Every life after yours

The Voice

The first time I heard his voice, I didn't see his face.

I didn't even know it was a dream.

There was darkness. Not the kind that comes when you close your eyes at night, but something deeper. Endless. Heavy. Like I was standing somewhere with no walls and no sky, yet somehow I wasn't alone.

I could hear someone breathing. Slowly. Quietly. Close enough that I should have been able to see them.

I couldn't.

"Don't."

The voice was low. Not frightening. Just tired.

I tried to move, but my body wouldn't listen. "Don't what?"

My own voice sounded strange in the darkness.

There was silence.

Then a quiet breath.

"You shouldn't be here."

I frowned. "Where?"

Nothing.

I turned around, or at least tried to.

Still nothing.

Only darkness.

Then the voice came again. This time, it sounded closer.

"Run."

I woke up.

My eyes snapped open. For a few seconds, I just stared at my ceiling. My heart was beating way too fast for someone who had literally been lying in bed doing nothing.

I blinked once, then twice, before pulling my blanket over my face.

"Great."

I lay there for another few seconds.

"Absolutely fucking great."

It was 3:17 in the morning. I knew because the glowing numbers on my bedside clock were the first thing I checked.

I sat up and rubbed my eyes. It had been a dream. Obviously. Just a weird one.

I reached for the glass of water on my bedside table and took a drink.

My room looked exactly the same as it always did. Clothes I'd promised myself I'd fold yesterday were still lying on the chair. My desk was a mess. The curtains were half open, letting the pale light from the street leak through.

Nothing was wrong. Nothing had happened.

So why could I still hear that voice?

I shook my head.

Probably because my sister had spent the entire week talking about vampires.

Again.

I glanced at the stack of books sitting on the floor outside her room. One of them had VAMPIRES: MYTH, HISTORY & LEGEND written across the cover in huge letters.

Of course.

I groaned and sat up.

Sleep wasn't happening anymore.

I checked my phone.

3:26 a.m.

"Perfect."

I slipped out of bed and quietly opened my bedroom door.

The hallway was completely dark. I made my way downstairs, expecting the entire house to be asleep.

Then I noticed a thin line of light coming from the living room.

I stopped.

At three-thirty in the morning?

Seriously?

I walked toward it and peeked around the doorway.

Ava was curled up on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, staring intensely at the television. The blue light from the screen illuminated her face.

I looked at the TV.

The Vampire Diaries.

I stared at her.

Then at the television.

Then back at her.

"You've got to be kidding me."

Ava jumped. "Jesus-Elio!"

I leaned against the doorframe. "What are you doing?"

She looked at the clock on the wall.

"Watching television?"

"At three-thirty in the morning."

"Technically, it's tomorrow."

"That does not make it better."

She rolled her eyes and turned back toward the screen.

"You're the one who's awake."

"I woke up because I had a nightmare."

That got her attention.

She paused the episode. "What kind?"

I hesitated. I wasn't sure why.

"It was weird."

"Scary?"

"Not exactly."

"Then what?"

I shoved my hands into my pockets.

"There was someone."

Ava raised an eyebrow. "Someone?"

"I couldn't see him."

"Was he hot?"

I stared at her.

"It's three in the morning."

"And?"

"You're unbelievable."

She grinned. "So what happened?"

I looked toward the television.

Vampires.

Again.

"I don't know. He just... talked to me."

"What did he say?"

I thought about the voice.

You shouldn't be here.

Run.

I shrugged. "Nothing important."

Ava studied me for a second before picking up the remote.

"Maybe you're finally developing an interest in vampires."

"I'd rather develop an interest in sleeping."

She laughed and unpaused the episode.

I grabbed the spare pillow from the armchair and dropped onto the other end of the couch.

I tried to watch.

I really did.

But every time the characters spoke, my mind kept returning to that unfamiliar voice.

Quiet.

Low.

Tired.

And somehow-

familiar.

I frowned at the television.

I had never heard that voice before.

-------------------------------few hours later------------------------------

"Elio."

Something nudged my shoulder.

I groaned and turned my face further into the couch.

"Elio, wake up."

"Mm... five minutes."

"It's morning."

"That sounds like a you problem."

My dad sighed.

"Elio."

I finally opened my eyes.

For a moment, I had no idea where I was.

The living room came into focus slowly. The television was off, the curtains were letting the pale morning light in, and there was an unreasonable amount of blanket wrapped around me.

Then I looked to the other end of the couch.

Ava was sprawled across it like she'd been knocked unconscious, one arm hanging off the edge and her mouth slightly open.

I stared at her.

"Classy."

My dad snorted.

