Remember, He's Not There

Nightmares

*11-13*

I woke up screaming and sobbing. Sweat covered my whole body, the sheets sticking and wrapping around me. "Rowan! It's okay, everything's alright." A said calmly I look over to him, barely seeing his features in the darkness. I can't catch my breathe and tears are still streaming down my face non-stop. He turned a dim light on, illuminating the room lightly with a soothing glow. He pulls the sheets back and lays beside me. He wraps his arms around me and pulls me close to him. "Shh, it's okay now, everything's okay now Rowan." he rocks back and forth. He continuously talks to me, shushing me. I calm down alot and just listen to his irregular heart beat. Three beats, then one, then three, then four, then one. I listen to everything he says, about the things we did earlier that day, when the sun was still up. I notice a warm liquid on my arm. I look down in the dim light and see a dark but iridescent liquid that I learned a long while ago to be A's blood. "A, you're bleeding!" I exclaim, worry heavy in my chest. "Yeah, I know Rowan. I'll be fine, I can bandage it after you're safe." he says. " What did this to you A? and no, let me patch you up now."  "Nothing Rowan, and nah." "How can you be so nonchalant about it? And if you won't tell me, then at least let me clean it." I tug on his arm. He gets up with me. I walk to the bathroom and turn the lights on. I turn around to pull A into the bathroom, but he's gone. Damn. I get all the supplies to bandage his wounds. I wonder what happened when I was asleep. But I know how A is, he'd never tell me. I close the cabinet  and turn to leave but I stop to look at the moving figure in the mirror. I watch a moment, stuck in a trance. The dark figure is small and seems blurry, like I can't make out what it's really like or as if I have tears brimming my eyes. It grows behind me getting taller and taller. I can't breathe. I have a feeling of dark, creepy beauty. Like A, but instead of the comforting love I feel with him, I just feel utterly terrified and the beauty automatically turns ugly. I stare into deep red eyes, lost and struggling for breath. A shows up on the ceiling glaring coldly at the other being behind me. I hear a shrill scream and then a laugh, then its gone. I turn quickly and A is right in front of my face, his hands grasp my shoulders and I feel weak. "You remember, right!" he yells urgently at me. I nod my head. "Tell me, tell me something about us. Tell me what happens next week, and tell me what you just left. Please." he begs. I take in a shaky breathe. "uhh, next week I go back to school. I just left this.. god awful place, a mental hospital basically....And I have known you forever, I have never had a day not thinking of you. You used to scare my mom by moving things she just used. And I lo... Oh My God! You're still bleeding!" I freak out in realization I never patched him up. He chuckles lightly as I gently shove him towards the stool. I lift up his shirt and look at his left side. Three gnarly gashes lie side by side. It looked like claws of some sort. I cringed but doctored his wounds. I try my best to make sure I don't hurt him worse than he is. When I'm finally done with the gauze wrap, he smiles down at me with his little smirk. I feel myself blush and I grab his arm and lead him back to my room. I lay back down and he sits on the edge of my bed. He talks to me until I'm almost completely asleep. He tells me not to worry about that thing in the bathroom. I worry anyway but I don't ask him questions. I keep slipping in and out of conscience-ness. "oh, and thanks for patching me up Rowan." A says. I murmur a reply. The only thing I remember before I completely fading  into sleep is A laying beside me and kissing my forehead.