The Nightmare Glitch

VII

It was silent when I finally came to. I couldn't open my eyes, but I could tell I wasn't alone in the room. Someone was next to me on the bed, but I couldn't tell who it was.
"Seán. Babe? Can you hear me?"
Oh, so it was Mark.
It hurt to try and open my eyes, but I noticed there was something in my hand, presumably another hand. Giving it a squeeze, I smiled internally when I heard a gasp.
"Seán, can you open my eyes?"
Despite the pounding in my head, I slowly shook my head. A moment later, something cool was placed on my forehead. I assumed it was a warmed ice pack at first, but when it started moving through my hair, I realized it was Mark's hand.
"You're still a little warm, but your fever broke at least."
"What fever?" I rasped, my eyes still closed. My voice was super hoarse, as if I'd been screaming a lot.
Or I hadn't used it in a while.
"Dr. Iplier had to place you in a type of coma to let your body heal from all the damage Anti put it through. You've had a fever for the last day or two."
"How long have I been out?"
Mark was silent, like he didn't want me to know.
"How long was I out?" I repeated.
"A little over a week," he whispered.
I couldn't bear only hearing Mark. I had to see him, especially when he sounded so dejected. So beaten. It took a moment, but I managed to pry my eyes open. Mark's hand was in mine, but he wasn't looking at me. He was staring at the floor."What happened?"
"Anti nearly killed you. I almost lost you." Mark looked up and tears filled his eyes.
"You didn't. I'm still here."
Before he could speak, the bedroom door opened, and in came Nate.
"Oh, you're awake. I came to get Mark to eat, but I guess I'll just bring it up here."
"Why are you still here?" I asked. "I'm assuming nothing happened while I was out. You could've left."
Nate shook his head. "There's no way I could've left you guys here alone. Plus, I didn't trust Mark to take care of himself while taking care of you."
"I have the sides," Mark muttered.
"Some were busy trying to make sure Seán was ok and others were trying to figure out Anti's plan and find Seán's egos."
They're still trapped? Makes sense. I still can't feel them.
"I know Anti's plan," I spoke up and both of their heads shot toward me. "His plan is that he has no plan."
"What do you mean?" Nate asked.
"Water first. Then plan."
Nate nodded and quickly fled the room.
"How did you figure it out?" Mark asked.
"He showed up while I was out. I figured it out from the way he spoke and what he'd done."
Nate appeared a moment later with a glass of water, which he quickly handed to Mark, which helped me sit up enough to drink it. When I was done, Mark set the half-empty glass on the nightstand.
"That's better. Anti isn't killing as part of some grand scheme. He's killing for the fun of it."
The color from both Mark and Nate's faces drained as the implications of what I had said seemed to kick in.
"W-what?" Mark asked. "Does that mean-" He couldn't finish.
I nodded. "Anti used Dark to manipulate Leni to kill herself for the fun of it."
"Leni died for nothing," Mark whispered, his face somehow growing paler and tears began slipping down his cheeks.
"I have no doubt in my mind that Anti would've gone to immeasurable lengths to cause her harm," Nate said, wiping tears from his own eyes. "From what you've told me about that weekend, sides can harm us just fine. But Anti seems unable to. I mean, the only way Anti has been able to do any real damage was when he was either controlling Dark or he was hacking your dreams. So he would've found more and more creative ways to hurt you, ways that I don't even want to imagine. She didn't die for no reason, she died to protect you. Because someone with no motive has no end goal in sight, makes them so much more dangerous."
"When did you get so smart?" Mark laughed, wiping the tears from his face.
Nate chuckled and shrugged, "must be from spending so much time around you guys and Mat."
"How is Mat, by the way?"
"He's good. Ollie's almost 8. Him and Flynn would get along, I think."
I smiled. "I think they would, too. And maybe that kid you plan to adopt at some point."
Mark swung his head to look at Nate. "You want to adopt?"
Nate nodded. "I've wanted a kid or two for years, but I didn't think I was ready. But Seán and I talked, and I'm not getting any younger. My career's been in a good place for a long while and I've successfully taken care of myself and a dog for a while, which I know is not the same, but still. I probably won't do it as soon as I get back, but eventually. Probably within the next year, at least."
Mark nodded. He must've thought about something because he dropped his head and gripped my hand tighter. "Adopting is... one of the best feelings in the world."
The room was silent, thoughts of Leni circling all our thoughts.
"We should call your mom, tell her we can take Flynn back," I announced.
"Really? You think it's safe?" Mark asked.
"I don't know what it is, but this feels final. At least for the mean time."
After a moment, both men nodded their heads.
"Ok, I guess I'll give her a call." Mark stood up, kissed me on the forehead, and left the room.
"I'm glad you're ok," Nate said after a moment.
"And I'm glad you stayed. He likes to pretend he's too tough to break, but there was a reason why I agreed to you coming. Not that I didn't want you over, but, you know."
"Yeah, no I get it."
"Part of it was because we hadn't seen you in so long, part of it was because I knew he was afraid of what happened to Leni happening to me, and part of it was because I knew something was gonna happen and he'd be left alone."
"That's why I stayed so long. Because I cared about what happened to you and Mark couldn't be left alone."
"Thank you."
Mark walked in as he pocketed his phone. "So, 엄마 was worried about us, so she decided she was gonna fly to us to drop him off instead of us going there to pick him up."
Nate nodded. "I guess I should take off."
"If you want. We didn't get a lot of time to just chill and hang out. Wasn't the best reunion."
"Dude, I live half an hour away. I can come over this weekend."
Wait, this weekend?
"Wait, what day is it?"
"It's Tuesday, December 23."
"Tomorrow's Christmas Eve?"
"Yeah..." Mark knew what I was thinking.
"Our first Christmas without her."
The silence enforced the absense of a particular 14-year-old. Christmas would hurt, but her birthday would eventually hurt worse. But we would move on. We have to. For our sake and Flynn's.

Mark's mom got there by the end of the day and Nate left a few hours after I woke up, that way he could get home to his dog, but three of us would have time to properly catch up and hang out.
Flynn was so excited to see his Dad and Pops that he cried for half an hour as soon as he saw us.
With me being in a coma for half of December and Flynn not being there for any of it, the house was void of any festive decorations, so we spent the day putting everything up, Mark deciding he was too lazy to put the lights on the roof.
Christmas this year was a small affair, unlike previous years. But it was nice. Leni's death was still raw, but so was my wound.
Though my accelerated healing took care of most of the damage during my coma, there was still a faint scar and I was fairly weak, walking from room to room taking most of my energy.
Oh yeah! The sides managed to escape while I was out, that's part of the reason I only slept for a week and not two like I probably should've. And as expected, they were pissed they'd been trapped. Again. Marvin ended up gifting each of the sides a pendant that would render Anti's abilities useless against them.
Overall, it was an interesting December, from Cringemas to the nightmares that ended in a coma. But we put it all behind us in order to celebrate a peaceful Christmas with our family, the way Leni would've wanted us to.