𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨 𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐬

see-through

TW - MCD, suicide, murder
extremely long chapter, seatbelts advised but not required

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Nick startled awake at the sound of a tap on his window. He yawned and rubbed his eyes groggily, flipping himself over, already falling back asleep. His dreams started to come back to him, dragging his conscious back to the darkness.

The room was silent, no noise sounding except for Nick's soft, sleepy breaths.

As Nick fell back into unconsciousness, he heard another noise coming from his window. It sounded far away, non-important, as the noises from reality melted into his dreams of different shapes and colors. The sounds of his dreamy room didn't fit well with his dreams and he frowned, his mind subconsciously trying to block the strange creaking.

Nick sighed heavily, face relaxing, as he ignored the odd step-sounding noise and fell fully into what he thought was his dreamland.

Nick's dreams were filled with clouds, the sky alight with various splashes of color, vibrant pinks and blues, like cotton candy. He smiled, breathing in the fresh air, walking on his cloudy path. He leapt forward, soaring into the air, floating like a feather in the soft breeze. He looked around, the shining sun high above, the clouds far below.

And then he was falling. Falling through the bright, happy sky, wind blowing past his face, through his hair. His eyes widened, surprised, as he picked up speed. He whipped his head around, the clouds below coming closer, changing, shifting into a dark, hard surface, no longer a safe haven. The sky grew darker, more red and orange, taking over the pinks and blues like fire.

Nick flailed his limbs around, panicking, trying to fly like he was able to before. But he couldn't. The ground was spinning below him.

How had his beautiful dream turned into this horrible nightmare?

Nick closed his eyes tight and covered his face with his arms as his body made contact with the concrete below, deep sleep finally falling over him as the dream ended.

☼

"Oh, Nick!" Chris sang, smiling as he burst through Nick's bedroom door. "Rise and shine! It's time for-"

Chris cut himself off when he saw that his brother was not in his bed.

"Nick?" he called, confused, as Nick always slept later than he did. It was like a routine - Chris would barge into Nick's room and pester him until he got up. But now, their tradition seemed to be broken.

When Chris didn't hear a response, he walked further into the room, double checking that Nick wasn't hiding under the blankets, and looked in the bathroom. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He hadn't seen Nick downstairs, and if he wasn't in his room, then where was he?

"Have you seen Nick?" Chris called from the doorway of Nick's room, downstairs to Matt.

Matt, flipping pancakes on the pan, called back up, "No, he hasn't been down!"

He continued to cook the pancakes for a few seconds before freezing, confusion halting his actions.

"Is he not up there?" he asked.

"No."

Chris turned back around and scanned the room again. He checked the closet again for good measure, grumbling to himself as he closed the door when Nick didn't magically appear like he thought he would. He leaned his back against the closet door, crossing his arms and sighing. He gazed across the room, noticing Nick's phone sat on his bedside table. Wherever Nick had gone, he left his phone.