A World Apart (Scomiche)

Chapter 12: Paranoia

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Scott's P.O.V. 

I fell asleep not long after Mitch, comforted by the fact that he was safe in my arms. I wanted him to be mine so badly, but this would just have to do for now.

I woke up to Mitch sobbing next to me. I checked the clock 1:54. 

He was sitting up with his knees pulled way up to his chest, his arms wrapped around them as he gently rocked himself back and forth.

"Mitch?" I asked, reaching out to touch his shoulders.

He yanked his body away, sobbing louder.

"Don't hurt me! Please, please!"

I saw that his eyes were still tightly shut.

"Mitch! I'm not going to hurt you. Please wake up!"

Gradually, his cries got softer and less insistent, so I scooped him up into my arms and stroked his hair.

"Shhh baby. It's alright. You're okay," I assured him as he snuggled closer to me. His tears wet through my thin cotton shirt.

Suddenly, his body went rigid and he subtly tried to inch away from me, his eyes still closed.

"Troye?" He whispered, his voice quivering with fear.

"No! No, it's me," I whispered back, trying to pull him back over to me.

His eyes fluttered open and he took one look around before going limp in my arms.

"Good," he breathed, sounding relieved. I furrowed my brow as I stared down at him.

So he was afraid of Troye. Whatever dream he had been having was something that scared him to the point of breakdown, and it had something to do with Troye.

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Mitch's. P.O.V.

The nightmare had been terrible. Usually they weren't so vivid, but I guess the fever messed with my head.

Troye had been standing over me while I was tied up on his bed. The more that I tugged against the rope, the tighter it got.

He laughed, watching me struggle. It was cruel and inhuman laughter that chilled my bones. I watched as he pulled out a small silver object and clicked it open. I gasped when I realized what it was. A lighter.

He lit it an blew it out, over and over again, playing with my fears. It was working. I could hear the blood pounding in my ears.

"This is for your own good," he said softly, anger in his eyes. "So that you can never tell anyone."

"Please," I tried to to beg, but I discovered my mouth was covered with duct tape, so it wound up more like, "Pwwf!!"

He shook his head. "It's too late for begging Mitch. You're getting too close to Scott. You could tell him about the way I treat you any minute now, and I warned you what would happen if you ever told anyone."

I remembered his exact words. 'If you ever tell anyone about this, it'll be the last thing you ever say.'

He had been drunk that night, but he had meant it with all of his heart. It was the one reason I had never come to Scott about this.

"I told you," he said quietly, lighting the fire again. "It's going to be the last thing you'll ever say."

Without warning, he leaned down and lit the sheets at my feet on fire. I screamed and fought against the rope, writhing like a snake.

He shook his head sadly as the flames devoured my legs.

"We could have been perfect Mitch."

The fire moved up to my waist.

"We could have had everything."

Now it was up to my shoulders.

"And all you had to do was keep your mouth shut."

The blistering pain made my body convulse and spasm in weird ways, burning my flesh. It made it so much worse that I couldn't scream. No one would ever hear me. This is how I would die.

"Goodbye Mitchie," he said flatly as the the blaze covered my face and made me black out.

I shuddered at the memory, snuggling closer to whoever was in the bed next to me. But something felt wrong about this. I just couldn't put my finger on it...

I opened my eyes again. Everything seemed normal and familiar. I was in my room, snuggled up under the covers. Nothing really to raise any suspicions. But then the thought occurred to me-

If it wasn't Troye beside me, who was this mysterious person in my bed?

Cautiously, I tilted my head up to look at whoever was next to me, my breath hitching in my throat.

Scott.

He was looking down at me affection in his deep blue eyes. It was sweet, making him look like an adorable puppy dog, but also alarming at the same time. I quickly averted my eyes.

I knew that I had at least a few feelings for Scott, but right now, I couldn't afford to think like that. If I broke things off with Troye, there's no telling what he would do. And I couldn't tell Scott what was going on, or else Troye would go ballistic. There was no way out.

I felt like crying out of frustration, but first, I had to get out of this bed and away from Scott before I did something I'd regret.

I squirmed out of Scott's comfortable arms and out from under the covers.

"Mitch, what's wrong?" Scott asked, sounding concerned. I turned around to see that he had jumped out of bed almost as quickly as I had.

"I just...I can't...I mean..." For some reason, I couldn't seem to form a complete sentence, but I knew that I couldn't stay here with Scott for much longer before I did something stupid.

In the blink of an eye, he was by my side with his hand on my forehead. He sighed deeply and furrowed his eyebrows.

"Mitch your fever is crazy! You need to lay back down."

I sidestepped him and ran into the bathroom, clicking the lock into place behind me.

"Mitch! Open up!" He shouted, pounding on the door. All I could do was press myself against the wall farthest from the door and hope that he didn't knock it down.

"Mitch, just tell me what's wrong! Please!"

"I can't tell you!" I yelled back at him, remembering my dream.

"What?" The pounding stopped.

I was silent, hoping that would be enough, but I knew that Scott would want more than that.

"Mitch, if you don't tell me what is going on right now, I will knock this door down!"

I gulped, trying to figure out what to tell him.

"Mitch!"

Scott's voice seemed far away and muffled by the ringing in my ears. I stumbled a little, knocking one of cologne bottles off of the counter and onto the floor where it shattered into a thousand tiny shards.

"Mitch?" Scott seemingly whispered, although I knew he probably yelled it.

I lunged for the door, my body slamming into it, and tried to unlock it, but my vision was blurry and I was too dizzy to see it clearly.

The door shook against me. I assumed that Scott was trying to open it again, but I couldn't hear him.

My fingers finally found the lock, and with the last little bit of strength I had left, I unlocked the door.

I guess Scott didn't hear the click of the lock, so he tried once more to shove his shoulder into the door. It whipped open, sending me flying into the wall.

The last thing I saw was Scott's large figure coming towards me before the darkness closed in and I blacked out.