Fried Burrito

n i n E T e e n

*Potential trigger warning. Sensitive content is addressed.*

It was dark, I was stuck on the floor, and I couldn't breathe. All I could feel was the sound of my heart beating out of control. The sounds of slow, heavy footsteps filled my ears as I felt the sudden urge to run away from where I was sitting. It was too hard for me to see where to run next though, for all I know I could end up running straight into the path of danger. 

My breaths became short and my muscles ached from being stuck in this position.  

"Caden..." 
He kept saying my name in a way that made my skin crawl. With every footstep, the anxiety I felt only strengthened. I was stuck and I had no idea how to get out and get to a safe place. 
"Caden.." 

I hated the way he said my name. It sounded like some sort of disease that could kill a mass amount of people all at once. 

"Caden." His footsteps stopped in front of the thin door that kept us apart. 

No.. please, he can't get to me. He's going to hurt me... He's-

"Caden?" 

I opened my eyes to the sound of my name being said by CJ, the most annoying brother out of them all. I felt a billion emotions because of this dream but I didn't know which one was right. Why did it feel so real?

"You were talking in your sleep, it didn't sound good." 

"Oh," I said as I sat up. "I was having a weird dream I guess, but it felt real for some reason."

CJ didn't reply to what I said, instead he stood at the door looking as stiff as ever. 

"What was the dream about?" 

"I don't know, I think this guy was trying to get me but I was hiding in a closet because I felt scared and-"

My words were cut off because my face became stuck into CJ's chest. He wasn't saying a word to me yet his death grip screamed a thousand of them. 

"CJ, what's the matter with you?" I asked after I pulled myself from his grip. 

"Your dream bought back a dark time for me, you don't remember this but something happened when you were little."
"Something like what?" 

"We don't need to talk about this Caden. You're not ready." CJ said as he got up from my bed. His eyes were dark with resentment but, I didn't know why. 
"How are you going to tell me? Just say it," I said sternly. "I'm tired of you treating me like a baby when I'm far from it." 

He stared at me for a while, clearly contemplating what to do. I could see that whatever he was going to say made him uncomfortable yet angry at the same time. His fists clenched and unclenched as he changed his gaze to the floor. 

"You know how Mom worked from home when you were younger?" he started.

"Yeah..." I replied, vaguely catching onto what he was referring to. 

"Well, she held a lot of work meetings at our house. Many of her colleagues were men and a lot of them had the tendency to do messed up things to the people that didn't deserve it," his voice became shaky once he closed his eyes. "She never noticed this but I remember this as clear as ever. There was one man who always used to look at you in a way a little girl never should've been looked at. You were so young.... and...p- pure yet he-"

My heart dropped as I realized what he was trying to tell me. A wave of nausea hit me as the tears struggled to fall. This was too messed up to be real, that couldn't have happened to me. I would've remembered if something like that ever happened to me. I can't believe any of this.