TharnType OneShot

Trauma(s) - Video

POV TYPE

A door... voices... I open my eyes and find myself in a room with a bed in the middle. I approach it and there's a shape in the bed... no, what I thought was a single mass contains several human beings. One looks younger, an adolescent who hasn't finished high school, the others are above him.

"I'm sure he appreciates that," a voice echoes to my left, there's someone next to me. I can't see his face, but I can make out his smile. I redirect my gaze to the bed. Who's supposed to be enjoying this?

"Look at him. He's enjoying it, just like you enjoyed what happened between you and me, didn't you?", the voice starts again. I don't want to turn my head, I know who's talking. I don't want to see his face, I don't want to hear him...

I freeze, staring at the bed. I finally understand what's happening in front of me, how could I not understand before? I take a step forward, I've got to stop this, I've got to do something, I've got to get the teenager out of there, I've got to...

A hand grabs my arm, his hand... I make a sudden move to free myself, but it only tightens the grip. I can hear his deep laugh just beside my ear: "Leave them alone, I told you he'd enjoy it. I can remind you of them, if you like, while you wait for them to finish...".

I can see his face approaching mine...

I wake up with a silent cry. The room is silent, Tharn is sleeping next to me. I didn't wake him this time. Recently, my nightmares have returned. I've been having them every other night, if not almost every night, since I saw that video. Sometimes I just see the video again, sometimes I see that dark room with the chair in the middle and sometimes, like today, it's a mixture of the two.

I know Tharn's starting to worry about me, of course he's noticed that the nightmares have returned, but when he asks me what's wrong, I don't have the strength to tell him. To tell him that his ex-boyfriend was raped, that his best friend is behind it and that he's even behind all his other break-ups? Why would he believe me? Although we're together, we've known each other for less than a year, whereas Lhong... I don't know exactly how long they've been friends, but for several years at least, they've even had a band together. And that's why I have to stick to the plan.

Two arms surprise me as I close in on Tharn's body. My head comes to rest against Tharn's chest. A hand strokes my hair. I hear his voice whispering to me that it's all right now, that it's over, that no one will hurt me here.

It's my turn to hug Tharn. Every morning, I wonder if this is the last time I'll do this. If today Tar will call me to tell me that Lhong is going ahead with his plan, and with it mine.

I go back to sleep, lulled by Tharn's voice, I can't really make out what he's singing, but his voice always soothes me.

*********

POV THARN

Type has just gone back to sleep and I'm hugging him, wanting him to know that he's not alone. It's not the first time this week that he's woken up in the middle of the night. The first few times I tried to ask him what had happened, but he never wanted to answer. I swear that if someone laid a hand on him, he'd better hide for the rest of his life. I'll never forgive the person who brought back the painful memories of my boyfriend.

I'm trying to remember what could have happened. It started after he came back from the bar with Lhong... Was it our arguing that brought back the nightmares? If it was, I'd never forgive myself... However, we haven't argued since he came back from the bar with Lhong... Why would our reconciliation bring back the nightmares? Or did someone touch Type at the bar? Without Lhong seeing it, otherwise he would have told me, wouldn't he?