Wingless {Clifford A.U}

Chapter Five

Darkness surrounded Astrid as she blindly ran, her arms out in front of her groping the air around her. She could hear the ragged voices that echoed around her, piercing her ears. She put her hands over them, closed her eyes, and screamed. The voices were screeching in her head.

"You're worthless."

"It's no wonder your birth mother gave you up."

"I The world's better off without you."

"Do it, kill yourself." The voices screamed.

Hot tears ran down her face as she choked out sobs. She felt as if something was crushing her lungs, slowly draining the life out of her.

"Get out of my head!" She screamed. She felt something in the darkness latch onto her body, immobilizing her as she thrashed, but she failed at freeing herself.

"Let go of me! Leave me alo-" she started, but her cry was cut short when whatever was holding her wrapped itself completely around her, covering her mouth. It slowly tightened its grip and began crushing her causing pain to spread through her body. Her screams for help were muffled as the voices started speaking, their words ringing in her head.

"You can't get rid of us. We live inside your head. We will always torment you until the day that you die." They said, their taunting laughter echoing all around her. She continued struggling but her attempts were useless. No one was going to save her, and no one could hear her screams.

Astrid was awoken by Michael shaking her shoulders.

"Astrid wake up, its just a dream!" He whisper yelled. She sat up, still covering her ears and her body shaking. Her body was tangled in the sheets and she could feel wet tears rolling down her cheeks. Michael sat in front of her, still gripping her shoulders with a concerned expression on his face.

"It was only a dream." He said in a soothing voice.

"They won't go away." she whimpered, tucking her knees to her chest.

"Who won't go away?" He asked.

"The voices. They won't leave me alone." She cried. Michael wasn't sure what to do in this situation, but he knows that he has to comfort her in some way.

"Calm down, its okay. I'm here." He told her reassuringly.

"I-it felt so real. The p-pain was r-real." She whispered, staring down at her hands in the darkness. It still felt as if something was crushing her.

"Don't worry. I won't let anything hurt you." He said. She looked up at him. Through the dim light of the sun slowly rising, she could make out the faint outline of his facial features.

"P-promise?" She asked, still a bit unsure.

"Promise. Now try to go back to sleep. It's really early." He said, pulling the comforter over her body.

She laid on her side in silence, trying to ignore the thoughts of her nightmares.

***

"I can't sleep." She said after a few hours of tossing and turning trying to get comfortable in silence. She glanced at her phone. It was 9:00 so it wasn't that early. She got up at straightened out her t-shirt.

"Do you have nightmares often?" Michael asked and she sighed.

"Yeah, I hope they go away soon." She said stretching. "I'm going to change, so turn around." She said.

"Can't you go into the bathroom?" He asked and she shook her head.

"No, I'm locked in, remember." she said and he nodded.

"Right, I forgot. Sorry." He said turning to face the wall. She went to her closet and pulled out a pair of jeans and a long sleeved T-shirt and slipped it on.

"Okay, I'm dressed." She said and he turned around. She was in the middle of brushing her hair when he turned around. He couldn't help but stare, she was gorgeous, though he would never admit it out loud. She noticed he was staring and she looked at him.

"What?" She asked.

"Huh, what?" he asked snapping back to reality.

"You're staring..." she said trailing off.

"Oh I um... I didn't realize that I was staring. Sorry." He said, his pale cheeks turning red causing her to giggle.

"Okay then." She said, a slight smile on her face. The door knob rattled and Astrid turned her attention to the door as Naomi walked in. A look of disgust written on her face.

"Good you're awake." She said in a bored tone. She glanced at Astrid's face and grabbed the bottom of it and turned it to where she could see her cheek, and Astrid flinched. She wanted to back away, but she stayed where she was. Naomi glanced at the bruise that had formed where she had hit Astrid the night before.

"You'll need to cover that up." she muttered letting go of her face.

"Yes ma'am." Astrid muttered.

Michael was still sitting on her bed watching intently. Naomi looked around her room and then focused back on Astrid.

"Have that covered and be ready in thirty minutes." Naomi said.

"Why, where am I going?" She asked, very confused.

"Therapy." Naomi said, and with that she left the bed room. Astrid's eyes widened and she looked at Michael who looked about as shocked as she did.

"She's sending me to therapy. They're going to find out about my depression, and they're going to send me to a mental hospital or put me on medication!" She said in a panicked voice. Michael got up and walked over to her.

"No they won't." He said.

"Yes they will, and they'll treat me like I'm a mentally disabled child. I don't want to go through that." She said. Michael sighed and hugged her tightly.

"Don't worry. I'll be there with you." He said, his chin resting on her head, her heart beating fast when she felt him wrap his arms around her smaller frame. 

"You promise?" She asked.

"I promise."

A/N: I updated! Yay! So please vote, comment, or give me feedback. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

-Xx E.J