Good Things Never Last

Chapter 38

As soon as I walked inside the room, I was slammed into the wall with great force. Before I could even look around, the mysterious individual slammed his palms into my shoulders.

It took me only a matter of seconds to recover from the impact as I started thrashing around in an attempt to escape. I squirmed and kicked at my captor, but my movement only led to me being slammed back against the wall a lot harder than before.

It only took a matter of seconds for me to recover from the collision. I quickly began flailing around in an attempt to escape. I wiggled and kicked at my captor, but my movements just resulted in me being smashed even harder against the wall than before.

I grimaced in agony as a result of the rapid hit, panting slightly as a result of the lack of air in my lungs. My head hung low on my neck as I gazed down at the massive hands that were pinning my hips to the wall.

As nausea flooded through me, I slowly lifted my gaze. As I winced once more, I felt something cold run down the back of my neck.

"Oh shit"
I looked up at the owner of the voice, finally seeing their face. Well mask.
His hands abruptly slid to his sides, knocking me to the ground.
I prodded the now-wet region just above my neck with a shaky hand at the back of my head. I turned my hand over to see the scarlet liquid dripping down my forearm.

"What the fuck Dream?"
As I wiped my blood-covered palm on my t-shirt, I carefully pushed myself to my feet.
As he glanced down at his hands, Dream took another step backwards, shaking uncontrollably.

"Dream?"
I stood there watching as he backed up against the wall opposite me before collapsing to the ground and curling up into a ball. He hid his head between his knees, just revealing the green of his hood. The sound of a muffled sob soon met my ears as I realised that's what the noise had been that brought me here in the first place. He had been crying.

I moved forward slowly until I was a metre away from him. I knelt down to his level and gently placed my hand on his trembling shoulder, but he flinched away.

"Don't"
I tilted my head in confusion, removing my hand in the process.
"Why"
He had begun shaking his head violently between his knees, refusing to look at me. I could make the sound of his mumbling but I couldn't quite work out what he was saying.

"Dream come on, talk to me"
He cautiously raised his sight to meet mine after taking a big breath.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing"
I got a little closer to him, trying to figure out what was wrong with him.

"I'm not stupid Clay, there's something wrong. Just tell me"
He rolled his shoulders back, correcting his posture as he turned his face away from me once again.
"Like you fucking care"
The remark made a snort slip from my lips as I shook my head.

"Of course I care, otherwise I wouldn't be sat here right now listening to all your bullshit. Just tell me what's wrong"
He leaned in a little closer, the mask's eyes staring right back at my own.

"You want to know what's wrong? I've just failed fucking everyone Y/N! I missed the shot that meant everything and now all our work has gone down the drain all because of me. I've failed George, Sapnap, Punz, Eret, Purple, the list goes on. It was one stupid shot and I couldn't bring myself to do it"
I stretched out a little, intending to take his hand in mine, but I quickly withdrew it, not wanting to aggravate him any further. He just dropped his gaze to my hand while he shook his head.

"But you haven't failed me. Or Sapnap or George or anyone else. You can't change the past Clay but you can make a better future...."
"You don't understand. I'm a fucking monster"
The volume of his voice had massively increased, making me jump slightly at his yells.

"You're not a monster...."
I couldn't even finish my sentence as he reached a hand up and yanked off the mask before flinging it away.

"Then explain this"
He raised his right hand to point at a dark red scab running down the right-hand side of his face, starting at his eyebrow and finishing at the middle of his cheek. It must have happened when his eye was closed because the pools of emerald were still prominent and seemingly okay.

"I'm hideous..."
His voice trailed away as he glanced away from me, apparently self-conscious about his fresh battle scar.

"I think you look pretty..."
My words only came out as a whisper since I wasn't sure whether I wanted him to hear them, but I believe he did. He turned around to face me, a puzzled expression on his face.

"What"
"I said I think it's cool"
As he looked into my eyes, his gaze softened, but the look of bewilderment on his face remained.

"Really?"
"Yeah, I do"
A feeble smile was all he gave me as a singular tear fell from his watery eyes.

"Do you want a hug?"
A part of me wanted him to say no so I could leave, but another part of me wanted to comfort him, to stay by his side and make sure he was okay.

"Yeah. That would be nice"
That's exactly what I did. I hugged him and listened to him tell me everything that was on his mind. I allowed myself to be the shoulder he needed to cry on.

He told me about his life before everything. When he, George and Sapnap could all be happy. In all honesty, it was revealing to listen to as well. It showed how human he was deep down. How similar he was to me.

Lost.

It took a while, but he eventually fell asleep in my embrace. The dark circles beneath his eyes revealed how little sleep he'd gotten in the previous few weeks.

So I somehow lifted him up and placed him on his bed before leaving his room and returning to mine, entirely forgetting why I had returned home in the first place.