13th October, 2022 - Los Angeles, California
August awakes with a jump, his small body flinching harshly as he comes back to reality.
The room was dark except for the faint glow of a nightlight shaped like a star in the corner. August's breaths came in quick, shallow gasps, his chest heaving as the remnants of the nightmare clung to him. He pressed his hands to his eyes, as if to push away the images still lingering in his mind—shadows, harsh voices, and cold, unyielding hands. Hands which didn't know how to keep to themselves.
The memories were all so fresh in his mind that it felt like he was experiencing everything all over again. He squeezed his eyes shut, willing himself to be brave, but the silence of the room felt oppressive, the darkness pressing in on him.
His breathes sped up slightly as he started to shift around in his bed, everything slowly becoming too much for him to bear. The faint glow of the star-shaped nightlight all of a sudden seemed too far away to offer the same comfort that it usually did and he felt his breathing speed up even more as he started to panic.
He reaches out instinctively for his stuffed elephant, Mi-Mi, a constant source of solace since he'd arrived. He hugged it tightly against his chest, burying his face into the worn plush, but it wasn't enough to keep the tears from falling.
He needed comfort. Real comfort.
He isn't able to stop as he hears himself begin to involuntarily begin to cry out.
August's sobs started as quiet whimpers, muffled against Mi-Mi's soft fur, but they quickly grew louder, breaking the stillness of the night. They were raw and jagged, the kind of cries that came from deep within—the cries of a child too overwhelmed to hold it in any longer. His small shoulders shook with each inhale, the sound catching in his throat like hiccups. The rhythm of his breathing was uneven, sharp gasps followed by pitiful, drawn-out wails.
Tears streamed down his face in hot streaks, dampening the plush elephant he clung to like a lifeline. He hiccupped again, the sound high-pitched and desperate, his cries breaking into little bursts as he tried to catch his breath.
His legs kicked weakly against the blanket, and his free hand gripped the sheets tightly, twisting the fabric as if grounding himself to something solid could pull him out of the nightmare's lingering grasp.
---
Vincent stirs in his bed, his eyes slowly flickering open to the sound of muffled sobs. His sharp instincts wake him right up as he glances over to the baby monitors on his bedside table to try and figure out what's happening.
As his eyes adjust, he's finally able to make out the black and white image of August, curled up in his bed, sobbing his little heart out.
"Shit" He mumbles under his breath, untangling himself from Sebastian and rolling out of the bed.
YOU ARE READING
Little Lux
General Fiction//NON-SEXUAL AGE REGRESSION STORY// When 15 year Lux is suddenly kidnapped from her home in New York and forced to be the baby of 2 mysterious men, she doesn't know what to do. Things get even more weird when they introduce her to her 'older brothe...