Shattered

Chapter 39: Strange

Unknown POV:

"Someday I'll wish upon a star, and wake up where the clouds are far behind me. Where troubles melt like lemon drops, high above the chimney tops. That's where you'll find me." – Yip Harburg

I woke up to dirt. Dirt in my eyes, dirt in my mouth, dirt covering every part of me but that wasn't my biggest concern. I was hungry. So hungry.

After wiggling and struggling, I finally managed to get my arms up to dig out of the dirt. Why was I in the dirt? Buried. I was buried but why? God, I was starving. There was a raw, gnawing hole in my stomach that told me it was going to start eating itself if it didn't get fed. I felt dizzy, lightheaded, weak with a ferocious hunger. It was the only thing I could think about as I pushed through the dirt until I broke through the surface.

I crawled out of the dirt and it wasn't until then I realized I wasn't breathing, but it didn't matter. I couldn't remember who I was or where I'd been or what I'd done but none of it mattered because I was so hungry it was all I could focus on. I kicked and brushed off the rest of the dirt and everything felt loud. The wind, the crickets, the shuffling of I wasn't sure what. What stood out the most was the steady thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump. A heartbeat.

My stomach growled with hunger, roaring to find the source of that heartbeat. I whipped my head around and saw a man with dark hair sitting on the ground, facing away from me, his entire body shaking with sobs. All I could see was the vein pulsing in his neck, the heartbeat pumping blood I would die if I didn't get.

I scrambled to my feet and walked over to him, moving my hand towards his shoulder. I needed that pulse in his neck, the blood flowing under it. I was going to collapse and disintegrate to nothing if I didn't have it.

I almost reached him but hesitated when I heard music. Music was filling my ears from somewhere and I couldn't figure out where until I realized he had headphones in but I could hear it as clear as if it was on a speaker. Somewhere Over The Rainbow by Judy Garland filled my ears and something strange had me stopping.

Images flashed in my mind, of the man in front of me but a younger version. I ran to his bed and woke him up in the middle of the night after a terrible nightmare. Tears came down my face as I told him I was too scared to sleep. He lifted the blankets and let me sleep with him.

I swore I could feel it like I was really there, like I was actually present in the moment and feeling every single thing. I didn't know when it was, or how old I was, if it was actually me, or if it was even real, I just saw the images like a video playing in my head.

"What if I have nightmares again?" I ask as he tucks the blankets in behind me.

"You won't," he says sleepily, settling down onto his pillow.

"But what if I do?"

He sighs and opens his eyes, sits up and unzips his hoodie. He lays back down and pulls me against him, bringing the hoodie around me. "This hoodie protects you from nightmares."

"Really?" I ask as he zips it up with me in and him both in it.

"Mhm," he says, zipping it up so we're nice and snug and then he hugs me and I feel safe. So safe. "So stay in it with me and we'll both sleep nightmare-free."

"Okay," I agree, a smile reaching my face as I snuggle into his chest, that smile growing wider when he starts playing the song I always listen to when I'm sad.

More images flooded my mind and I was confused. Where did these images come from? Were these real things that happened? Who was the person sitting on the ground in front of me crying?