Red String of Fate - Thiam

Chapter 6 - Anchored

Hi, this chapter is the same as the last one but in Theo's point of view. This will be a short chapter. Hope you like it.

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December 3rd - Friday

Theo P.O.V.

I open my eyes. I'm in the hospital morgue. At this point I already know everything that will happen but the feeling of terror is the same as I have felt since the first time. My bare feet come into contact with the cold floor and I slowly open the door and enter the dark hallway. My heartbeat pounds heavily in my chest, threatening to jump at any moment.

I look to my right and am surprised to see a turned on lamp at the end of the hallway, a lamp that looks like the one in the guest room at Liam's house. I walk towards it, fear numbing my muscles.

I hear a long, chilling breath behind me and I turn toward the sound, finding Tara crawling toward me with a furious look in her eyes and a hole in her chest dripping blood onto the floor.

My body freezes, my eyes widen and my hands start to shake. It doesn't take long for Tara to reach me and throw me to the ground.

"Stay away from me..." I try to move away from her but she is too strong, pinning me to the floor.

Her hand hovers over my chest and I feel her nails start to tear my skin.

"Do you think you deserve everything that boy is giving to you?" Her black eyes fix on mine and I feel my eyes welling up with tears. "You deserve nothing."

"No!" I scream desperately as her fingers dig into my chest.

My chest burns with enormous pain, for a few seconds the pain disappears and I look at Tara with a blank expression, not understanding what was happening.

It's then that Tara rips the heart out of my chest making me scream in horror.

I open my eyes desperately and put my hand over my mouth in an attempt to muffle my scream and not wake Liam. My heart beats wildly and bile threatens to rise into my mouth.

I feel a strong grip on my hand and I look at Liam who looks at me terrified. I quickly force my breathing and heartbeat to return to normal. I try to move away from him but his grip doesn't let me, making me look at him.

"Theo..." his blue eyes shine in my direction. "It's okay, don't run away from me."

Do you think you deserve everything that boy is giving you? You deserve nothing.

Looking at Liam's worried look and remembering Tara's words I feel a sudden urge to vomit. Liam must have noticed because he lets go of my wrist and lets me run to the bathroom.

I fall in front of the toilet, hitting my knees on the cold floor, throwing up. In the midst of vomiting, I feel a hand caress my back and I try to control my breathing, which becomes faster again.

Liam remains at my side, anchoring me.

After a few minutes I get up and flush the toilet, wishing that Tara and the nightmares would go down the drain too.

I brush my teeth three times trying to make the taste of vomit disappear at all costs. Liam's gaze burning into my back.

I turn to leave the bathroom but Liam's body standing in the doorway stops me. I assess his gaze, he doesn't seem angry, nor does he seem to want me to leave. He looks worried. Why?

"Do you want to talk about what happened?" He breathes.

"No." I walk past him, not wanting to look him in the eyes.

I look at the door and then at his bed. Maybe I don't deserve all of this, but I'm selfish, so for once I do what I want and sit on the edge of Liam's bed.

"Can I stay here?" I ask, my voice breaks.

"You can."

We lie down on the bed side by side, my eyes fixed on the ceiling.

"Are you going back to sleep?" I look at Liam who is already watching me.

"No."

I never want to go back to sleep again.

Liam reaches out his hand, taking me by surprise, and touches my hair. I jump at the touch, pushing his hand away and my eyes widen, feeling my heart beat hard against my chest.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Harper used to play with my hair every time I woke up with nightmares, to help me fall back asleep."

Liam's hair falls into his eyes and his arm remains extended towards me, as if waiting for me to accept his touch. I lie back down and let Liam weave his fingers through my hair. He carefully moves the sweaty hair away from my forehead and starts playing with it. His warm touch brings me peace. Despite my intrusive thoughts, despite the memories of the nightmare, despite my uneven breathing and despite the strong wind that can be heard outside, Liam manages to calm my heart.

"Tell me about your friend." I ask, feeling curious and wanting a distraction. "I've heard you talk about her several times but I still don't understand who she is."

Liam then starts telling me everything about Harper, part of me is curious to meet her, another part doesn't care about anything but the boy in front of me. The only person I really care about.

"She would like to meet you and I think you would like her too."

"I don't like anyone." I roll my eyes lying.

"You like me." He teases, stupid Dunbar.

"Don't be so sure about that Dunbar."

"Anyways, you would like her, it's impossible not to like Harper."

"If you say so."

My eyes start to get heavy again, feeling safe with Liam by my side. His ocean blue eyes, instead of drowning me, keep me on the surface, preventing me from drowning in my own thoughts. Maybe I can trust Liam and tell him about my nightmares.

"Every time I fall asleep I have nightmares about my sister. She rips my heart out. Memories of when I was underground."

His eyes widen and his fingers stop stroking. His sad expression is evident.

"That's why you were in pain..."

"How do you know?" There's no way he knew how much pain I was in during the nightmare.

"I took away your pain when you were still sleeping."

"You did?" I whisper with disbelief. Does he really care about me?

"Yeah."

"It hurts so much, like she is actually ripping my heart." My eyes burn but I let no tears fall.

"Don't worry, it wasn't real, she can't hurt you here. You should sleep."

"I don't want to." My heart starts beating faster again at the thought.

"I'm here to wake you up if the nightmares come back, and I'll take your pain too. I promise. You need to sleep."

I can't contain the smile that appears on my face, making my cheeks hurt. I don't remember the last time I smiled like that.

"You should smile like that more often, maybe it will make people believe that you are not a psychopath." He giggles and I feel his fingers playing with my hair again.

"You're so funny." I answer sarcastically but continue to smile.

I close my eyes, Liam's face being the last thing I see before falling back asleep.

This time I don't have any nightmares.