Absent

Chapter 6

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The floor boards creaked. I was frozen in place as I laid in bed, staring at my bedroom door. What was on the other side was much scarier than any monster hiding in my closet. My breathing came out in rapid pants, my chest heaving up and down. I wanted to disappear, be swallowed up completely, but that wouldn't happen. Another creak sounded from the floorboards.

My mind was wide awake, which was unusual. The moon was nowhere to be found and my room was drenched in darkness. I was powerless, unable to move, paralyzed in fear.

The floor creaked again beneath someone's weight and my breath hitched. The doorknob slowly began to turn and-

My eyes shot open and I sat up. I heaved out my breaths, trying to get my pulse under control. Looking around my room, I realized that once again, the images were not real. The nightmares had been becoming less frequent while I was with the FBI. I had hoped that maybe, just maybe, they were finally going away. They were always the same. The creaking of the floorboards, the darkness, the fear- so much fear I could feel it clenched around my heart. But right when the doorknob turned, I woke up. Then I would sit up and tell myself that none of it was real.

Even in the Agency, after they'd taken my memories, the images came every night. They gradually started to go away, the time between them becoming longer and longer. This was the second one I'd had this week and I was hoping this didn't mean they were making a return. I had to try to convince my mind to stop giving me this nightmare. Thinking rationally, it shouldn't have scared me at all; it was childish for something so minor to effect me this much. It was a simple fabrication nonetheless.

It was all in my head; the fear, the creaking floorboards, the-

My thoughts came to a complete halt when the sound I was trying to convince myself wasn't real sounded from somewhere in the house. I held my breath. Was I imagining it? Could I possible still be dreaming?

When it came again, I knew it wasn't my imagination.

Standing up from my bed, I walked toward the door. This wasn't one of my nightmares, this was real. That meant that I wasn't powerless and I certainly wasn't afraid. I slowly opened my bedroom door and peaked out. I stepped into the empty hallway and walked in the direction of the creaking sound. A movement from downstairs made me pause and listen. Nothing gave away who could possibly have been downstairs. For all I knew, it was one of my family members in the kitchen grabbing a glass of water. Still, I stepped carefully down the stairs and looked around.

I turned the corner and a figure entered my vision. I startled back, lifting my hands to attack, when I realized who the intruder was.

I let out a heavy breath. "Luca?" I whispered. "What are you doing here?"

Jason's friend had yet to be properly introduced to me, but I wasn't going to pretend I didn't know who he was. I'd only seen him in person one other time, and he seemed even less friendly now. He looked at me like I was the last person he wanted to see.

"Jason said I could crash here." He said simply, walking past me.

"Oh." I responded. He walked to the door across from Ryan's office and entered, as if he'd done it a million times. He was pulling out the futon when I entered the doorway.

"Do you need a blanket or something?" I asked awkwardly. It wasn't that I wanted to make conversation, not by any means. But I knew that on a night like tonight, sleep wasn't likely. It never was after a nightmare. I usually stayed up overthinking and trying not to see something in every shadow. I had been distracted by the noises Luca was making, but once I left him I'd be alone with my thoughts again. Maybe somehow tonight, I hoped, sleep wouldn't be too hard to find.