Halle awoke with a start. She gasped for air as she felt her back drenched in cold sweat and her hair matted to her forehead. Her heart pounded like she’d just run a marathon and her sleepiness had completely left her. “Halle?” She heard a worried voice from her side, a warm hand holding her shoulders and trying to shake her out of her unexplained state. “Flower…” He called out again. His baritone voice was enough to bring her back to her senses. “What’s wrong?” His hands moved up to her face, bringing her face closer, cupping her chin, and brushing tendrils of her curls away from her face. He was here, with her on her student bed that could barely contain two people. In his brown eyes were embers of worry, he didn’t let go, not even when she had forced a reassuring smile and tried to pull away from his grasp. “Nightmare?” He inquired, his eyes didn’t leave hers. It only then occurred to Halle that his eyes were bright, with no sign of sleep in them. Sunlight was seeping past t

Halle’s apartment was only two years old, she was one of the first tenants to move in, the building called to her like a siren when she had gone house hunting, the apartment was bigger than the last one she left, it had more than enough space to contain everything she owned and even more. It had a living room and a bedroom separate, a big kitchen that could survive her working on her cooking skills, and despite it being way above her budget, she paid for it as a treat for herself…Greta began to visit more often after that, well that was until Simon came into their lives.Halle hated to admit it but the fact that her friend and boyfriend didn’t like each other gnawed at her, she’s tried so hard to finally make things work for herself and in turn also help them in as many ways as she could, couldn’t they both at least just be happy for her? Even though they had to pretend.Greta was well on her way to becoming a famous reporter, she uses that as an excuse now to stay away whenever she le

Halle really wished she could enjoy her weekend as she had planned to. In her five days and nights of horror, Halle pictured herself constantly on her bed, in a warm bath, a hot bath…under a hot shower. Yet here she was, practically paralyzed from exhaustion on her bed and waiting for an email. It was a bright Sunday morning, the best day of the week for Halle as she had absolutely nowhere to go, there were no classes or shifts at the Matten Bar. Everything should’ve been perfect and relaxing but Halle found her mind drifting as she brushed her teeth, as she took a shower, and put on her clothes, she still thought about checking her email. It had only been a few hours, Halle managed to get proper sleep but not nearly enough considering the amount of sleep she had already missed out on in the past week. Greta and Simon had left sometime in the early hours of the morning, she knew because she felt a peck on her cheek ad remembered the scent of roses, Greta’s favorite scent. She had

“Do you think you’re better than the other girls who have worked their asses off to get here?” “Do you think you have any worth?” “You have no use, you’ll never have any worth!” “I have never loved you, you disgust me!” Halle woke up with a gasp and a choked cough. Her eyes were wide with panic and fear as she struggled to catch her breath and get her lungs to work properly. Her heart was pounding so fast that it was painful, her hand moved up to her chest as she groaned in agony, her clothes were drenched in sweat and even her forehead dripped sweat into her eyes. She looked around as she tried to catch her breath, rays of sunlight streamed through the curtains and it bounced off the white walls of her apartment and created a beautiful light. Her apartment. Yes, she was home. She was no longer in her country with her mother or the girls. She was home. Halle let out a shaky breath, her heart calming slightly as she kept looking around the bedroom, her eyes drinking in every d

“Would you like to have anything to drink? Or eat? Have you had breakfast?”While Martha bombarded her with questions about her comfort, Halle’s mouth was still slightly agape as she looked deeper into the details of the house. It was magnificent.“Is this where I’m going to be staying for the next year?” It was a sobering thought, it was just a house…but it also made Halle realize the gravity of the decision she had made.“Yes, except if you don’t feel comfortable living with Mr. Stone?” Martha’s brows furrowed with an emotion that seemed more like discontent. Halle swallowed and shook her head immediately.“No, of course not I was…just asking, you don’t live here?”“No, I don’t,”Halle nodded and moved her eyes down to her fiddling fingers, her teeth biting into her bottom lip like it was an offensive part of her body that needed to be chewed off and thrown away.Don’t bite your lip, flower.Woah.Woah! Don’t think about that!“I…sorry,” Halle smiled apologetically reali