Sleeping Awake

Chapter 1 (Screaming.)

Screaming... The screaming and the sensation of being suspended high above reality.. Don't forget the fucking screaming.. Being pulled under water, the breath being forced from your lungs as you claw your way, scratching and splitting your nails to get to the surface only to open your mouth and allow the posion fill your lungs.

Tobias opened his mouth to scream, but the rush of cold air hit him first, stealing his cry as hands, clawed hands from all directions grabbed at his limbs, tore at his clothes in the wet darkness. Darkness you can actually feel suffocating you.. He shot up, bathed in sweat and gasping, gulping air in his room.. It's dark.. The cold night air cradled him, frozen sheets tangled in his shaken legs. The sounds of sirens and honking horns came from his open window, curtains flapping in the stale city breeze.

He didn't leave that window open..

With a strange fogged clarity, he remebered a slender shadowed figure, sitting on his chest. Her curved frame was radiating, foreboding.. Twisted. When she strattled his stomach her sharp claws clutched his shoulders. It was a dream.. She bared her fangs and hissed into his ear.. It was a dream..

Tobias blinked the vision away and stared through the darkness. Twisted shadows casted from simple, harmless objects within the walls distorted reality, making it something it's really not.. Tobias ignored a shadow in particular that darted across his hallway at a distance. Assuring himself that it could be his cat, Sprinkles. Even if the shadow framed a curled human.

Tobias found himself the will to swing his legs over the edge of the bed, dragging the sheets with them. He leaned on them and carded his hand through his short, choppy dark locks. Pale, pale skin glowing in the silvery moonlight; a sheen of ivory. His sharp teal blue eyes caught the city light glaring from the window and gleamed in the flickering darkness. The tattoo of a large cracked skull rippled with his muscles of his back as he stretched. The inked design etched into his skin seemed to illuminate. A trick of the eye, perhaps. The clock on his dresser glared an obnoxious blue; 12:30.

Tobias pressed his bare feet into the cold floorboards.. The sharp sensation crawling up and filling his body, it awakened him.. Frost barely clung to his window and his breath came out in curled puffs. His feet carried him to the window and with a lazed effort, he dragged the window down. The then layer of ice crunching when he did this and latched the window shut. Breathing warmth into his pale hands, Tobias started towards the bathroom, peeling his boxers off along the way.

The rush of hot water caused steam to fog up the mirror and he didn't bother with looking at his reflection as he stepped into the hot stream, sliding the bathroom stall shut. He got lost in the tides of his shower.

"Toby, listen... It's me... Jennifer.." The distant distortion came from the answering machine in the livingroom. The crackled words filled the ominous apartment painted sevral shades of gray. Darkness seemed to expand and seep into the cracked walls. A mouse scampered across the tiled floors, nails clicking in the kitchen.

"I know you must be upset.. Angry.. But we are all worried about you.. Even Chris.. " The voice trailed.. Hesitation resonating. "First you mention these dreams.. And... And you talk about your new apartment being possessed... Then you just up and leave for weeks... I-.. I know it has to be about your mother... and I am sorry.. We are here for you.. Always.."

Tobias stood numbly rooted in the opening of his hallway. Hair wet and towel clutching his hips. He started towards the livingroom quietly, holding his breath as he stared at the answering machine.

"Please.. Just call me alright?? Just know I am here.. I... I can't lose you again.."

Tobias slowly tipped himself back at the words, bracing his bare back against the wall, he allowed himself to slid down slowly, skin catching the surface of the support as he sat in a slight crouch. Hands clutching his face, he trembled as if fighting to catch himself; to hold on.

"I love you.. Toby.."