I rubbed my eyes and sat up, immediately regretting it when a dull ache settled behind them.

"What time is it?"

"Almost seven."

I frowned and reached for my phone from the coffee table.

6:48 a.m.

I stared at the screen.

"That's not enough sleep."

My dad gave me a look. "You chose to sleep on the couch at three in the morning."

"I didn't choose anything. I was watching TV."

"You were watching TV until you weren't."

I glanced at Ava again.

"She fell asleep too?"

"Apparently."

I looked back at my dad. "How long have you been awake?"

"Long enough to make breakfast and wonder why both my children are unconscious in the living room."

I let out a tired laugh and leaned back against the couch.

My head still felt heavy.

Three hours.

Maybe less.

I closed my eyes for a second.

And immediately, that voice came back.

You shouldn't be here.

My eyes opened.

Dad was already walking toward the kitchen.

"You coming?"

"Yeah."

I stood up, stretching my arms above my head.

My body felt like I'd barely slept at all.

Which, technically, I hadn't.

As I followed him toward the kitchen, I glanced back at Ava.

She hadn't moved.

I shook my head.

"She's definitely your daughter," I muttered.

Dad laughed.

"Go wake your sister."

I sighed.

"Why me?"

"Because I'm your father."

"That doesn't answer the question."

"It does in this house."

I walked back toward the couch and stood over Ava.

"Ava."

Nothing.

"Ava."

She snored softly.

I stared at her.

"You're disgusting."

Still nothing.

I poked her shoulder.

She swatted my hand away without opening her eyes.

"Five minutes..."

I smiled.

"Oh, absolutely not."

I grabbed the edge of her blanket and pulled it away.

"ELIO!"

She shot upright.

I laughed.

"Good morning."

She glared at me with half-open eyes.

"I hate you."

"Love you too."

I turned toward the kitchen before she could throw the pillow at me.

For the first time since waking up, I almost forgot about the dream.

Almost.

Breakfast was quiet, except for Ava complaining that Dad had somehow managed to burn the toast.

"It is not burnt," Dad said, looking at the toast in question.

"It's literally black," Ava argued.

"It's toasted."

"It's charcoal."

I laughed into my glass.

Dad pointed at me. "Don't encourage her."

"I didn't say anything."

"You laughed."

"Can't control that."

Dad shook his head and finished his coffee.

Mom had already left for school. Being a teacher apparently meant having to leave the house before the rest of us had even properly woken up.

After breakfast, Dad grabbed his keys from the counter and headed toward the door. "I'm leaving."

Ava looked up from her book. "Bye."

I glanced at him from the dining table. "Have fun."

Dad gave me a tired look. "At the restaurant? Sure."

"You love it."

"I love cooking. I don't love paperwork."

He opened the door, then looked back at us. "And Elio?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't spend the entire day staring at that computer."

"I won't."

Dad gave me a suspicious look.

I smiled innocently.

He left.

The front door clicked shut, and the house became quiet again.

I went upstairs and switched on my PC.

Today was supposed to be productive.

At least, that's what I'd told myself.

I opened the college portals I'd applied to and started checking for updates. Most of them still showed the same thing: Application under review.

I sighed and leaned back in my chair.

"Come on."

Nothing.

No new emails.

No acceptance letters.

No life-changing notifications.

Just the same painfully boring screen.

I refreshed one of the portals.

Nothing.

Again.

Still nothing.

I was about to close the tab when I noticed something on the corner of my desk.

A book.

I stared at it.

Then I remembered.

The book Ava had left in my room last night.

Vampires: Myth, History & Legend.

I picked it up and walked downstairs.

Ava was sitting on the couch, reading something.

I held up the book. "You left this on my desk."

She looked up. "Oh."

"You could've taken it this morning."

"I forgot."

"You never forget this book."

She shrugged. "I was tired."

I placed it beside her.

She immediately picked it up again.

I stared at her. "You're actually reading it again?"

"It's interesting."

"It's a book about vampires."

"Exactly."

I rolled my eyes and walked back toward the stairs. "Don't read it too much. You'll start turning into one."

Ava didn't even look up. "Maybe I already am."

I stopped.

She finally glanced at me, completely serious for half a second.

Then she smiled. "I'm kidding."

"Very funny."

I headed upstairs.

But as I sat back down at my computer, my eyes drifted toward the window.

For some reason, the word vampire made me think of the dream.

The darkness.

The voice.

You shouldn't be here.

I shook my head.

No.

It was nothing.

Just a nightmare.

And probably the result of having a sister who couldn't go twelve hours without talking about vampires.

---------------------------------time skip------------------------------------

By the time dinner was over, the exhaustion had settled deep into my bones.

