Beginning of the End | Laven

Paranoia

Darkness surrounded Allen as fell to the ground, gasping for breath. He was terrified. Allen sat against the wall, hands over his head, his eyes closed, trying to come up with a scientific explanation for what had happened.

I'm drugged. I have schizophrenia. I can't breathe. What was that? I can't breathe. Was that real? It couldn't have been- I'm going insane. Breathe. I can't breathe.

Allen opened his eyes, unsure of how long he kept them closed. The lights were back on. He held onto the wall and pulled himself up, dragging a hand across his face. Allen looked up at mirror and felt his heart stop. The mirror was cracked. Several pieces were in the sink. He pushed himself off of the wall and and held onto the sink. If this is real, then the mirror will actually be broken.  Allen raised his hand shakily towards the mirror.

Downstairs the two teenagers were oblivious to the terror Allen had witnessed. Entranced by the story of hero, neither of them noticed the front door open.

"Hey kiddos." Spike smiled at them, he looked tired. His report had obviously not gone as he would have liked. He chatted with them a bit, then he looked around the room.

"Where's Allen?" His voice was laced with worry. Spike had seen how distant Allen could get when he was getting his nightmares. He didn't want Allen to close himself off. The kid needed to talk to someone before these nightmares escalated.

"He went upstairs a fe-"

"H-hey Spike. How'd your story go?" Allen appeared behind them, startling Hope and Lavi. Allen smiled sheepishly upon realizing he had scared them.

Spike watched Allen as he sat with his friends, clearly attempting (and failing quite miserably) to laugh at some joke Lavi had said.

"Story went fine. Mugger turned out to be a guy on the run from cops." Spike answered Allen's question, giving him most of the truth. Allen didn't need to know that there had been more casualties. Spike let the trio of teens have fun for a while and went upstairs, quickly coming back down and joining the conversation. 

Hope and Lavi had stayed until 6 because Spike didn't want them going home at night. Hope hugged Allen and told him to text her and went on her way. Allen smiled at her as she walked to her house a few blocks away.

"Ally. Can we talk?" It was Lavi. The redhead was looking at him with what Allen could only describe as plain concern. 

"Sure, Lavi. What's up?" Allen tried grinning at Lavi. He knew was going to be a serious conversation.

"You looked like a you saw a ghost when you came back downstairs. Seriously, I didn't think you could get whiter." Lavi put a hand on Allen's shoulder. 

"It's nothing 'Vi. I've just been a bit jumpy lately. You know, with all the muggings and stuff happening lately." Allen knew it was a shit excuse that Lavi wasn't going to buy into. 

"Allen," Lavi looked into his eyes "you can't lie to me. You know that. If you don't want to tell me what's bothering you,that's fine. Just promise me you'll at least tell Spike."

Lavi raised his other hand and rested it on the back of Allen's head, looking at him with concern. 

"Yeah 'Vi. I promise I'll tell Spike." Allen blushed as Lavi suddenly pulled him towards him into a tight hug. 

"You're my best friend Ally. Don't forget that." They stood like that for a couple moments and finally let go. 

"Take care of yourself Allen." Lavi gave him a peck on the cheek, smirking as he walked off towards his house. 

Allen stood there for what he thought was an eternity. Did Lavi just... He's never done that before. Does this me- SNAP. There was a flash and Allen looked to his left to see Spike holding up a camera.

"Spike, no!" The teen ran after his cackling guardian as he threatened to post the picture on social media. 

"That was adorable! I even got the kiss ,come on Ally." 

"Hell no, give it to me. Spike, no. That's not fair!" Spike had placed the camera on the top shelf of the kitchen cabinets. The adult had continued to tease the teen for a few minutes until he remembered something. He told Allen to sit on the couch. Allen had refused but upon seeing the man's expression he sat down.

"Okay Allen. What happened upstairs? I went up there and the mirror was shattered." Allen shivered in fear as soon as Spike said it. The mirror had shattered into many pieces, and Allen wasn't sure he could be thankful that he wasn't losing his mind because if he wasn't going insane then... he was real.

"It's gonna sound crazy." Allen warned, hands slightly shaking. The teen was obviously shaken by whatever had happened. Spike put an arm around the teen's shoulders comfortingly. 

"Kiddo, I'm a journalist in New York. Nothing is too crazy." Spike smiled at the teen. Allen tried his best to return it but couldn't. 

"Okay, so I went into the bathroom 'cause I had to go. When I was leaving though, I looked at the mirror and..." Allen trailed off, seemingly lost in his mind. Suddenly he seemed to snap back to reality. "instead of me being in the reflection. There was somethi-no. Someone. He looked like me, except his hair was black. There was blood on his face. It was streaming down like-like tears or something." Allen shuddered out a breath. "Instead of grey eyes though, there was nothing. It was all white and- Spike am I going insane?" Allen suddenly cried out, tears escaping. Spike rubbed Allen's arm, frowning. 

"Allen. You've been really stressed lately, and those nightmares of yours have been no help. I'm sure you just need to sleep. How about you take some sleeping pills?" Spike offered. Allen seemed to calm down a bit at this. 

"But Spike," Allen said quietly, "what about the mirror?" 

"I'm sure it broke because I put it in wrong  or something like that kiddo." Spike stood up and walked into the kitchen. Allen leaned back against the seat of the couch hugging his knees. There can't be any other explanation... but I felt it grab me. Spike returned with a bottle of water and a sleeping pill, instructing Allen to take it in front of him. Allen did as he was told and gave Spike a quick hug, thanking him for being there for him. Spike smiled warmly at him. Allen walked upstairs and changed into some sweatpants and a tank top and got under his covers.

Before bed Allen had picked up a bit of a habit. Tumblr. He'd check it before bed and in the mornings, he'd forgotten to this morning because of his nightmare. Sure enough though he had 3 message notifications from his friend Alex. 

'aye zazzler you up for some memes yet?'

'ayo fam why arent you answering' 

'did tony stark fuck up new yorks electricity again i s2g that guy needs to get his life together.'

Allen snorted at the last one. 

'srry. bad morning. and nah tony stark didint fuck shit up.' 

Allen put his phone down for one second before it began vibrating nonstop.

'WHat HAPPENed'

'ALLEN I S2G' 

'wHO DO I NEED TO FUCK UP

'WAS IT LAVI???' 

'i will deport his redheaded ass back to romania'

Allen cackled reading them. Alex sure knew how to make him feel better.

'hes not romanian." 

He waited a few moments and got a response.

'do i look like a give a flying shit.' 

Allen decided to get back to her tomorrow morning. The sleeping pill was already starting to have an effect on him. As Allen closed his eyes, he could've sworn he heard someone calling out his name.