Words & Whiskey

EDITED VERSION: Chapter Sixteen

Ever since I agreed to that date with Jude, I had been having dreams about Kieran. Well, nightmares would be more accurate. In each one, we are back in my apartment living room, the glass shatters and sprinkles itself in my hair and all over the floor. Kieran lunges at me, gripping my hands harder than he did before. In each dream, I kept waiting for Nathan to come in as he had in real life, but he never did. Instead, Kieran pushed me to the ground, causing my head to hit the floor and shards of glass to cut into my shoulders and back.

"This is what you deserve," Kieran spat as he raised his fist, but just before it could connect to my face, I woke up.

Out of breath, I positioned myself upward and tried to regain my breath. I looked at my phone on the nightstand and pressed the button. It was only ten at night. I must've fallen asleep early. Getting out of bed, I padded over to my closet, changing out of my pyjamas and into my sweatpants and a hoodie. Before I opened my door, I grabbed my phone and earbuds.

The apartment was silent. I knew Darian was likely in his room watching some obscure film that nobody has heard of. Walking by Nathan's room, I peered into it, knowing he was most likely not even home. When my suspicions were confirmed, I kept going until I reached the front door. I slipped on some Nikes and once they were securely on my feet, I walked out.

Outside, it was incredibly cold and I kicked myself for not bringing a jacket. It was winter in Canada. How dumb could I be to forget a jacket? Nevertheless, I walked along the sidewalk, it being fairly busy despite it being a Wednesday night. Tucking my hands in my pockets, I quickened the pace, desperately wanting to get to my destination before I got frostbite. I passed the convenience store Nathan went to a few days ago and I turned the corner. The street lights hardly lit up the street and I found myself wincing in hopes that I would be able to make out shapes better. I kept walking when I eventually found the familiar building and walked down the creaky metal stairs. I pushed open the door and walked through the crowd, luckily, not many paid any mind to my entrance because they were too busy watching a match in the boxing ring. I got onto my tippy toes, peering over the heads of the people in the crowd so I could see the boxing ring. Nathan wasn't in it, just one being that creepy guy Hank and the other being someone I had never seen before. Silently, I made my way to the back of the room and into the exercise room where I had found Nathan a few days ago.

Thankfully, he was there demolishing the punching bag, sweat pouring down his forehead and glistening across his naked chest. His sweatpants hung loosely at his hips. I inspected him as he attacked the bag, he was clean and precise with his movements. The door slammed shut behind me and I cringed inwardly. Nathan stopped hitting the bag and his eyes snapped in my direction, his expression surprised. He walked over to me, taking his gloves off and dropping them on the floor as he did so. His eyebrow cocked upwards. "What are you doing here?"

I shrugged. "I couldn't sleep."

"Oh?" He tilted his head to the right. "Why's that?"

The nightmares of Kieran clouded my mind and I felt myself pale, doubting ever coming here. Nathan furrowed his eyebrows as he took my shaking hand in his. "What's wrong?"

"I-I-I j-just," I started, my voice wavering. I paused before I began to speak again, feeling embarrassed that I just showed up here spontaneously and started stuttering like an idiot. Trying to calm down, I loosed a breath. "I couldn't sleep because of nightmares."

"Nightmares about what?" He asked, looking incredibly concerned. When I didn't answer, he took a guess. "Kieran?"

I nodded my head, not looking him in the eyes. "I just hate that I felt so helpless that night. And every night before. I never want to feel like that again, you know, feeling out of control."