Hidden Mysteries

Nightmare

Warning for a bit of spooky stuff and near-drowning in this one. Stay safe dears!

I can't help but stare at my bedroom ceiling with a thousand yard stare, completely exhausted. Balloon had bandaged my leg with a first-aid kit he had on him ("My dad always says I should have one", he said), and while the pain wasn't so intense anymore, my wrist still stung from where the rock we used for our oath cut into my skin.

I rub my face with my hands. I'm so tired. I'm tired and in pain and I have no idea how to process the events that occurred in the last two hours.

I'm so engrossed in my mental dilemma that I hardly register falling asleep.

~~~

I wake up to rushing water, the noise hurting my ears. Everything is dark, the air feeling so damp and humid it was a surprise I could even breathe. I open my eyes, slowly sitting up. My room was completely empty save for my bed. The floor was gone, replaced by some sort of black liquid. Slowly and quietly, I moved to get off my bed, only to find that the "water" felt completely solid under my feet. I quietly moved to leave the room, to find myself standing in a hallway eerily similar to the upstairs hallway in my own house, right down to the pencil lines on Baseball's office door that had measured my height over the span of my life to all the pictures of me and my family hanging on the walls.

The only difference was the black water under my bare feet.

"Hello?" I call out, water splashing quietly as I walk forward. "Baseball? Knife? Anyone?"

Silence. Only water running.

I kept walking through the hallway, looking for someone, anyone. Part of me was unsure if any of this was real. I knew it had to be some sort of dream, but at the same time, the cold and what felt like the beginnings of a migraine was all too real.

Suddenly I wasn't in the hall anymore, but somewhere that felt both familiar, yet all too strange to me. It was a large lake, the water looking deep and murky, and things moving underneath the surface. There was a dock not too far from where I was standing, old-looking and rotting in some places.

As I stepped forward, I noticed two people standing on the dock in front of me. One of them was a noticeably younger Candle, staring at the water with something in her hands. And the other one...

I had to take a couple steps back.

"Mom," I whisper under my breath. I'm completely shocked still. I was aware that Candle had known my mom before her death, but I didn't understand. I hardly ever dreamt about my mother, and Candle never showed up in my dreams before.

So what is this...?

"Handbag, are you sure entrusting us with these is safe?" I heard Candle ask. "I understand your intentions, and I don't doubt you, but..."

"If it makes you feel better, I don't want to do this either, Candle." My mother's voice was soft, with a slight accent that I couldn't exactly place. I don't think I've heard her voice before, but it feels like some part of me felt a sort of comforting sense of deja vu when she spoke. "But we don't have a choice here. We can't let these fall into the wrong hands. If they do..." She pauses. "I don't want my little girl to grow up in a situation like that. And I doubt you'd want that for OJ and Paintbrush."

I start walking forward, my emotions numbing me.

"I wouldn't, but...this is risky." Candle turns to my mother. "We don't know if this will work. I can do it—"

"Candle, you know well by now that it has to be me. I'm the one he wants." My mother places her hands on Candle's shoulders. "The least you can do, is keep this one safe. All the others are around town, but they're hidden. You and Silver are two of my best friends, and I trust you two to keep these safe."

Candle looks down at the object in her hands, and that's when I finally get a good look at it. It looked noticeably newer, but it was the near splitting image of the journal I had found in the crypt.

What was going on? What did this mean?

As I rush forward, reaching out for Candle and my mom, they both suddenly vanished, almost like they were never there at all. It was only then I registered the tears that were streaming down my face, my body shaking uncontrollably. I fall to my knees, my fists grasping at the hem of my pale white nightgown as I stare into the water with watery eyes.

Suddenly a large tendril shoots out of the water, wrapping itself around my chest and yanking me into the water. It's thick as mud, and I can barely move my own body. I try to pry the tendril away, but it tightens its grip on my chest.

I can't breathe. I can feel more of the black tendrils wrapping around me; around my arms, legs, and neck. Am I dying? It feels that way. I can almost hear someone calling for me.

"Suitcase!"

~~~

I sit up in a panic, gasping and panting, strands of hair stuck to my face. It takes me a couple of seconds to register Baseball was standing next to my bed, looking worried.

"Suitcase? Suitcase, it's okay, I'm here." Baseball gently wraps his arms around me, holding me close. "Just breathe, okay? Deep breaths."

I start blanking out slightly after that, Baseball's voice ringing in my ears, but the words refusing to make their way into my brain. I clench onto my stuffed rabbit Snuffles in shaky fists, feeling my heart pound in my chest.

My head still hurts. I grip onto Snuffles tighter, my dad's voice having turned into background noise amidst my own thoughts.

"...Suitcase? Are you listening?" Baseball shakes me by the shoulders, snapping me back to reality.

"I want to go back to sleep," I say numbly. "My head hurts."

Baseball's face scrunches up in worry as he feels at my face with the back of his hand, the tension in his shoulders disappearing as he realizes I don't have a fever. "Maybe it's for the better you stay home from school today and rest. I have to go into work soon, but Knife should be home early this afternoon. In the meantime I'll call Candle and ask her if she can come over and keep an eye on you until he gets back, okay?"

School? I check the time from the corner of my eye; 5:48. Normally I'm up around thirty minutes later than this to get ready. I nod my head quietly, Baseball tucking me back in and kissing the top of my forehead before he leaves for downstairs.

I fall asleep again, but this time, my sleep is completely blank and dreamless.

AN: Handbag is one of my object OCs that I made a few years back when I discovered II! She was originally Suitcase's older sister, but a while ago I rewrote some things about her including changing her to be Suit's mom! Feel free to ask me things about her!!