The Things You Will Never Know

Chapter 3

Hello hello! Sorry it took a while to get this chapter up but I've had awful writers block for the longest time now. (If you're also a reader of my other story All Four One then that's the reason I haven't updated that too, and as of right now I'm still stuck on it. Sorry!!)

Anyway, I couldn't not put up an update for this story on Halloween. It just had to be done. So Happy Halloween Witches!!! 🎃👻
P.s if you are reading this on Halloween, please stay safe tonight and whatever you do, definitely DO NOT go into the woods 😉

Enjoy!

PRESENT DAY

This isn't real. This is a dream.

But it feels so real. It feels like I'm running, trying to stay alive, yet I know this isn't what really happened.

I try everything in my power to try and change the nightmare I'm having but my head screams at me in pain and I know that the neat little trick I can usually do isn't going to work this time. I try to force myself awake instead but my mind fights back, keeping me locked in this hellscape.

I feel the fallen leaves crunching between my fingers as I try to scramble away, try to find something I can grab on to to get me just a little bit further away from-

It grabs my ankle and drags me across the ground as I scream but no sound comes out. It flips me over and there's a split second when I realise I'm going to die before I am finally able to rip myself out of the nightmare.

I wake up moaning in agony, clutching at my head. It feels like someone has tried to tear my brain in half, that's how badly it hurt to make myself wake up. I'm in so much pain that I'm barely able to reach across to my bedside table and find my ibuprofen and glass of water that I always make sure I have there for moments like this.

Being able to lucid dream- at least I think that's what it's called- has its perks sometimes; like how I can dream and know that I'm dreaming, and can therefore alter the course of it however I like. It's like being able to act out your own movie in your head. But then when the dreams turn to nightmares...then it's hell. I still know I'm dreaming but sometimes it's like being locked in a prison of my own creation and whatever I try, sometimes I can't change the scene playing out in my head. I'm forced to stay there and live out whatever sick and twisted scenario my brain has conjured up. I mean, I know that's what any nightmare is like, but it's different when you know it's all a dream and yet you can't wake up anyway.

When the pain subsides enough that I can finally sit up, I climb out of bed and go over to my window, pulling open the curtain and throwing the window open to let the cool night air in. It feels nice and soothing as it drifts in across my heated skin and my breathing eventually starts to return to normal as I gulp down the fresh air.

I haul my body up onto the narrow window ledge and sit there, despite the fact it's not exactly comfy. My eyes flick over to the forest across the street and for a second I'm convinced I see shapes moving in the shadows. I tell myself I'm stupid though and instead, I hold my head in my hands, willing myself to think of anything but that night.

My thoughts don't stray far though, they never do, and I find myself thinking about my boys. The ones who aren't really mine, but I like to think that they are. I don't think about them as we were on that night though; I think of them as they are now.

I wonder if any of them are awake right now. If they have nightmares as bad as mine. I wonder about whether they would answer if I called them right now. I don't have their numbers anyway, so I'll never know. Well, that's not completely true because I have Max's. Still, I won't call him.