𝗜𝗧𝗖𝗛 ✔

𝟒𝟗. 𝐃𝐄𝐋𝐀𝐘

"No! Someone help!"

A shot of loud, crackling fire echoes, it continues on for what seems like forever as the man thuds to the ground, the gun clanking beside him...

"What the heck is this?"

"Why is this only happening to me?"

The woman looks at herself in the mirror, horrified as she sees red incarnations of Satan himself splattered across her face like never before...

"It's not just happening to you, Jannah, my sister said she was itching like crazy right after she ate at the diner yesterday..."

"Itching? My own hands did this?"

She looks at her hands, monsters of their own...

"Can you explain?"

"It's going to get better, it always does for normal patients..."

Someone screams, it's blood-curdling. They fall back into the inky, merciless sheet of black sky.....

"No....no...shut up!" Cara gasped as she came to terms with the budding nightmare. "Argh!" She punched the pillow, frustrated tears welling up in her eyes as she broke into a cold sweat. She took deep breaths, eyes closed shut, rocking herself in a tightly curled up position.

I can't do this...I can't. When are they going to end?

It took her awhile for Cara to settle herself this time. It wasn't her fault. The dreams were like cold, ugly hands, wrapping around her neck and suffocating the life and soul out of her. And nothing was helping. It was like no one was on her side....no one.

She looked to her side, feeling void of the warm feeling she had felt earlier, when she had first fallen asleep, then realizing that Aiden had gone.

I didn't get a single nightmare when he was here. I usually get at least one a night...

She slumped, thinking for a few moments before abruptly getting out of the bed and throwing on some sweatpants and a t-shirt. She tip-toed down to the first floor, and then headed down to the basement.

Mint had the basement finished, so it had a nice, homey feel, even with the lack of light down there. The floor and walls were made of a nice, honey-colored hardwood.

Cara glanced around for a few seconds before spotting the queen-sized bed. She softly took the cover off before sitting.

"Aiden." She shook his shoulder gingerly.

He stirred. "Look who came back."

"Shut up. I had nightmares. Let me stay here? Please?"

He frowned. "You had nightmares? I thought you said you didn't have them anymore."

She shut her eyes in exasperation. "We'll talk in the morning. I just want to sleep."

He didn't argue.

_*_

Cara and Aiden hadn't woken up for that entire evening. Taelyn didn't have the heart to wake them up, so she just let it be that way, instead deciding to ask them tomorrow.

It was now the next morning, and Taelyn found herself slurping her cereal up sloppily as she waited for her friends to get their lazy butts down there.

"These donkey asses," she laughed to herself as she put the bowl in the sink.

Right on cue, though, a pair of bright golden and red turned the corner.

"Who are you calling a donkey ass?" the shorter of the two confronted, her voice of mocking shock. "I'm rather hurt, Tae."

"I was joking," Tae rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I had to ask you about something yesterday, but obviously you all were too busy cuddling up and being cozy. Is something going on that I don't know about?"

"Uh, n-no! Aiden had something to tell me and...he took it rather hard. So I decided that it was best for him to sleep," Cara explained carefully, looking at Aiden beside her for reassurance.

"Sure," Tae quirked. "Anyway, eat. I'll be in the office."

Cara grabbed the box of Cheerios, a spoon, and a carton of milk from the fridge before sitting down.

"Explain about your nightmares," Aiden said, tracing his tongue on the walls of his cheek slowly.

"M-my-? Oh." She slumped.

"You said you were fine, remember? All those weeks ago when we first arrived here. Why didn't you tell me you were getting nightmares again?"

"I didn't feel like I was obligated to tell you," she mumbled.

"You're not obligated to tell me," his eyes softened, "but I would like if it you did."

Cara sighed. "I know I should be telling you these things. I just didn't want to burden you."

"Remember when you told me that I'll never be a burden?"

She nodded.

"I want you to remember that, but for you. You are never a burden. Okay? I guess we both need to understand that."

"Yeah."

Aiden rested his face in his hands. "How bad are they?"

"I came running to you in the middle of the night." Cara deadpanned.

She didn't tell him that she had started to glance at her arms five times a day to remind herself that it was her fault that people were ridding themselves from this world.

She didn't tell him that when she looked at her reflection in the mirror, it seemingly got paler and more gauntly every time.

She didn't tell him that everytime she heard a loud noise, the screams from her dreams rang excruciatingly in her eardrums.

She didn't tell him that everytime these things happened, she shook her head like nothing was wrong.

He laughed humorlessly before speaking again. "I wish I knew how to help you. You don't deserve to have this kind of pain thrown at you."

Cara sighed. "Let's go. Tae's probably w-waiting for us."

Aiden's eyes fell, but he didn't push the subject. "Yeah. Let's."