It's Called Sarcasm [1] ⌲ Twombly

06 | nightmares

THIRD PERSON

A woman lies in her hospital bed, her face pale, and God knows how many machines are hooked into her fragile body.

A girl, no older than 12 comes in, her eyes wide and welled up with tears. "Mama?"

The woman looks up when she hears the small voice and smiles weakly, reaching out a pale hand for her daughter. "Hey, baby. Come sit with me."

The little girl pads her way over and climbs onto the bed, taking her mother's hand and holding it in her lap.

"Where's daddy?" The woman asks, rubbing her thumb gently over her daughter's knuckle.

"He's getting a snack. I told him to get you one..." The little girl whispered, running her fingers along her mother's pale skin.

The woman smiled. "That's sweet. I'm not very hungry, though."

"I know. I just thought, you know, just in case." The little girl murmured, sniffing softly. "So, when are you coming home?"

The woman sighed, looking at her daughter. "Kenzie..."

"You're coming home, Mama. I-I know you are." The little girl said, her tears dripping onto her sleeve.

"Baby, I wish I was. You have no idea," The woman laughed sadly, rubbing her daughter's arm. "But don't worry, baby. Daddy is going to take good care of you, yeah? The way he always has."

The little girl can see her mother's eyes drooping. She knows what's coming. She knows. But she refuses to accept it. This wasn't fair. It just wasn't.

"But Mama.." The little girl whimpered, squeezing her mother's hand tightly.

"Just promise me you'll be good, yeah? Promise me?" The woman says with a gentle smile.

A soft sob leaves the small brunette, but she nods anyway. "I promise."

"Good," The woman breathed, the smile evident in her voice. She reached up and cupped her daughter's cheek, smiling. "My beautiful baby," She whispered. "I love you, Kenzie."

The girl latched onto her hand and held tight, thinking that maybe, just maybe if she held it tightly enough, she would keep the warmth inside her mother. "I love you too, mama."

The woman laughed once more, sucking in a long breath before she exhaled. She didn't inhale again.

"Mama?" The girl whispered as her mother's eyes fluttered to a close. "Mommy?!" She bent down and put her face close to her mother's, expecting to feel her warm breath against her face. She didn't.

"Mom!"

_

MACKENZIE'S POINT OF VIEW

I woke with a start, my eyes popping open as I sat up in my bed, gasping for air. My breathing was heavy and labored as I gripped at my hair, a panicked sob escaping my throat as the vision of the life leaving my mother's body replayed over and over again in my mind. I looked around my dorm room, forgetting for a moment that I didn't have a roommate.

And neither did Stuart.

No. No, you can't go over there.

The tears were running down my face as I grabbed my slippers.

He'll laugh at you. He'll think you're weird. He won't want to be on your team anymore.

I sniffled as I grabbed my hoodie and pulled it over my head, making my way towards the door.

You're being stupid. It was a dream. Get over it.

I made my way out into the hall, stopping in front of Stuart's door.

Don't do it. Go back to bed.

I raise my hand to the door.

Don't knock.

I knocked.

"Who is it?" Stuart's voice filled my ears and I sniffed, wiping away a couple of my tears with my sleeve.

"I-It's Ken- Mack. It's Mack." I answered, feeling more tears come to my eyes.

"Come in." Stuart called. I take a deep breath before walking in. Stuart is propped against his desk, looking at his phone, per the usual. "Hey."

"Hi," I whispered, not trusting my voice to go any louder.

"You couldn't sleep either, huh?" He asked, looking up at me. His brow furrowed when he saw the tear stains on my face. "Hey, what's wrong?" He asked, rising to his feet.

"Nothing, nothing. I-It's not a big deal." I tried to dismiss him, but he continued walking towards me.

"Hey, Mack," He said, and it startled me a bit, considering he's called me Adams since the second I met him. "Come on, talk to me." He said, gently taking my shoulders into his hands.

I tried to tell him it was nothing, that I was just being stupid. But the look in his eyes was so genuine, so concerned, that I just crumpled right there. I felt the muscles in my face contract as I let out another sob, allowing myself to fall against him. He caught me with ease and brought me into a tight embrace, one arm holding me by my back as the other wrapped itself around my waist.

"Hey, hey," He whispered against my hair, bringing one of his hands up to cup the back of my head and bury itself into my brown curls. "It's okay, it's okay..."

I brought my hands up to grab onto the back of his shirt, my fingers grasping the fabric in between my fingers. Soft sobs escaped my throat and were muffled by his shoulder, my eyes closed tightly.

"Shh, it's okay," Stuart murmured into my hair as he gently swayed the both of us back and forth. "It's okay, I've got you."

After a while I finally stopped crying and just stood in Stuart's embrace, sniffing loudly and making myself cringe at how stuffy I was.

"C'mere," Stuart murmured, guiding me towards his bed and setting me down. He grabbed a tissue from the desk beside his bed and pressed it to my nose. "Blow."

I didn't even bother to think about the fact that he was holding the tissue before I blew into it, making a loud noise. He didn't seem to care. When I was done he folded the tissue over and gently cleaned up my face, wiping the tears and snot from my skin.

"There we go," He murmured, tossing the tissue into the trash before turning to look at me. "Better?"

I smiled softly and nodded, raking a hand through my messy hair. "Thank you."

"No problem." Stuart said, folding his hands into his lap. "So, you want to tell me what happened?"

I sighed, letting my hair fall into my red and stinging eyes. "I had a dream about my mom. About...about the day she died." I whispered.

Stuart didn't say anything. He just listened and let me talk. As I spoke he drew soft shapes on my back, his fingertips soothing against the fabric of my shirt.

By the time I was done talking we were laying shoulder to shoulder on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

"Hey, Stewie?"

"Hm?"

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

A/N- I needed some fluff in my life xD Hope you enjoyed! :-) ~Hayden <3