's here in Korea."

I want to faint again at the mention of his name. How? My dad made sure that he doesn't get out. How did he do it? I am trembling even more inside. 

"That's why I'm here, Cristina. I'll help you."

"Why?" I ask again, my voice shaking, too. 

"You're in danger."

"No." I shake my head, "Why are you helping me? Why are you even here? How come you're not dead? Why have you been following me around? How'd you know Sean is out? What's happening?" All my questions from earlier just come out non-stop.

He reaches his hand across the table, but I move back, eyeing him with both fear and confusion. "First off," he breathes out, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry about what I did and what Lara did to you. We went too far, I admit. It wasn't supposed to be like that. I tried stopping her, but you know her. She gets what she wants, no matter the consequences. She destroys everything in her path that tries and stops her ..." he pauses, looking down at his lap, wiping his cheek as tears are already streaming down his face, "including me."

It takes him a while to compose himself before continuing, looking at me again. 

"I want to make it up to you and your family, especially to your dad. I owe you everything I had ... Used to have. Lara...." he looks away, trying to suppress his tears from coming out again. "She ... What she did was horrible. Her death wasn't even enough to repay the damage she's caused. And it doesn't stop there." He takes a deep breath, turning his head back to me. "Because of what I did before, Sean has sought revenge and it just got messier after that. Now, he's out again and I'm sure he's after you."

Memories of what happened last time make my tears fall, too. It was one of the most, if not the most, horrible experiences I've had and it still haunts me to this day. Before that, I was living my life to the fullest, thinking that those things do not really happen in real life. But, they do. And it happened to me. 

I remember how Lara looked when she's sprawled lifeless on the floor, bleeding from the bullet holes on her arm and chest. I would never forget what it felt like to pull the trigger for the very first time in my life. The smell of gunpowder, of blood and of death. It was traumatic, yet I was able to get over it. Because amidst all that, I had Mark. 

Mark. SHIT! 

I gave everything I had to all the wrong people. I trusted Lara, then Sean, and Mark. But, what did they do to me? They wrecked me inside and out. How would I trust this man before me who clearly betrayed my dad, too? 

I stay silent, not wanting to talk. I might say the wrong words and it would be the end of me. Although it wouldn't be too bad to die now, but I think of my dad, my mom, Grams, my grandparents whom I've just recently reconciled with, Trey and my new friends in the company. There are more things I have to be thankful for, I realize that now. I don't want to leave without even giving back to them what they've shown me for the times I was at my lowest. 

"I know it's hard to trust me now." Uncle Ed says, pulling me out of my thoughts. "After Lara tried to kill me, I've realized how useless my life was. I was too focused on getting rich, envying your dad, getting greedier and greedier everyday. I didn't think that my betrayal would come back at me in the form of the most important person in my life, the only person I cared about." He's sobbing again. "I don't blame her for what happened. It's all my fault. She got all that from me."

He tries to take my hand again, but I quickly pull it away. I get up and move to the window, the farthest I can get away from him. I keep my eyes on him though. 

"Cristina. You have to believe me when I say I'm really sorry and I want to help. Sean and his dad are not sparing anybody now."

"You think it's easy?" I shake my head, trying to process everything he's said. Me being in the same room with him is already scaring the shit out of me. Add to that, Sean is here in Korea. But, I try to keep my head straight. "Why were you following me?"

"I was watching over you. I heard Briggs left Russia and flew to China. I'm sure he was closing in on you at that time. I had to make sure he doesn't get anywhere near you." He explains, but that just makes it more confusing. 

"Why did you let us believe you were already dead?"

"Because it was the only way I can keep track of their scheme. If they knew I'm still alive, they'd make sure to kill me."

"Why not just run, keep on hiding? Why would you come back and help us?" 

"I told you." He gets up from the chair and I move to the side, keeping the distance. "I want to make it up to you. I started all this. It's my responsibility to end it."

I don't know what he means by 'end it', but it sounds like death to me. I hide my trembling hands behind me, acting brave again. At this very moment, I wish I had a gun. "Why did you have to take me?"

"Sean knows where you are, Cristina. He already got one of your friends."

"What do you mean? One of my friends?" 

"That girl with you before."

"TREY?" My voice gets louder, my eyes wider, and my legs trembling intensely. 

"I just got back from the station. She's ..."

"No," I fall down on my knees, covering my face with my hands as I bawl. "This can't be. No." I shake my head, not wanting to hear what he has to say next. "Tell me you're kidding. She can't be. How ...?"

"I'm sorry, Cristina. There's nothing I could do about it."

"I need to see her," I get up, not knowing where to go, not sure what to do as I pace the room in panic. "Take me to her."

"Crist...."

I run to the door, but he grabs my hand before I can even touch the knob.

"You can't go out there, Cristina. It's too dangerous. What if h..."

"Please." I cry, my tears flowing non-stop. 

____

If earlier, there were still doubts in me, now, they all disappear as the officer slowly takes off the sheet on top of the body in the morgue. All my energy leave me when I see Trey's face emerge under the white cover. 

"NOOOOO!" I scream, throwing myself over the cold, lifeless body that once was my friend. "Trey. Don't do this to me. No...." I shake her, "get up...please..." 

"Cris..." Uncle Ed and the police try to pull me away but I cling onto her. 

"No. You're just joking, aren't you?" I hit her arm, sobbing aloud. "This isn't real. Trey! No...."

I must be dreaming, am I not? Uncle Ed should be dead. Trey isn't. This is just a stupid, fuckin' nightmare. It must be. 

I feel hands on my back and my arms, trying to take me away from the body. 

Then I hear a very soft voice. "Babe? Cris?"

Yes. I must really just be dreaming.