Dad was talking about something that had happened at the restaurant while Mom listened, occasionally laughing at whatever he was saying. Ava, as usual, had somehow brought the conversation back to vampires. I had stopped trying to figure out how she managed to do that with literally everything.

I mostly stayed quiet, picking at the last bit of food on my plate and thinking about college.

My first choice.

I had checked the application portal twice that morning, and both times it had said the same thing: application under review.

I knew there was nothing I could do about it. Still, I couldn't stop wondering what it would feel like to finally see an acceptance letter sitting there. A new campus. New people. No more school uniforms, no more teachers reminding me about deadlines, no more pretending I understood whatever was happening in the last ten minutes of class.

Maybe tomorrow.

I pushed my chair back and stood. "I'm going to sleep. Goodnight."

Mom looked up from her plate and smiled. "Goodnight, Elio. Don't stay up too late."

"I won't."

Ava gave me a suspicious look. "That's what you said yesterday."

"I actually slept yesterday."

"You slept on the couch."

"Still counts."

Dad laughed quietly as I walked away, and I heard Ava start arguing that sleeping on the couch absolutely did not count as proper sleep.

I smiled to myself as I climbed the stairs.

For once, everything felt normal.

I reached my room, pushed the door open and didn't bother turning on the light. The moonlight coming through the curtains was enough to see by.

My phone was still in my hand.

I opened the college portal one more time.

Under review.

I sighed.

"Of course."

I locked my phone and dropped it beside me before letting myself fall backward onto the mattress.

The bed caught me with a soft bounce.

I stared at the ceiling.

College.

That was what I needed to think about. Not the nightmare from last night. Not the strange voice I'd heard in the darkness. Not the fact that I had spent half the day remembering it despite repeatedly telling myself it meant nothing.

It was just a dream.

Probably Ava's fault.

I closed my eyes.

Tomorrow, I'll check the portal again.

Maybe tomorrow I'd finally get an answer.

My thoughts slowly became less coherent, drifting somewhere between college applications and the memory of that unfamiliar voice.

And then-

nothing.

---

My hands scraped against cold stone.

I groaned, barely able to lift my head.

The floor beneath me was freezing.

I tried to move, but my arms trembled as I dragged myself forward, my palms stinging against the rough surface.

I didn't know where I was.

I didn't know how I'd gotten there.

The room around me was enormous, with walls of dark stone stretching high above my head. Heavy curtains covered tall windows, barely allowing the pale light outside to enter. Old wooden furniture stood against the walls, covered in dust, while several candles flickered weakly in their holders.

Everything looked ancient.

Not old.

Ancient.

My breathing came out unevenly.

I tried to push myself upright.

My body hurt.

I couldn't understand why.

I looked down at myself, but the dim candlelight made it difficult to see anything clearly. My clothes felt unfamiliar against my skin, heavier than what I remembered wearing.

Where was I?

A strange sound echoed somewhere beyond the room.

I froze.

Silence followed.

Then-

Thud.

My head snapped toward the doorway.

Footsteps.

Someone was walking down the corridor.

Slowly.

I stared at the darkness beyond the open doorway, unable to see who-or what-was coming.

Thud.

Another step.

Closer.

I tried to move backward, but my hands slipped against the stone.

My heart hammered against my ribs.

Thud.

The footsteps were getting louder.

Closer.

Closer.

I didn't know why I was afraid.

I didn't know who was coming.

I only knew that every instinct in me was screaming to get away.

The sound echoed through the enormous castle-like halls.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

The footsteps were almost at the doorway now.

I looked toward the entrance.

Something moved in the darkness.

And then-

I jolted awake.

My eyes flew open.

I stared at my ceiling, completely still.

For several seconds, I couldn't remember where I was.

My heart was pounding so hard that I could hear it.

I slowly pushed myself upright, breathing heavily.

My bedroom.

My bed.

My curtains.

Everything was exactly where it should be.

I rubbed my face and looked at the clock.

3:26 a.m.

"Seriously?"

I dropped my head into my hands.

It had happened again.

Another nightmare.

Only this time, I could remember it.

The cold stone.

The candles.

The footsteps.

And that horrible feeling that someone was coming for me.

I looked toward my bedroom door.

It was closed.

I stared at it for a moment longer than I should have.

Then I heard it.

Thud.

My entire body went still.

Silence.

I held my breath.

Nothing.

I swallowed and slowly looked toward the door again.

There was no reason for my heart to be racing like this.

It was probably the house settling.

Probably.

I pulled the blanket higher and forced myself back against the pillow, keeping my eyes fixed on the door.

I told myself it was nothing.

Just another nightmare.