Man behind the Mask

Chapter 5.

The next morning I woke up with a stomach ache. Or just pain.. Suddenly remembering my dream I looked at my stomach. "Oh thank God" I sighed in relief.

I cringed. That better not have meant anything. My face and neck were swollen. "I need a shower.." I sighed getting out of bed. Whiskers sat in the corner of the room staring at me wide eyed. "Are you okay, boy?" I said looking at him. The sound of my voice made him jump and run out of the room. "He'll come around.."

I took off my clothes and turned on the shower to a heat where the steam filled the room. I scrubbed down thoroughly and stayed wary of my stomach. I ran my fingers through my hair to pull them away from my face as I turned off the shower and stepped out. "Woah I can't even see.." I wiped the mirror and swung open the bathroom door.

I stepped out and went through my drawers for clean clothes. I cleaned up my bathroom floor of water and treated myself to some cereal. "Yum..." I said silently to myself. Once I finished, I cleaned the bowl out, put it in the sink, and played on my phone for a while.

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My phone showed 11:35 A.M. when he texted me. It brought a sharp pain to my head when I saw his name come up.

'heyyy:D'

'oh uh, hey.'

'is something wrong?'

'no lol'

'youre such a liar. im coming over'

'nooooo come on'

'see you soon HAHAHAH'

Oh God, I'm scared and happy at the same time. But I can't lie to him.. I have to tell him the truth. But what will he say? He's gonna think I'm crazy! I slapped my self,"Ow!" I rubbed my cheek. "Calm down, Hannah, keep it together. Breathe in, breathe out." I got more tense with every second, and I almost had a heart attack when Ryan knocked on the door.

"C-coming!" I yelled getting off the couch. I'm so nervous, my knees are barely holding up. I took a deep breath and opened the door.

"Now, what's wrong?" he said while giving me a cute face.

"I- I can't explain on short terms. Come inside and sit down on the couch.."

I closed the door and hung my head as I walked over to Ryan. When I sat down our eyes met. His were deep and concerened; they were a dull green..

"I-I had a nightmare." I choked on my words. "About you."

"Wha..?" he leaned forward and furrowed his brows.

"Hear me out, okay..?" I said signaling to be quiet until I was done.

"It all started in a black room, and you were sitting in front of me, gripping the Cry mask we all said you wore.."

After I told him everything his face was pale and worried.

"Hannah... I-I'm at a loss for words.. Are you scared of me?" he said with a hint of pain in his voice.

"No, Ryan... I mean, I'm more scared of myself." I looked him in the eyes. "I just don't want to keep it from you.."

I looked back down at my hands, then he reached out and held them in his.

"Hannah. I will always listen when you need me."

"Thanks.." I said looking up to find he moved closer to me. I removed my hands from his and wrapped them around his waist, putting my face in his chest. he pulled my legs across his lap and I pulled my body in closer as he wrapped his arms around me.

"I'll always be here..no matter what."

With that, I was broken. I sobbed and sobbed. I don't know why..I wasn't that sad. But it felt good to cry. It felt relieving. Too relieving. I fell asleep right there in his arms.

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When I woke up, he was gone and I was alone on the couch. I rubbed my head and got up. "Meow." I heard from my feet.

"Ah, hey, Whiskers. You're probably starving.." I got up and fetched his food. While I was filling up the bowl I glanced at my clock. "Six o'clock? Great."

I went into the kitchen to make supper because I was starving. "I can't believe I slept so fricking long.."

I text Ryan: 'Thanks for coming over.. sorry I fell asleep on you.'

'It's okay.. I was falling asleep myself.'

Our grammer changes a lot, guess it depends on the mood or day.

I ate some food and watched a little TV before I started getting tired yet again.

"Whiskers, come on, we're going to bed."

Then the thought of the dream came back. No! I thought to myself, pushing the dream to the back of my mind. "I just wanna sleep."

I crawled into bed and it took a while to doze off because I toss and turn a lot. When I finally slept, everything was black. And thats better than a dream if you ask me.