Spooky

Chapter 10

-Shadow's POV-

My eyes drift open slowly to a fuzzy view of my shelves, and I feel my sheets tangled around my waist, my jacket all screwed up with the front zipper hanging out somewhere near my left side and the hood wrapped about my right back-spine. One of my hands rests on my face, the other hanging limply off the edge of the bed, and I yawn lazily. The room is still dark, moonlight streaming in, and I turn my head over to the right, looking at Scourge. He's sleeping on top of his pillow, curled up in a ball, twitching a little bit. His brows are furrowed, and he lets out a small keening whine as he kicks one leg out halfway, shivering a little. Oh, no... Sitting up, I disentangle myself from my sheets, then crawl gingerly to the foot of the bed, stretching one arm out to reach my phone, which I'd plugged in to charge earlier. Tapping the lock button, I shield the screen with my hands, praying the light can't reach Scourge's eyes. I've no clue if he's a light sleeper, but given what I've heard of his past, he probably had to be. The clock reads 4:23 AM, and I sigh. No more sleep for me, then. That's okay, I'm used to sleeping light... Flipping the phone over, I scooch back, then look over at the still-twitching Scourge, whose fidgeting is getting more and more noticeable. Worried, I creep off the bed, silently padding over to him—I'd read somewhere that it's possible to talk someone down from a nightmare, though I can't recall where. Maybe this will work...? Worth a shot. If I wake him up, though, he might punch me. Ever-so-carefully, I sit down on the bed beside him; for a second, his twitching and growling stops, and I hold my breath, terrified, but he returns to normal less than a moment later. Letting out a soft, relieved sigh, I lean forward, trying not to get too close, and begin to murmur, "Scourge, it's just a dream. It isn't real. You're okay." He freezes again, but I don't stop this time. "You'll be fine. You're in the dorm room with me, whatever you're seeing right now is just a dream, and you're safe."

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-Scourge's POV-

Sonic dashes alongside me, the two of us wheezing, but he doesn't look so cold anymore, and I'm not dragging him along either. The world blurs as we pick up the pace, moving at a breakneck speed. Where are we? I look left to right, frantic. Where's all the doors? The walls seem to be blending together into one long endless corridor, which is frightful indeed, but I can't stop to worry about that now. My heartbeat echoes in my ears, blood pounding in tandem with my frantic feet, and I hear the air whistling in and out of my lungs as I pant; Sonic interrupts all this rather suddenly, "Scourge, I think we lost them."

"Are you sure?" I ask, twisting to glance behind us.

"Yeah," he answers with a smile; the pavement behind us is blank and empty, but it's so bright I can't see too terribly far. The white of the snow is so blinding, I have to turn back, blinking sunspots out of my eyes.

"We need to still keep going," I reply doggedly, glaring straight ahead, "if only to put some distance between us and them."

"I agree," Sonic says, relief flooding through his voice. Our hands are still clasped together, swinging at the exact same rhythm; some part of me worries that if I were to let go, he'd vanish instantly, so I lace our fingers together more tightly. He gives my hand a reassuring squeeze, and we both dash side by side again. Silence falls over us as I pant, exhausted, watching my breath stream out of my mouth in the form of wispy fog, snatched away from me the moment it exits by our momentum. After a short while I feel a hand lace through my free arm, tugging it away from me, and I cry out in surprise, twisting to face them.

"Relax." A familiar voice says, and I find myself staring into two well-known glimmering red eyes, half-lidded as they always are. He looks bored, almost, not even breaking a sweat as he easily keeps pace with us. "You'll be fine. It isn't real." His fangs flash in the blinding ambient light, supernatural, narrow pupils boring into mine, but he doesn't frighten me. His arm loops through mine, tugging me closer, and his eyes gradually trace back to the path ahead of us as the light engulfs the three of us—or is it just two now? I don't know. I can't see.