*Nightmares* *by* *Ensign Sarah Lewis* Sarah watched with horror as the man came towards her, his eyes full of desire. He had already locked the door of her room, cutting off all escape routes. Grabbing her by the wrists, Tom threw her onto the floor and sat on top of her. Pulling a hankerchief from his pocket he stuffed it into her mouth to silence her protests. Then, with alarming precision he began to undress her. She felt sick, the hankerchief choking her ability to breathe as well as scream. She fought back the urge to pass out - knowing she had to fight this bastard to the very end. As his hand moved to her thighs, she clamped them shut, refusing him access. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head when his hand connected with her cheek. She knew the bruise would be a deadly shade of purple. *Where had things gone wrong? We started the evening so well. Tom and I met up for drinks at the Academy bar as usual, had a great evening and then I invited him back to my quarters for a coffee. *Her thoughts drifted to the fact that he was training in engineering. When she heard the door to her quarters lock without her voice authorisation she knew he had disabled it and the comm. Forcefully Tom ripped off the remaining clothing from Sarah's body and violently raped her. ******** Sarah sat bolt upright in bed, the sweat oozing from every pore on her body. Another nightmare and they were getting worse. She wished she could run to Alex and talk to him about all of this but she wasn't sure that was appropriate. Dressing herself she made her way from her quarters on the habitat ring to Quark's on the Promenade. She needed a holosuite and she needed it now. Storming into his bar she eyed Quark straight away and made a beeline for him. Quark saw her coming. *This doesn't look good. *He'd seen Sarah in this stormy mood twice already. One time she'd launched him three feet across the room because the holosuites were engaged. He quickly checked them and breathed a sigh of relief to find one free. Sarah barked at Quark, "Holosuite, now!" Quark motioned for her to pass, ever curious how such a beautiful female could get so angry. Sarah marched up to the vacant holosuite. "Computer, load programme Sarah Lewis Delta Alpha 2." Programme loaded, Sarah entered. She was standing in the middle of a fair ground and was in front of one of the side shows. She picked up the ball that was lying in front of her and threw it hard at the stand. The shattering of plates followed as she hurled ball after ball at the china on the stand, imagining each dish as Tom's head. Tears streaming down her face she came to her last ball and gave all the strength she had let to throwing it at the remaining shards of plate. She was aware of the programme changing to a scene of tranquility and safety. There was soft dappled sunshine all around as she sank to the floor, emotionally exhausted. She was remotely aware of the man whose arms she was now laying in. For all teh crap men in the past had given her she knew this one was safe. The man whose arms she was in was Alex and as his scent filled her nostrils she breathed a heavy sigh, beginning to feel calmer. "Oh my sweet girl," Alex said. "I hate to see you hurting like this." "I wish you could make it all go away my love but its not possible," she whimpered, realising that Alex had followed her into the holosuite and adjusted the programme. "Come on babe, let me take you back to bed." With no energy left to protest, she allowed Alex to take her back to her quarters knowing full well he would not leave her on her own tonight.