Sturniolo Triplets - One Shots/Short Stories

Shared Nightmare - N

Warnings: Nightmares, Attempted Murder, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Non-Graphic Violence

The brothers all have the same nightmare about Nick getting hurt.

Chris

It was a random Thursday evening and they had just finished filming this week's car video. Since it was one of those times they decided to film while it was light out, they still had a few hours left in the day to do something. Someone suggested going to the park for some ice cream, so that's how they ended up outside the parlour just moments later. Chris couldn't focus on the conversation they were having, but he was with his brothers and they were laughing, so everything must be alright.

Then for some reason, Nick had an empty water bottle in hand, so he started walking away to the nearest trash can, while he and Matt just stood there watching, waiting for Nick to throw the bottle away and come back. 

Suddenly, Chris was overcome with an insane wave of absolute dread. Something was wrong, very wrong. His body was frozen so he couldn't move, he felt sick to his stomach, he was unbearably hot and freezing cold at the same time. He knew something bad was going to happen and he had never felt such intense fear before. 

He forced himself to turn his head and look over to Matt, who was completely still, as if frozen in time. He was pale and staring wide-eyed in the distance. Chris called out to him, but Matt didn't answer, he didn't even move. Chris's chest started hurting from terror and fear, he wanted to get to Nick, he knew everything would be fine as long as he got to him. 

But when he looked over to the direction Nick just left in, he saw a weird, tall figure standing next to his brother. Despite standing a distance away, Chris could make out the man's features clearly; he was tall and deathly pale, with heavy bags under his eyes and hollow cheeks. He was wearing a dirty red hoody and torn baggy sweat pants, which was weird since it was the middle of summer and as hot as it gets. The worst thing about him were his eyes – Chris was staring directly in them and it felt like the man was staring through him, directly into his soul. 

Chris watched, still glued to the same spot, as this absolute embodiment of fear of a man raised his hand to Nick's stomach, who hunched forward, then pulled away, revealing a bloodied knife. Chris suddenly became aware of the fact that he couldn't hear. He also forgot how to breathe. He felt like someone dumped a bucket of cold water on him and he knew words would never be able to accurately describe the disgusting mix of panicdreadfearterror he was experiencing in that moment, watching Nick fall to the ground and lay motionless in a pool of his of red, red blood. 

Before realising what was happening, he was already kneeling on the ground next to his brother, pressing a hand to his stomach to try and stop the bleeding. Matt was right next to him, trying to keep Nick awake. They were both screaming. As he watched Nick look up to them both one last time before seeing the life leave his eyes, Chris's only remaining thought was 'this couldn't be happening', then everything faded to black.

....

Chris shot up from his bed with a loud gasp, tears streaming down his face. He was breathing heavily, looking around his room in panic, trying to assess his surroundings and remember what happened. His chest was burning and he couldn't hear anything over the sound of his heart beating wildly and the blood rushing to his head. 

A nightmare, it was just a nightmare. He realised this as he started slowly calming down, but it felt so real, he still felt the intense fear and panic from his dream and knew for a fact he had never experienced anything like this before. For some reason he couldn't stop crying. I have to see Nick, I just need to see he's okay, he thought, not wasting any more time before springing from his bed and rushing out of his room.