Childhood Games

~Chapter 5~

[Ah~ Sorry, it's not edited. Please enjoy!]

Alan

My ears almost bled at the piercing scream coming from the room down the hall. It was mixed with cries and coughs and wheezing, and I didn't have to be awake to know that that declaration of agony belonged to Naomi.

I jumped out of my bed and swung the door open so hard I thought I broke it. Everything was blurry and dark, but I walked this hallway so many times that I knew exactly where I had to go. That and the fact that she screamed at such a high pitch, a banshee would be put to shame.

The moonlight seeped into her room from her balcony and rained down on her face full of tears. Her eyes were shut tightly and she had her hands firmly pressed against her ears. She rocked back and forth as she writhe in fear.

At that moment, I forgot everything she'd ever done to me.

"Naomi!" I screamed, but she didn't respond. She just kept her eyes shut and cried.

"NAOMI!" I screamed louder, and this time she opened her eyes and looked straight at me. Her screaming stopped and her hand reached out towards me.

"Please help me," she cried.

I had watched Naomi cry in front of me many times, but I had never seen anything like this. I had never seen her so scared and broken in my life no matter what happened to her. My entire body grew cold and quickly warmed back up with anxiety.

What the hell was going on?

I pulled her by her hand and made her stand up so that she was in front of me. She continued her crying and her coughing to the point where she began to lose her breath. This wasn't good. She had asthma and could have gone into an attack.

I put my hands on her cheeks and made her look at me. "Naomi, listen to me." She looked at me but she was still wheezing. I moved my hands from my cheeks to her ears and pulled her closer to me. Her breathing began to slow down as her eyes drooped and her body got heavy. I caught her right before she fell.

Her cheeks and neck were soaked and her ears were as red as a stoplight. She still had a slight shiver which I had assumed would calm down with the rest of her soon. I placed her gently in her bed watched her pained expression as she took in a deep inhale.

"This always happens when she gets overwhelmed," I heard a voice come from the door. I turned around to see Estella with a quilt wrapped around her and a glass of water in her hand. Her expression was gloomy as she continued to look at the state of her grandchild. She finally looked up at me and gave a pained smile. "Thank you."

I gave a slight nod and looked over at Naomi again. Her breathing had evened out and her expression loosened. She looked normal again.

"She won't remember, you know?" Estella whispered. "She doesn't realize she does this only until after someone tells her."

"Will you tell her?" I asked.

"Someone has to." She responded. There was a moment of silence between us. We both knew about this girl's strange habit now and how terrifying it can be to deal with it. We were both lost.

"Do you want me to tell her all the details?" she questioned. I gave her a stern look and she immediately knew my answer. I wanted her to know nothing of my existence at that critical moment. It would only make things even worse.

After telling Estella goodnight, I headed back to my room feeling heavier than before. Was it because I had witnessed something so dreadful? I didn't have the energy to think about it before I fell face first into my pillow. I tried desperately to fall asleep, but I couldn't with all the thoughts crashing into one another and the visions all reoccurring as vividly as they were when it happened.