The Dark Side of The Imagination {Prinxiety} - Book Two of the Why I Run Series

Chapter Nine

TRIGGER WARNING: False-Awakening-Loop-Nightmare (consistent throughout the entire chapter)
____________________________

Point of View: Roman, First Person
Timeline: Present Day

I shot up, only the vague memory of my nightmares flooding through my veins like fire.  I took a slow, deep breath calming myself.  I felt my heart rate slowly fall back to it's steady pace and I rolled the tension out of my shoulders.  At least this nightmare wasn't bad enough that I had lost sleep over it, so at least I had that.

I slowly opened my eyes, finally calm.  I flicked my eyes over to my left towards Virge, hoping that I hadn't woken him -

My breath froze.

VIRGIL WAS GONE.

I jumped up, yanking myself out of the blankets.  Frantically, I jumped up - spinning around as I searched the dark, icy land for my beloved.  I scanned once, twice, five times.  Nothing.  Where did he go?!

I didn't even realize I was crying until I heard the faint cry of a loud scream - was that Virgil?! Where was he?! Who took him?!

"VIRGIL!" I screamed, desperate for him to know I was coming, coming for him.  My sword was out in an instant - as I raced towards where the scream had come from, leaving everything behind.  We didn't need anything of that, that was all meaningless and unimportant.  Virgil is my love, my life - I can't lose him, I can't, I can't ---

I bolted upright in cold sweat, shaking with fear.  Wow, I thought, that was... intense... for a nightmare.  It's been a while since I've had one of those false-awakening-loop-nightmares.  I immediately swung my head to the side to see - thank the stars.

Virgil was sleeping, on his side - facing away from me.  I breathed easier at the sight of his dark hoodie in my sight.  I slid back down - should I just let him sleep?  Yeah, he's probably tired, I'll just take over.  But he might feel guilty in the morning... eh, I probably wasn't going to fall asleep easily anyway.

...

Wait.

Didn't Virge say he was an insomniac?

I watched my hand reflectively flipped him over onto his back and his hood feel into view revealing a skull ---

I shot upright with a scream, hands shaking.  A harsh shudder ran down my body and I immediate turned over to face Anxiety to find him merely staring at me with an unsurprised expression on his face.  "You've only been asleep for fifteen minutes," he said mildly, scrolling through Tumblr.  "Great service here," he added, seemingly ignoring my panicked state.

"I - I h-h-had a nightmare w-well a-a-actually I - I had a b-bunch and - and -"

"Use your words, Princess."

I shut my stammering mouth up and grabbed him by his hoodie and smashed my lips against his.

Virgil froze for a moment, taking off-guard.  But after a moment, he slowly kissed me back until we had to pull back to breathe.

"Well okay then," he said, still keeping up that odd calm, unbothered persona.  "Thanks," he added.

"S-Sorry," I stammered.  "I - I just - I was so scared that I lost you -"

"It's okay, Princess.  Try and go back to sleep, alright?"

"I - I can't," I admitted, shaking my head.  "How about you get some sleep?"

Virgil shrugged, clicking off his phone.  "Okay," he agreed, slipping his phone into his pocket and popping on his headphones.

I sighed, running a hand through my hair as I thought back on the nightmare.