Chapter One

            Lena jolted awake, rattled and dripping with sweat.  Reaching for her pillow and feeling it beneath her palm, she tried to calm herself down.   The room was pitch-black and empty.  Aside from her pounding heart, ferociously trying to claw its way out of her chest, she tried to remain calm.  “Breathe, Lena.  Breathe.”  She told herself.  It was only a dream, that’s all.  A dream.  Another dream.  Another darn nightmare invading her sleep, like a bad horror flick. 

                        When would they stop?  Every night, Lena’s sleep was interrupted by these familiar strangers, these…these…unwelcome intruders who terrorized her nights with constant images of assault on the same poor female victim.  And that teenage boy who just stands there, drained of life, drained of emotion, looking on, doing nothing.  He stands there still, not helping.  Never helping.  As Lena lay physically asleep, her mind raced with conflicting images.  The girl, running from apparent attackers. The boy watching in fear, yet paralyzed with terror and unable, or is he unwilling, to come to her rescue.  All the while, Lena lay unable to awaken and free herself from these figments of her imagination.

            She needed sleep.  Tomorrow morning was her interview with NNJCC and God knew, she needed this job.  It had been three years since her graduation from Seton Hall University and she still held her position as Drive-Thru Bank Teller.  Not that there was anything wrong with being a teller, but it wasn’t Lena and it certainly wasn’t what her parents intended when they paid a substantial sum of money for Lena to get a degree in Television and Film Production.   Of course, the perfect job had come along months ago, but Vince made her turn it down.  A job as Production Assistant in New York City was God-sent, but it would have been selfish of Lena to accept a job that would take her away from Vince for too long.  So, here was Lena, preparing for an interview as a Public Relations Coordinator at Northern New Jersey Cable Company.  Not exactly the exciting land of make-believe that the television world provided, but it was a nine-to-five job and most importantly, it pacified Vince.