Power switch

Part 1

Large corridors, hallways, doors, and confusings paths were all Ryan could gamble with as he ran through the maze of a building he was in. He didn't know who or what was following him as all he could hear besides the blood rushing through his ears and feet pouding on the ground was a sick, ear-splitting, screech when it was close.

"FUCK" was all he was able to get out as something tripped him, slamming him into the ground giving him almost no time to scramble back to his feet and slip into a room as the thing dashed past the doorway.
His heart was pounding but he didn't care at this point, he had to find a way out from this hell of a maze, luckily he had luck on his side as a small crack of light shone under a door across the empty room, it was a bit of a risky dash but he had to go for it.

Ryan muttered small curses to himself as he wearily got up, the adrenaline was wearing off and he could feel his nose bleeding and the aches in his legs, he would have to shake it off. Unfortunately his luck only lasted so long as whatever was chasing him sprinted down the hallway.

Ryan didn't think he could run as fast as he did to make it to that door, rattling the knob with no success only to knock it open and slam it shut as quickly as he could.
He took a breath, and shakily slumped against the door, and didn't even bother to open his eyes despite the light that shone through his eyelids 'i think im safe now'

He wasn't safe yet.

—--------------------------------------------------------

Ryan woke jolted up with a start in a pool of his own sweat, his breath quick and heart pounding. On the other couch his brothers and Austin quickly snapped out of their conversation to look at Ryan, noticing the state he was in. Ryan's hands shook, his vision was blurry, and he felt like he was gonna puke. It took him a solid minute for his ears to stop ringing and vision to clear enough to realize he was safe in his apartment.

After a few deep breaths he managed to calm down before Austin spoke "you good ryan? You look like you just saw a ghost-" but he just waved austin off "y-yeah just a... bad dream, i'm alright" he very much was not alright, he just had this dream for the third time this week and it was starting to take a toll on him.
There was something off about it, he couldn't quite pick it out though, it was all too confusing and he was too groggy to figure it out anyways.

Ryan's train of thought was quickly interrupted by Adam placing papers on the table next to his laptop, they were notes ryan had taken while he worked on a new potential song. All it took was the reminder of his project for dread quickly rush in, god hoped he remembered to save the file for song he had started because restarting didnt seem like the best idea, especially right now.

He scrambled to open his laptop before it quickly got shut by Adam "no, you need to rest you look like a mess" he scolded with a worried tone
"but-"
"no. no exceptions"
Ryan didn't have the energy to argue with Adam any further and just sighed in defeat as the laptop was taken from him
He watched Adam walk away with a worried look, it held hint of something else but who knew at this point.

— — —

It surprisingly didn't take long for Ryan to slip into a deep sleep, a normal one this time, carrying him to the next morning. He woke early to the smell of breakfast, and walked out and to see Adam cooking 'guess he stayed the night, again' he figured as he shuffled out of his room to the couch, blinking the sleep out of his eyes.
A plate of your usual breakfast foods, eggs, bacon,and a bagel was slid on the coffee table in front of him without a word from the older, not too long after he had sat down. Adam fixed his own plate and sat across the couch from Ryan, who could only pick at his breakfast, staring at it blankly.

The two sat in silence, adam glanced at his younger brother every now and then, worry setting in as he picked up on more notions that ryan was sick, his face was pale, he sounded sickly and had a cough, his nose seemed to be runny, and he had very little appetite.. Not the best situation combined with nightmares, and the stress of work.
he finished his bite and spoke up "are you feeling alright ryan? You look like shit.." Adam set a hand to Ryan's forehead "and you're burning up..." Ryan went to speak, interrupted by a sneeze. "-m' alright..." Adam shot him another worried look before making him go to bed and informing jack who had just gone into the kitchen.

The oldest and youngest didn't know how long this would last, they were on a bit of a schedule with touring coming back up, so it would hopefully be quick.