Sleeping With The CEO
Chapter 225: Three In The Sand

Chapter 225: Three In The Sand

The extra week away from each other was a precaution. A necessary one. Emily understood that. But that did not mean that she had to like it. She missed sleep. She missed the penthouse, and most of all...she missed Derek.

Gone were the lazy mornings in bed. The random conversations, ranging from silly to heartfelt.

And in the place of all of that softness. There was nothing but pain and fear...so much fear. Emily had already died so many times in her dreams that it was not funny. She had drowned, been choked to death, hung, smothered with a pillow. Name it, and she had been through it. But the current dream that Emily was having was very different.

For starters, she knew that she was dreaming. But it all felt so real, that Emily began to doubt the part of her that remembered the moments before falling asleep.

Emily was surrounded by sand, lots and lots of beautiful golden sand. In every direction that she looked it was there.

Sand dunes as high as mountains. Some of them being destroyed and others created as the wind picked up. The landscape being destroyed and remade before her very eyes.

The gentle wind picking up the sand particles, playing with them, scattering them wherever it wished.

It did not feel like a nightmare. In fact, it was rather peaceful to watch, and Emily, walking barefoot in the cool sand, dug her toes into it.

Picking a random direction, she began to walk, having no idea where she was going. Emily had no sense of agency to her, and so she did not hurry, choosing instead to just enjoy the feel of the sand against her bare feet.

Her pace as slow as possible.

From time to time, she even crouched down, feeling the grains of sand with her hands. It was nice, almost like being at the beach. The only thing that was missing was all of the water that usually came with the sand.

But it was still a lovely experience. Even with how slowly she was moving, Emily’s journey continued, as steady as can be. At some point she realized that she was no longer just relying on her own steam, to get her somewhere.

The wind was also helping, pushing her one way. Blocking her if she tried to go in any other direction and offering her an extra push when she was going in the direction that it wanted.

The first prickles of fear should have started then. She should have felt more afraid, but instead, Emily merely continued to walk. The wind was not being violent. It was merely a guiding force. And so she saw no reason to feel fear. Instead she just continued to go in the direction that the wind wanted her to.

And so she walked, and walked, and walked...

Then off in the distance, Emily saw something. A tiny speck, a dot, so far away that it almost looked as though she were imagining it.

But even though she was walking in a desert in the middle of the day. It was too cool for whatever it is that she was seeing to be a mirage. Emily just knew that it had to be real.

Picking up her pace, she made her way forward. Getting closer and closer,

to the dark shape in the distance until it finally began to resemble something.

The closer she got, Emily realized that it did not look like just any random object, but something humanoid. She was seeing another person. "Hello!" She called out. Trying to get the stranger’s attention, but they did not answer.

And the closer Emily got, she realized that not only did they not answer her greeting. They were also not turned towards her direction. Instead they were facing something on the other side.

Fearing that her companion in the strange desert might just decide to leave. Emily picked up her pace, running the rest of the way to him. It should have been difficult. Given that she was running in soft sand, plus her general lack of stamina and fitness. But as she moved, it felt as though Emily were flying over the sand. Soon enough, she was standing side by side with the person that she had been calling out to.

Still they did not look at her, but that was unnecessary. Even without them showing her their face, Emily would know them anywhere.

She knew that ear.

She knew that chin. She knew that jawline. She knew the man.

"Daddy?" She rasped all of a sudden feeling impossibly young.

Her father, after ignoring Emily’s greeting earlier, turned at hearing himself be called.

And sure enough, it was him. But at the same time, it was not.

The thing before her looked like her dad. It smiled like him. And it even tilted its head to the side the same way that he used to. Back when he had still been alive. But Emily knew deep down that it was not Peter Molson.

"Who are you?" She asked, taking an involuntary step back. The thing wearing her father’s face stepped forward.

"Silly girl, why would you ask such a question?" It said, and if there was any doubt, that it was not her father.

Hearing its voice, put that doubt to rest. There was none of the warmth that her dad’s voice had used to carry. Instead, the thing had the coldest, deadest voice that Emily had ever heard in her life.

"Daughter?" It said in a sing song voice. Smiling even as half its face caved in, turning to sand and re-joining the dunes beneath their feet.

Not even bothering with any more questions, Emily turned on the spot and ran. She ran and she ran, and each time she looked back, the thing that was not her father was still standing in place, staring at her. Bits and pieces still falling off and turning to sand.

She looked back one more time just to make sure that it had not advanced. And when she saw that it had not, she continued to run. Focusing on the direction that she was going in. She only managed a few more panicked steps. Then she nearly tripped and fell, a hand coming out of the sand and grabbing her by the ankle.

The man who rose from the sand did not wear her father’s face. Instead, for a moment, Emily thought that she was looking at the face of her younger Sebastian Haven. But it was not. Instead, it was a face that Emily had seen on the wall of the former CEOs of Haven Group.

Jasper Haven.

A being that was not Derek’s father stood before her, and at her side the thing that was not her own father materialised. They were not Jasper Haven and Peter Molson, but just being in their presence made Emily’s heart ache. She wanted to tell Derek’s dad "Your son misses you," And she wanted to run into her own father’s arms. To hug him one more time. But she could not. Whatever was standing with her on the sand, she could not let it suck her in.

Around them, a sandstorm picked up.

"We have to get out of here. We will be buried alive if we don’t," Despite knowing that they were not real, Emily still tried to save them. But they continued to just stand and stare, all the while the wind howled.

Angry and vicious.

The sand piling on top of them, gran after grain, until all of them were buried.

Run! Her mind screamed. But she stayed put. There was nowhere to go.

Only sand, and more sand.

And so she stayed. The grains raining down on her furiously. She died buried in the sand, with two long dead men for company.

But instead of the afterlife, as most people got. She woke up, finding herself curled into a ball. Her mouth dry.

There was no sand, and there were no fake fathers for her to stand with. Instead it was just her curled up trembling in bed. Once she got herself under control, Emily reached for her phone. She wanted so badly to call Derek to get some comfort, but she controlled herself.

Instead, she got out of bed and went to get her embroidery. Pulling out a random piece to work on.

It was not how Emily had envisioned the night going. She wanted a nightmare free sleep. And most of all, she wanted Derek.