Nightmare
I whip my head around when twigs snap behind me, the only thing in my ears being the sporadic pounding of my heart and the strangled gasps being squeezed from my stitching lungs. My legs stumble with exhaustion after the boy with the long black ponytail laced with tiny chiming bells, tripping frequently over loose sticks and out-stretching creepers. There is nothing more I'd like to do than give into the threat, if only to sit down and catch the breath that runs faster than I ever could.
Turning my head, I lock eyes with the mismatched irises that run beside me, and I can see the same exhausted urgency in them that keeps my feel stumbling forward as he looks behind us once more. I look forward again in hopes to catch up with the ponytail, but he's disappeared. I can't even hear the bells chime anymore. Panic courses through me, but I keep running, knowing HE's right behind us…
Or at least, he was.
Looking back again, I slow to a cautious stop when I see nothing but endless forest. In every adventure and horror story I read, I always get annoyed when the character stops because their pursuer no longer pursues. But now, feeling this exhaustion, I get it.
I double over with my hands on my knees, desperately trying to choke air into my burning, aching lungs who'd rather stab through my rib cage than cooperate. Sucking a deep breath in through my nose, I straighten and look up to where my companion has been standing just 3 feet away. Only, he wasn't there.
Panic strikes my chest once more as I turn around in circles, looking for the two I'd been with just moments ago, for any sign of where they'd gone. I open my mouth to call out for them, but all I can manage is a pathetic wheezing from lungs that refuse to comply.
I begin to hyperventilate, the world spinning around me in a dizzying haze. They're both just suddenly gone, leaving me all alone in this confusing forest with HIM-
Suddenly, HE grabs my arms tightly from behind and I let out an ear-splitting scream as I sit bold upright in bed. Tears well and cascade down my burning cheeks as I hug myself tightly, trying to rid the feeling of His grasp on me. That's when my door bursts open as someone out in the corridor rushes to check on me.
He sighs.
“Nightmares again, Mari?”
Slowly, I lift my head from where I'd buried it in my arms propped on my knees to look at my best friend. I wonder how he'd heard me, let alone gotten to me so quickly, as his room is at the opposing side of the corridor.
Mathis sighs once more and shakes his head, closing the door and running a hand through his perfect mess of bed-mussed hair as he moves to sit with me on the bed. I flinch hard when he rests his hands on my arms in the exact spots as in the dream, so instead he wraps them around me, pulling my trembling body against him. My tears continue to stream as I clutch his bed-shirt in tight fists and bury my face in his chest. Slowly, his hands rubs my back soothingly until the trembling eases.
“Which one was it?” He asks uninterestedly, distracted by something else on his mind. He's never been very interested in my dreams, claiming they're just a product of my overactive imagination. Even so, he always asks about them, probably hoping if I talk about them, I'll feel better.
“The one where we're running through the forest…” I whisper.
He clicks his tongue, his hand freezing on my back. There's a silence for a long time, long enough for the tears to stop and for my eyes to become heavy from the crying.
“You know they're not real, right?”
I flinch as his voice, laced with annoyance and exasperation, cuts through the quiet of my dark room. I look at him tiredly, lifting my head from his chest.
“The boy with the different eyes and the flying boy with the bells. They're not real. Just figments of your over-wild imagination. There's no reason to be upset they left you, because you made them up. Hell, if you don't start spending your time thinking of something more important, I might leave you, too.”
Ashamed, I lower my head, knowing he's right. He always is.
“… I'm sorry…” I say quietly.
“Oh, stop that mumbling! It's unbecoming of a royal Princess such as yourself. How many times much I tell you?” He snaps, definitely annoyed.
I flinch back, his growing tones cutting right through me. As upset as he gets, I know it's only because he's looking out for me, making sure I act as I must. Behave as I must.
Realizing himself, he heaves one last great sigh and shakes his head clear of his thoughts.
“I'm sorry, my sweet kitten,” he says as he caresses my face, wiping a stray tear as it rolls past his thumb. “You've had a long night, I'll give your manners, lack there of, a pass for tonight. We should sleep.”
I nod, and he leans us back to lay against the feathered pillows, pulling me back into him as he pulls the covers up over us. I feel his fingers trailing low along the curve of my hip as I drift into a dreamless, restless sleep, making a cold shiver run down my spine. A frown settles on my lips as my nose fills with the scent of another from his shirt.
