You slammed the door shut, pounding on the button that would open the next one, letting you escape the tiny room you were now stuck in but it wasn't reacting.
Your breathing quickened even more from panic and then you let out a horrified scream as a hand slapped on the door from the other side.
The door was slightly seethrough, pale like that of some shopping entrance door and you saw the tips of the small fingers pressing, smearing onto the glass or plastic or whatever it was.
You pressed yourself against the wall in the tiny room that was barely three feet wide, just a cubicle to transport you to the next room.
"Well", its voice was mean, devilish and nasty, "are you scared?"
You sobbed, gasping for breath with a hand on your chest and screamed again when this ... creature started pulling on the door.
A scream, another scream, maybe if you screamed louder it would vanish - it didn't. It was laughing, not childish sounding but like a menace, something insane and the door was opening
.
One more terrified scream and the next door finally pushed open from where you had still been pushing on it, scratching the wood in sheer panic.
The sight of the door opening fully blurred then it was gone and you heard a new voice.
"Y/N, Y/N", it was his voice. Ashton's voice.
A broken strangled sob escaped you when your eyes adjusted to the light and you were back in your bedroom, his face close to yours and eyes filled with deep worry and fear.
"Oh thank god", he mumbled when you registered him and grabbed for his hand on your cheek. He squeezed it tightly and you squeezed back even more, terrified that this was another of those dream in dream situations you sometimes had. You'd thought you'd woken up but then it was just another dream.
"I'm here, you're okay", he whispered, his other hand wrapped around your back that he bow used to lift you against his chest and hug you againt his warm body.
But you needed to make sure, you needed to know this was reality. Your hands were shaking heavily when you brought them into your sight but you could count your fingers. Nothing blurry and mixing with the background, ten fingers.
And when you looked around to find something to read - you needed multiple tests because your brain had advanced over the years and some of those things now also worked in your dreams even though they shouldn't.
You could read the time, all the numbers were on Ashton's bed side table alarm clock and the words in his open notebook made sense, you could read them. You were awake.
Still, you pinched yourself to feel it.
"You're with me, Y/N, it's okay", you let him hug you back to his chest.
Your shaking fingers grabbed into his sleep shirt as you continued to sob, the pictures of your dream still haunting your mind like they always did.
He kept repeating his words, assuring your hat everything was okay and you were safe with him.
He had never been there when you had one of your really bad nightmares, you'd only told him half jokingly once that sometimes they were really bad and you couldn't close your eyes for days to come.
But he didn't ask any questions, he just held you.
"There was - w - water", you stuttered against his now tear stained shirt. It was soaked through, making the white turn see through and showing the outline of his chest but he didn't comment on that either.
"d - dark -", you took in a deep breath, your whole body shuddering with it, "I was in it and everyone - drowning and then this this -"
He knew of your fear of dark water and other things that you were scared of. He hugged you tighter, kissing the top of your head repeatedly and letting you decide whether you wanted to keep talking.
"I just - it was terrifying and I couldn't, couldn't escape - like - like a small child, it -"
"It's not real", he tried to comfort you but you shook your head.
"It's waiting in my dreams. They do that", you mumbled because they did. You didn't even need to be asleep sometimes and things would just conjure back up before your inner eye, jumping at you, reaching for you.
It made you feel sick. Really sick.
You pushed against his chest and it took a moment before he let go and swiftly scooted you up to carry you to the bathroom while you covered your mouth with your hand, the other wiping away tears that wouldn't stop coming.
A look toward the clock told you that it had already been half an hour since you woke up. And you still weren't doing okay again.
Nothing came out when you were bent over the toilet and Ashton was rubbing your back, murmring to you about how it was okay. He made sure to also tell you that you could trust him, he wasn't judging you, he wasn't annoyed to he taking care of you and he understood. All the things he knew exactly, you were telling yourself he hated.
The urge to want to vomit didn't leave but it went down after a few minutes and you tried once more to calm yourself by taking deep breaths. But they were so shaky, making your whole body move to even get enough air in that more tears spilled.
And you wanted nuggets.
You wanted to stuff yourself with food to distract yourself. And not go to sleep again, that wasn't happening again.
"Nuggets", you mumbled as you tried to stand up, failed and got caught by your boyfriend before you crashed back to the ground.
"You want nuggets?", he asked quietly, unable to hide the amused tone in his voice.
You nodded. "With many fries."
"Okay", he said, kissing your forehead as he held you and then carried you down the stairs.
You wanted to protest because you didn't like being carried but you knew that there would've been no way that you could've made it down the stairs.
He kept quietly assuring you that everything was okay, no creatures were hiding behind the doors, you were awake. He was real, you were real.
Still, you stared at the clock to follow the seconds as they went by, making sure they were normal. They were.
You took another deep breath, wiped your face and pulled your knees up to your chest and the bar chair Ashton had sat you down in.
He was humming one of his new songs that he was working on, throwing a look back at you every now and then.
"Thank you", you mumbled when he placed the freshly made nuggets and fries in front of both of you. This 'thank you' wasn't nearly enough for how much he had just helped you but he understood.
His "It's okay" also meant more than you could hear.
honestly, i hope i didn't write this very well cuz i don't want anyone to get as terrified as i was cuz except for ashton being there i didn't make any of this up. well, technically my brain did, while i was dreaming, lmao, but you know how i meant it 😂
also, as usual, not proofread - feel free to comment on all mistakes :)
