"No, please let me go, I beg you. Get off me now! You're hurting me, Papa. Please." Hazel whimpered and stirred in her sleep.

She was reliving the memories that made her this way.

Hazel hyperventilated as she jerked her head sideways.

"I won't let you go ever. You belong to me now and forever. Don't you ever think of leaving me again. Is that clear!?" a wicked peal of laughter erupted from the conjured image in her dream.

Hazel awoke with a jolt immediately. She took a quick look around the room before she slowly calmed down. It was dark already. These terrible nightmares had resurfaced again after a month.

Just when she thought that they had gone. When she thought that she was free, they came back. The effects of growing up in foster care had never really left her. The dark memories still haunted her dreams almost every night.

4th of July. That damned day lived rent-free in her head. Her mind had a sickening way of replaying the incidents of that day on her. She would begin therapy soon, she couldn't continue this way, especially now that she was expecting a baby. Hazel had vowed to give her baby her all.

Why was she so unlucky with men? First, it was Johnson, now Brady. Hazel had succumbed to this harsh fate. She sighed.

Why did the dreams come back after a month? She thought. Maybe it was because she was stressed when she came back from her afternoon shift. Working two jobs with her baby bump was a bit more stressful for her. She wished she could quit one.

However, she had no choice but to do it or her baby wouldn't have some basic necessities after delivery. Brady didn't give her money for the baby. He never cared about it anyway. It was as if she had impregnated herself.

"Who cares about that rubbish you're carrying? Can't you control yourself from getting pregnant? I don't want a baby! Abort it!" He had repulsed at the thought of having another baby as if she didn't always emphasize protection but he always liked it raw.

Since he wouldn't give her money and she didn't succumb to hid demands of abortion, she was left with her meagre salary to take care of her and the baby. She would survive. After all, she survived her dark past.

She turned back to look at the bed. Her pillow was drenched in sweat and her head pounded with a throbbing ache. The nightmares and the aches were back.

Hazel clenched her teeth as she stood up from the mattress to go to the bathroom.

"I hope they go away soon." She was almost close to tears. Her nightmares always messed her up badly.

It would cost her another money to get therapy. That money would buy something useful for her baby but she had to get therapy. That way, her past wouldn't affect her baby.

After splashing some water on her face, she walked out of the bathroom to make dinner. Her stomach growled. She had eaten nothing when she came back from work because she had to clean up the mess Brady and his friends had made around the house.

By the time she was done, Hazel was so tired that she dropped onto the bed without thinking of food. Sleep was her utmost priority then. If only Brady could be a bit more helpful with the baby and house chores, she would have been happier.

When she went for antenatal the week before, the doctor had complained that she was putting herself under unnecessary stress and that she should relax or she might have a breakdown.

Brady never helped her in cleaning up the apartment which was another reason she was always stressed out.

How could she relax when Brady didn't give her any chance to? She was always doing something.

It was seven PM. Hazel didn't have enough strength to do much. She had slept for just one hour and still needed more sleep. "I will settle for noodles. Brady can sort out himself. That is if he doesn't go to the club to drink himself to a stupor again before coming home" she sighed.

It was payday today. Her husband, Brady Walker was an alcohol addict who spent almost all his money on alcohol and other stuff. Each time she tried talking him out of it, she would receive a slap that would silence her immediately. Hazel dared not speak after that slap.

She didn't bother saying anything to him about it again after she lost their first child at his hands. All she did was mind her business so she wouldn't lose this pregnancy again. She couldn't bear to lose this child again. She would go crazy.

She served her food and proceeded to the parlor.

"Everywhere looks so clean now" she looked around, proud of what she had done in the parlor. At least, if those hooligans he called friends didn't come for another two days, she would rest a bit. She went to switch on the television.

"Oof it's past seven already. I hope I can still see some news updates" she plopped on the brown sofa opposite the television and tuned it to channel 279 before making a mental note to call her best friend, Avery.

" There was a head-on collision on the I-95 expressway thirty minutes ago. A truck driver driving the truck IYTE32 collided with another car."

Hazel's eyes widened as she dropped her spoon. Was she imagining things? IYTE32? Were her eyes and ears playing tricks on her already? No, it couldn't be true!

"The police said the accident occurred as the truck driver lost control of the truck and ran into an oncoming car.

The occupants of the vehicles have been identified as Sergio Fabrizio, Venita Fabrizio, Romeo Fabrizio, and Brady Walker. There was a survivor, every other person died instantly in the crash."

"Oh no," Hazel whimpered as she swallowed hard.

"Brady?" The impact of the news was so strong on her. Had he been drinking while driving again? She had warned him to curtail his drinking so many times but Brady turned a deaf ear to her pleas.

"The survivor has been rushed to the hospital and he is undergoing treatment currently in the ICU as we speak. More updates will come in later"

Hazel clutched her belly as she gasped.

"No, it can't be true. Nothing can happen to Brady" she thought. What if the survivor wasn't Brady? What if Brady was dead?

Adrenaline coursed through her veins as she sprang up from the seat immediately to reach for her phone on the kitchen counter.

She dialed his number as she panicked around the house.

"Hello, this is Brady. I am unavailable at the moment but you could leave a message for me" it said.

"Damn! Please pick Brady. Pick up and tell me this is a joke! That it is all a dream!" She called his number once more. It repeated the same thing.

Hazel dropped her phone and gripped the counter hard for support as she swallowed. She looked back at the Tv. Her nightmare had just begun. Where would she start from?