❛ 𝔦 𝔡𝔬𝔫'𝔱 𝔴𝔞𝔫𝔱 𝔱𝔬 𝔰𝔴𝔦𝔪 𝔣𝔬𝔯𝔢𝔳𝔢𝔯, 𝔴𝔥𝔢𝔫 𝔦𝔱'𝔰 𝔠𝔬𝔩𝔡 𝔦'𝔡 𝔩𝔦𝔨𝔢 𝔱𝔬 𝔡𝔦𝔢. ❜
→ * . & ━━ a girl by the name
of sar, who can walk through dreams, finds
herself drawn to her hometown and into a
bigger m...
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SAR WOKE UP SCREAMING. It wasn't the first time that had happened, and it definitely wouldn't be the last. In fact, it was a frequent occurrence for her. She was glad it hadn't happened since she'd been staying at Steve's house. It was lucky it had taken this long. Her long hair was pasted with sweat to her skin, strands stuck across her face and forehead. Both of her hands were pressing into the mattress to hold her sitting up. She was breathing heavily. Tears beaded in her eyes.
Usually after her nightmares, Sar contacted James or Katie. The same nightmares weren't infrequent for them either. But this time, it was Steve leaning over her. He was hanging over the side of his bed, mouth slightly open as if he was unsure of what to do. She was looking over at him with her mouth open, chest rising and falling heavily. Her eyes were darting around the room. She brought her arms to hold around her chest protectively.
Steve slid off the side of the bed, eyebrows furrowed as he watched her. Her lips were trembling. She'd tucked her knees under her chin. The remnants of her dream were still floating in the corners of her mind, plaguing her with unwanted memories. Her entire body shook in tiny movements. Steve sat cross-legged in front of her. "Are you okay?" he asked her tentatively.
She couldn't help bursting into tears. Steve looked shocked at the action, as Sar put a hand over her mouth and sobbed. Her shoulders wracked with cries and she curled her body over her knees protectingly. He had no idea what to do. She was shaking her head, clearly embarrassed as she cried into her hands. Her fingers were trembling from where she had her hands clasped over her mouth.
"A nightmare?" he murmured, eyes darting along her tear-stricken face.
She nodded, tears still slipping from her eyes. Her mouth was curled downwards. "I'm sorry," she told him shamefully.
"No, no," he said. "Look, Sar, they're not going to have you, okay? You're not going back there," he promised her. She was tucking her face into her own arms. "You're not going back there. You hear me? They're not going to get you. They're not going to get you."
He sounded so sure: so sure that it was going to be okay. It reminded her so much of Lune. That conviction that everything was going to be alright; that she'd never been taken again; that they'd all be safe. The thought sent another bolt of pain through her heart. She remembered feeling the kids die one by one. She was the only one that could. And she felt them... Felt their pyres of energy disappear from far away. Felt their thoughts disappear like balls of paper in a fire. Felt their lives just... go. It had destroyed her.
The eight children she grew up with had died—and she could have saved them. She still saw them in everything, everywhere she went. 007 in the flames in her fireplace; 002 in the night stars; 010 in the flower meadows behind her house. They plagued her dreams every night. "The other kids," Sar murmured. "We left them there, Steve. We left them there in that damned lab. We left them and we left—" She broke off in a sob, dropping her face into her hands again. When she raised it, her cheeks were covered in tears. Her voice came out in a whisper."We left them."
