I'm A What?!

First Nightmare

     Gat could see and hear it all in his nightmare. The blinding headlights, the tires screeching, the terrible sound of metal crunching metal, broken glass flying through the air... and then the pain. The horrible pain. But in his dream, unlike the reality of the event, he heard laughter. Sick, taunting laughter.

     Gat looked up from the rubble of the debris to see Aaron standing over him. Laughing at his pain. Laughing at the dark spot that slowly grew on his pants. Laughing with his sick smile on his face. Aaron came in close and whispered in his ear, "Murderer."

     "Gatlin!" A pair of hands were shaking him. Gat looked around and saw that he had fallen asleep at the drawing table. Tim was kneeling next to him with his hands on his shoulders. "Wake up!" He was almost screaming at the poor boy.

     Tim took the syllabus from the folder and noticed that Gatlin was twitching. His face contorted from uneasiness to pain. He started to whimper. Tim set the paper down and watched Gatlin. Was he having a nightmare?

     'Crap! What do I do? Do I wake him up? Do I ask someone for help?' Tim was panicking. He didn't know how to help the poor kid that looked like he was writhing in pain.

     Gatlin let out a sudden scream and started to roll around, he almost fell from his chair. Tim caught him and set him back into the seat. He decided waking him up had to be the best course of action... right? Tim kneeled down next to Gatlin and started to lightly shake him at first. "Gatlin? Gatlin, wake up." He spoke lightly, not wanting to scare him. He had had a terrible day and Tim felt bad that all this was happening to him.

     When Gatlin didn't wake up, he shook him a little harder. "Gatlin!" This time he almost yelled his name. The boy suddenly opened his eyes and sat up straight in his chair. His eyes blurred in and out for a moment before he looked at Tim with recognition.

     "What was that?" Tim asked. Gatlin blinked a few more times and looked around the room again. "Gatlin. Answer me." His voice became firm.

     "N-nothing. Just a bad dream. I'm sorry. Did I wake you up? What time is it?" Gatlin was clearly still startled by the whole thing.

     "It's time for bed. Did you get your homework done? Have you taken your medication?" Tim really wanted to know what happened in the dream, but he didn't push Gatlin. Maybe he could ask Mr. Pova how to handle that... wait... what is happening? Why is he so worried about someone he wasn't going to see next year? 'Remember,' he thought to himself. 'Be kind, but don't get attached. I'm sure he'll be fine.'

     "Yes. I did both." Gatlin said truthfully.

     "Good. Take a shower. It should help with the sweat. Then get to bed. I'm taking your syllabus, so I know what classes you have tomorrow." Gatlin nodded and got up. He walked slowly but got his things together and headed for the bathroom.

     Tim went back to his own desk and looked over the sheet. Gatlin had Caregiver/Little 101 with Tim. After that was Music.

     'Huh, I didn't know Music was still offered in our school. I guess it's only for Subs... maybe even only Littles.' Tim was slightly jealous that Gatlin got music... until he read what it entailed. Each student got to choose either a recorder, tambourine, or triangle when they arrived. They then got to learn lullabies and other safe songs. Tim shook his head. That wasn't music, that was kindergarten.

     He was about to read the next class when he heard someone behind him clear their throat. He turned around and looked at Gatlin who was standing there with his face completely red. His head was down, but Tim could see the look of a man who had given up. If it wasn't for the slight blush on his face, he would have been sickly pale.