Split- The Company She Keeps

Chapter 4- The Rule

The nightmares hadn't started in that small room, they simply followed Casey there. Even in such a situation, her mind still chose to torture her with memories of her childhood. Rolling onto her back, she mumbled, frowning in her sleep. 

Seven-year old Casey climbed out of the tent after sitting for almost an hour waiting for her father and uncle who thought they had heard a deer rustling near the camp. Being brought up in a hunting family, it was not an unusual place to be, simply and unusual amount of time to be alone. The little girl took a few steps away, turning her head to look all around her, long brunette hair falling over her shoulder to her back scaling almost to her coccyx. Daring to venture out further into the wooded terrain, she moved almost silently in the damp soil. She was twenty feet away from the tent when she heard the crunch of twigs and leaves under what must have been a heavy foot. Crouching, Casey hid in the undergrowth, heart pumping so hard she wondered if whatever it was could hear it as loud as she could in her ears. There was no other sound other than the breeze touching the highest branches of the trees. It sounded more like distant waves than the sway of the ancient giants rooted into the earth.

 A small bug Casey could not identify caught her eye with it's sporadic, nervous movements. It flitted over different leaves and weeds, hopping a terrified dance though the tiniest path of land. It's was so was small. It made Casey seem big.  But looking up again returned the child to the reality that she was the small one. And the problems that no youngster should have to deal with bore down on her like she did to the bug. It was all very claustrophobic. 

Another step. Closer. The little one's view was blocked by the huge rocks they had chosen to pitch up by. Shelter from winds, cover from animals and plenty of places to hide. If it was her father, he would have made himself known by whistling a birdsong that did't belong to a bird from that particular forest. So it wasn't him. A shuffling noise had Casey move closer to the rock, fingers shaking as he felt her way along it towards the edge where it doubled back on itself, a perfect spot to hide and observe what was coming. Inching her way closer and closer, the child stopped and hissed as she scraped the underneath of her forearm over a jagged bit of rock, grazing the skin. Stopping to check for a wound, the stinging took a while to subside. But she did not make another noise, very aware that the sounds had not left and were still so close. If her mother was still living at home and found out about what she was doing, Casey and her father would never hear the end of it.

At first, She didn't realise what had even happened. Rounding the corner to get into a safe spot, she found herself being spun around, seeing the world as a blur. However her eyes focused quickly enough to see the huge hand wrap around her waist, pulling her back against the large body she knew disgustingly far too well. Fear succumbed the girl to screams, kicking and fighting against her uncles grip as he used no energy fighting her resistance, not needing to against a seven year old child. However, the scream was an apparent issue. Casey pushed and pushed against the hand that moved to clamp over her face and nose, giant and suffocating, blocking off airways and therefore her vocal chords. His body was scarily roasting hot, pushed flush against her back, hand on her face squeezing too hard and the lack of air was too real. She couldn't breathe. Casey couldn't breathe.

The reality of her possible mortality brought Casey back to consciousness, rocking and kicking and fighting against the restraints that remained on her body. The strong arms wrapped around her felt like they were burning her skin, hand over her face gripping too hard, hurting her cheekbones. Dennis, being the strongest of the twenty three personalities had wrapped himself around Casey during her night terrors, her screams setting off severe anxiety and panic within him, awakening something that had been kept sleeping. Casey took thirteen seconds to come to and realise what or rather who she was fighting against. In that time she also figured that he would not let go of her face until she stopped moving and screaming, though having him wrapped around her made her want to do nothing else. But survival instinct came before fear in Casey. It had to. The girl slowly stilled, eyes becoming red from lack of oxygen. There was a pause before Dennis let go of her mouth and nose, allowing her to  swallow air in massive, desperate gulps. She did not fight his embrace, even after he let her breathe, not even flinching from his hand going to rest on her neck.

"You won't scream again." The low voice said simply. Not a question, an order. It came from right behind her head and she was able to feel his nose brush against her hair. While his hold was no longer restraining, it was still strong and very much there. He was touching her. He was breaking his rule. What did that mean for him? For the beast? There was no way Casey could answer that second question on her own. Scared to get up or push Dennis away, Casey thought it best to remain where she was with her eyes closed, as if she was falling asleep again, that way he could leave when he wanted and nothing would be her fault if he did. But Dennis remained against her, breathing very deliberately at a very specific speed. The teen had to admit it was calming in a weird, shouldn't-be-calming-in-any-way-he-is-not-safe sort of way and the rhythmic pace had her matching it. With her eyes closed Casey managed to fall back into a thankfully dreamless sleep, the only image in her head was of her captor standing over that small hiding spot in the forest, looking down with with an unreadable frown.

// Okay so this was an absolute dream to write. I was very worried about this chapter, but when I actually sat down to do it? It came out of me with no chance of stopping!  Please let me know what you think of it and what you think will happen next! Much love you beautiful people! //