This Ain't Home

"nightmares"

With Ponyboy asleep on the floor, his dreams, well... nightmares, began taking over his mind like a toxic acid that he couldn't escaped.

'A click of a door lock fills the quiet room, and then foot steps approaching me.

"You must be Ponyboy. My name is-... Actually, that isn't very important to you, now is it?" The older man says to me, almost politely before sticking his hand out.

"N-...No, Sir." I gulp after answering his question, my throat was so dry I thought I hadn't had water in weeks. I'm not sure why he held his hand out, it wasn't exactly a formal meeting. He wasn't going to tell me his name, and if he didn't, I wasn't going to push anything and risk him getting mad at me. I thought it was important to me, but if it wasn't important to him, I wasn't going to push my luck.

He is obviously a bit older than Mr. and Mrs. Haley, and not as fat as my new foster dad either. He has a clean shave and he's super well dressed. He's wearing a suit and a well-done tie. I could tell he was a businessman. He had black curly hair, which I thought fit his figure and face well, personality too, I guess. He really seemed like a normal and busy guy, and definitely not the kind of man you would suspect to be doing this to someone much younger than him and doing illegal activities.

I don't say anything as I reach out and shake his hand slowly. I didn't have much to say, I mean, what could I say? I knew what he was going to be doing to me, so it's not like I exactly WANTED to talk to him. My hand slipped away from his, wiping the sweat from my palm on my pant leg.

"You have sweaty hands."

"... I know... 'M sorry." I whisper back, I wasn't sure why I was apologizing. It's not like I could control the fact that I had sweaty palms or not, I was fucking scared out of my mind. My eyes weren't focused on his anymore, they were cold but also sweet in a way. I fucking hated it. He then sits down next to me on the bed, we're so close together that our legs are touching. I'm sitting in the corner so I can't at all move my body away even if I wanted to move so badly, I just couldn't. My heart even racing even faster, I felt like I couldn't escape this anymore.

"Are you nervous?"

"...Just a little. I don't really like new people."

"I promise I won't hurt you, do you understand me?"

"Yes, Sir." I clear my throat and fix my posture before I sigh.

"So, Ponyboy? Is that your real name, or is it some sort of nickname?" He asks as he casually throws his arm over my shoulder, my body tenses up; but I force myself to relax. I don't want to make matters any worse for myself, if he knew I was scared he would only hurt me even more. I was one hundred percent sure of it.

"No, sir. That's my real name, it even says so on my birth certificate." I answered his question, I was way too nervous to even be annoyed at the question. I wanted too be annoyed, but I knew better than that. I just had to bite my tongue, even if I have been asked that for probably the billionth time in my entire life.

"That's different, really creative, definitely something I've never heard of before." He said, he grazed his finger against my shoulder. My breath wanted to hitch, but it couldn't. I was focused on seeming like I was relaxed and not scared half to death right now.

"My dad was a super creative person." I said, trying to keep my nerves down. Which, it was somehow working. I don't know how it was working, but it was.

"Wait, are you ???'s son? Like from New York?" He asked.'

His mind has blanked, he could barely remember his dad's name. It's like the nightmare had skipped over that with peace. He strangely remembered New York too, which Ponyboy didn't want to- but he did.