ɪɴ ᴀ ꜱᴋʏ ꜰᴜʟʟ ᴏꜰ ꜱᴛᴀʀꜱ | ɴᴀᴛᴀꜱʜᴀ ʀᴏᴍᴀɴᴏꜰꜰ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

ᴋɴɪɢʜᴛ ᴀɴᴅ ᴅᴀʏ

I'm drifting off to sleep when I feel a shift in the air and suddenly there's a pair of hands gripping my neck, choking me. My eyes shoot open and through the darkness, I can make out Dimitri's face. I reach my hand out to grasp Natalie and wake her up but I can't reach her, I can only feel the cold sheets. My head snaps to look in Natalie's direction. She's not there. Shit. Shit, shit, shit. I feel Dimitri's hands tighten around my throat and my vision begins to swim slightly.

"What are you looking for, bitch?" He questions, a manic grin on his face, "There's no-one to keep you safe. You'll never be safe from me. You'll have to kill me, and I know you won't ever do that." There's a glint in his eye. He's done something. "She's gone." He comments casually, removing his hands from my neck just before I pass out.

"What did you do?!" I rasp, urgently.

"Nothing." He says with faux innocence.

"Where is she?!" I say, my eyes widening at the realisation that he could've hurt Natalie.

"Oh, your pretty friend? I killed her. Now you're all mine. She's not here to take you away from me anymore, Y/N." He says, slowly dragging a hand down the side of my face.

"Y- you killed her?!" I stutter.

"I knew you were dumb, Y/N. But I thought you could at least understand plain English. She's. Dead. Gone. Never gonna see her again. Got it?"

"No." I whisper, tears rolling down the sides of my face and into my ears.

"Not even a 'thank you'," He tuts, "I guess you may as well join her, Y/N." He grabs the closest pillow and holds it tightly over my face, preventing me from breathing. I try to gasp for air. I fail. This is the end. I think to myself, struggling for oxygen, my arms and legs failing around, attempting to hit Dimitri. No luck. I can't breathe.

}---{

I fly forward in the bed, abruptly sitting up and gasping for air. I feel a layer of sweat covering my whole body. It was just a nightmare. I tell myself over and over, trying to hold in my sobs, silent tears running down my cheeks. I still can't control my breathing. Shit. It was just a nightmare. It was just a nightmare. I repeat in my head, pulling my knees close to my chest. I can't breathe. My chest feels tight, my head is spinning, I feel like I'm about to throw up.

There's a shift in the bed.

"Hey, are you okay?" A concerned voice rasps, a hand coming to rest on my shoulder. Although I anticipate the contact, it still makes me flinch.

I. Can't. Breathe.

"What happened?" She asks, sitting up, more alert.

"Bad dream." I force out, quickly. "I'm okay, go back to sleep." I rest my forehead on my knees, trying to control my breathing.

"You are not okay." She scoffs slightly, causing me to let out a breathy laugh. "I'm going to touch you now." She tells me carefully, waiting for me to nod before pulling me towards her and onto her lap, my head resting in the crook of her neck. "Follow my breathing." She instructs calmly, moving my right hand to rest flat on her chest, feeling it move up and down as she's breathing. As I'm trying to match my breathing with hers, I breathe in her scent. Rose and black musk. Smelling it helped me to calm down.

Once my breathing has regulated, she brushes a strand of hair out of my face, smiling down at me. I smile up at her. God, she's pretty. I remove my hand from her chest, realising that my hand placement was almost touching her breasts. I decide to find her hand instead.