Shattered

Chapter 13: Nightmares

Kaden's POV:

"Tell me, if a person falls apart alone in the dark, does it make a sound? And if it does make a sound, is it as loud and devastating as a decaying broken heart when it is finally found?" – Nikita Gill

The darkness was so consuming, it felt like its own entity, wrapping around until breathing seemed impossible. In the center of the darkness sat a little girl.

A door shut, closing her in darkness, then the scene changed but it happened again. A different room, a different door, but it ended the same. Countless doors of different textures and colors, different places, but all slamming shut, leaving her inside with a faceless person.

They slammed shut one right after the other and I wasn't sure why but it felt terrible. Every time the door shut, everything would hurt, every part of my body would hurt and the doors wouldn't stop closing. Nausea built and my skin crawled like a grime had covered every part of me and I couldn't clean it off.

The little girl screamed so loud it finally stopped but then her form shifted, similar but now made of dollar bills that exploded around the room. At the source of the explosion of money was a little girl with grey eyes and brown hair, staring up at me with a black eye and split lip.

"Don't leave me."

"Kaden!"

My eyes snapped open and I jumped back, away from the person sitting so close to me. I blinked a few times, my heart racing, sweat coming down my forehead. My hands were still shaking and I saw the claws falling back in.

"Are you okay?" Xander asked, his brows furrowing.

"I..." I blinked again, my eyes darting around the room. Shredded. The bed, sheets, blankets, all shredded. My own shirt was in shreds, barely hanging on. "Did I shift?"

"Not totally, I woke you up before you shifted fully," he said, watching me carefully.

"Kay, what happened?" Tess asked, crouching next to me. Shit, I wasn't even on the bed anymore.

"I..." I thought back to that horrible nightmare. Nothing exactly happened but... A shudder ran through me and I shook my head to clear the memory. That little girl... Grey eyes, brown hair... Violet. It was Violet, but the colors were wrong. Her eyes were more blue-green than grey, unless it was a lighting thing like that night on the cliff? It seemed strange that her eyes kept changing color. Either that or I was going completely insane. But her hair, Violet's hair was black, not brown. Still... That little girl was definitely her. "I think I just... Had Violet's nightmare," I admitted, looking up at them.

"What?" Tess asked, her eyes going wide.

"What happened?" Xander asked.

Telling them the details felt wrong. It was wrong I was even having them without her knowing. Shit, everything just kept getting harder.

"It was just a nightmare of her as a little girl," I said. "I don't know what happened but... it was intense and terrifying even though nothing really happened."

"Have you ever shared Kane's nightmares?" Xander asked Tess.

"Never," Tess said quietly, standing and offering a hand. "Come on, let's get some water in you. You were screaming and shaking."

I took Tess's hand and she pulled me up while Xander pulled out his phone and brought it to his ear.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Calling Cass," he said, sitting on the edge of the shredded bed and rubbing his hand over his face. "I'm telling you, Kay, something is weird about your bond with Violet. I'm not saying anything's wrong with her," he added, throwing his hand up in surrender. "I just want us to understand what we're dealing with."