𝙁𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙎𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙬 ─ 𝘉𝘺𝘭𝘦𝘳

Chapter 1 - Nightmare

-- #3RDPERSON

Mike woke up with a loud gasp, his head throbbing and a cold sweat dripping down his face, he had just had his third nightmare of the week and they seemed to be getting worse. At first it was just small nightmares that he could get past, waking up and not being too bothered by them. But these recent ones were seriously damaging him. He began to cry, small sniffles filling his room, trying his best not the wake the sleeping boy on the floor next to him. Eventually, his small sniffles turned into loud sobs, and Will woke up, rubbing his eyes.

"Hey. . . What's wrong?" Will frowned, sitting up to look at his best friend.

"Nothing. . . I- I'm fine." Mike tried to hide the fact that he was crying, but he gave himself away when he let out a soft sob.

"Oh, Mike. . . What happened?" Will whispered, getting up and sitting on the edge of the bed so that he could see Mike.

"It doesn't matter. Sorry for waking you up. . ." Mike muttered, his voice trembling.

"You can tell me what happened, you know that, right?" Will whispered, gently taking Mike's hand in his own and giving it a gentle squeeze.

Mike sat up as well, positioning himself so that he was leaning against the wall, and he sat there and just stared down at their connecting hands. Will flicked on the light, illuminating the room so they could both now see each other.

"I-. . . I keep getting these, nightmares. . . Flashbacks." Mike whispered, already feeling embarrassed for telling Will.

"What about? Anything in particular?" Will questioned, slightly intrigued.

"That day, in- in the mall. . . With the mindflayer." He began. "And the day that- that they found your body in the quarry." Mike admitted.

"What-. . . What are you thinking about in the nightmares?" Will frowned, uncertain how to help his best friend.

"I keep- I keep thinking you're dead, Will." Mike looked at Will in the eye for the first time since they had begun this conversation, tears threatening to spill.

"Mike. . . I'm right here, I'm fine." Will whispered as he brought Mike's hand up to his chest, gently pressing it against where his heart was beating.

Mike smiled softly at this and wiped the tears off of his face, Will still not completely sure of what was going on.

"You said you had nightmares about that day in the mall, what do you see in the nightmares?" Will asked him gently, rubbing his thumb against the back of Mike's hand.

"You- You know when Lucas used his wrist rocket to pop that balloon because the Mind Flayer was in the gap. . ?" Mike tried his best to explain.

"Yeah, why?" Will frowned slightly.

"I- I was in the gap. And his weird, fleshy hand thing was directly in front of my face and- and I thought I was going to die! And there's so much I want to say a- and I was just so scared that I'd never be able to tell you or anybody what I want to say and-" Mike began to ramble, panic rising in his chest.

"Hey, hey, Mike, it's okay. You don't need to panic, it's gone and you're safe. I promise." Will whispered, taking Mike's other hand in his own, so they were now fully holding hands.

Mike looked at Will for a minute, before breaking down and beginning to cry heavily. Will's eyes widended before hurriedly pulling Mike into a hug. Mike melted into the hug, wrapping his arms around Will and beginning to bawl.

"You're okay, you're okay. . ." Will whispered, trying to calm Mike down. Mike continued to cry, burrying his head into Will's neck. "I've got you, you're gonna be okay, I promise." Will soothed, his voice gentle as he held Mike in his arms.

Mike continued to cry, Will soothing him for what felt like hours before he managed to feel slightly better. Mike gentle pulled away from the hug, avoiding eye contact with Will as he sat there.

"I'm sorry for waking you up. . ." Mike mumbled, now feeling quite embarrassed that he had broken down in front of Will.

"No, no, don't apologize. It's okay." Will smiled softly at Mike, Mike smiled back weakly at him, Will sighing softly at this.

"Try and sleep, alright? If you have another nightmare then please wake me up. I don't want you crying all alone." Will asked him, Mike just sitting and looking at him for a minute before nodding softly.

"Alright." He gave in, looking down at their still connected hands.

"Thank you." Will smiled. He gave Mike's hand one small final squeeze before slipping back down onto his bed on the floor.

"Goodnight, Mike." Will whispered, closing his eyes.

"Goodnight. . ." Mike mumbled, closing his eyes aswell and flicking off the light.

After a while of Mike just lying there trying to sleep he finally drifted off and for the first time in weeks he had a peaceful nights sleep. No nightmares. No waking up in the middle of the night. Just peace.

Finally began to rewrite this story! :))

{Word Count: 854}