What They Don't Know

A New Name

"Get Off Of Her!"
Crashes and thuds echoed throughout the room. I wasn't fully conscious but the sounds were clear.
Something was going on around me.
"Who Let Him In Here?!"
Deeper voices called out to each other and bullet shots rang through the air.
"Where Is She? Where's My Riley!"
The younger voice was muffled and becoming more distant by the second.
"Give Her To Me!"
More bullets.
More shouting.
More muffled voices.
Until it all suddenly stopped.
"She'll Make It Okay?"
"She Has To. She Has To.."
I rubbed my eyes softly, I hadn't regained enough energy to do anything properly.
As I opened my eyes I saw that I was laid in a large bed.
The room was filled with paintings and dull furniture.
I sat up carefully, making sure not to move too quickly and faint again.
My body shook beneath me. I looked down and saw, I was wearing a white night gown.
Where was I and who was I with in this house?
I shifted my legs off of the edge of the bed, putting my feet on to the cold ground.
As I tiptoed out of the room, I found myself on the top step of a long staircase.
Voices were mumbling in the room underneath me.
I could only make out parts of the conversation.
"And If She Doesn't?"
More mumbling.
"They'll Come Here For Her"
"Why Will They?"
Even more mumbling.
"She's Not Going To Die"
The stairs creaked when I walked down them.
I gripped my pocket knife so close to my thigh that I must of cut it, because I was bleeding heavily.
"Hello?"
They had heard me.
I was now on the bottom step.
"Who Are You?"
The knife deepened into my thigh.
"Riley. I Know It's-"
"Don't Come Closer!"
I screamed as a dark haired girl creaked out of the room.
My feet slid across the floor so that I was now facing the girl. She saw the blood leaking from my thigh and gasped.
"Riley! Please!"
She tried to move towards me.
"Back The Hell Away From Me!"
It hurt to tighten my grip on the knife, so I didn't. Instead I smeared the blood from the knife against my gown. The contrast of pure white and dark red was satisfying.
The girl turned to the door that lead into a garden and shouted.
"Nightmare!"
Her voice sounded frightened.
Who the hell was Nightmare?
A boy ran in from the garden, he was covered in mud and grime.
"Riley! Riley!"
"Who's Riley?"
I screamed back at him.
He was panicking and shaking uncontrollably.
He stopped walking towards me once I had spoken.
"You.. You're Riley.."
Nightmare put his open hand I front of me.
"No"
I could tell he wanted the knife, but that was my only defence.
"Please"
His eyes were green and calming. I felt a sense of recognition.
"I Won't Hurt You, Okay?"
I squeezed my eyes shut and nodded as I placed the bloody knife into his soft, mucky hands.
"Come Sit Down"
The floorboards continued to creak.
Once we were all sat around the small birch table, which was centred inside the room, Nightmare started to talk.
"Riley. I Want-"
"Who's Riley?"
I tilted my head. Why did they keep calling me Riley?
"That's Your Name"
The girl stepped in. I really, really disliked her attitude.
"No It's Not"
I argued.
"Yes It-"
Nightmare cut her off.
"Dawn Please. Okay, What Is Your Name?"
I thought for a second.
"A Name?"
He nodded and lifted his hand for me to shake.
"I'm Nightmare"
I didn't grab his hand.
"That's Not A Name"
I knew that a Nightmare meant a bad dream. Your name couldn't be Nightmare.
He sighed.
"Riles-"
"Stop Calling Me That!"
I clenched my fists and hit the table, hard.
"It's Your Name!"
The girl shouted back at me. She sounded close to tears.
I was so angry and confused. I just wanted to scream at them.
"I Hate All Of You!"
I ran back up the stairs and into a random room.
Making sure I locked the door, I began looking around.
This wasn't the room I was in before.
This room was smaller, the bed was only a single and had a light blue duvet covering it. The walls were also the same blue, with posters and drawings on them.
I ran my fingertips over the pictures.
The first drawing was in crayon. It was of a brown dog and a boy. There was words written in cursive on the bottom.
"Isaac, 6 Years"
Isaac. I knew I hadn't heard that name before.
More pictures plastered the walls.
The next was in pencil, it was more realistic and detailed.
It portrayed a young girl with brown hair and blue eyes.
"Isaac, 13 Years"
The led marked my fingers as I stroked the drawing.
All of the drawings and paintings were labeled with Isaac. That must be the boy who's room I was in.
Nightmare opened the door which caused me to spin around.
"I Locked It"
My voice shook. He held up a shining key.
"See You've Found My Room"
He laughed lightly.
"You Said Your Name Was Nightmare"
I backed against a wall without any pictures on.
"It Is. It's My New Name. I Started Going By Nightmare When I Turned 15"
A new name?
How did you get a new name?
I was pretty sure that you only get one name.
"What's Your New Name?"
He moved towards me and I looked out of the window and into the garden to stop us from making eye contact.
"I Get To Choose?"
"Yeah You Do. But Be Careful, It's Your Name Forever Now"
He laughed again.
Forever?
After a few short minutes I looked up at Nightmare.
We locked eyes and I had a rush of De Ja Vu. It was weird.
"Mila"
I said to Nightmare. He smiled, an actual, genuine smile.
"Mila"
The word rolled off of his tongue.
"I Like It"