Nightmares

2

"Honey, we're leaving!" I heard my mother's voice shout from the bottom of the stairs.

"Alright, see you soon!" I called back.

"Love you!" She yelled, then I heard the door lock and slam shut. I watched as their car pulled out of the garage, and took off down the road.

"Love you, too..." I muttered, more just out of habit than actual emotion, really...

"Arf! Arf!" Came my puppy's high pitched barking.

"C'mere, little guy." I picked up Graham from the ground, and dropped him on my lap where he curled up, shaking. "What's the matter, boy?" I asked. His shaking was so intense, it actually scared me a little bit. I didn't expect an answer but I watched as he growled nervously at my closed door.

Right then, I heard a loud noise come from somewhere in the house.

BOOM!

I jumped so violently in my bed that Graham rolled off of my lap helplessly as I fell to the wooden ground with a hard thump.

"Ouch..." I moaned, then stood up, rubbing my aching elbow which caught my fall, as well as my knee. "What was that...?" I wondered aloud as I walked to my door, and opened it cautiously.

Nothing seemed to be out of place in the hall, but that doesn't make sense; the noise seemed so loud...

"Grahamy, baby, help Mommy find what made the loud noise, okay?" I asked in a voice that you would use when talking to a small child. He barked as if he understood, then sauntered in front of me at a slow pace. I furrowed my brows at the pup; he never walks slowly like that.

Graham padded down the steps noiselessly, and I followed, listening to the creaking of the old steps. He waited at the bottom, looking up at me with those cute brown puppy eyes, and I smiled warmly as I bent down to pet him, completely forgetting the reason I left my sanctuary in the first place.

BANG!

The noise came again, and instead of scaring me, it aggravated me. Graham was shaking even more vigorously, and I wondered if there was someone in the house. I picked up my puppy, and carried him into the hall which leads to the kitchen.

It was difficult to keep him in my arms, but I managed. I reached the middle of the hall, and passed the door which leads to the basement when I heard Graham begin to growl. I stopped in my tracks and frowned.

Was the noise I heard in my room coming from the basement? If the bang was heard in my room, but it came from here, how was it so damn loud?

Maybe my hearing was just sensitive from how quiet it was in my room, but I highly doubt that's the case. Deciding to get to the bottom of it, I looked around hoping for another probable cause of disturbance, but seeing nothing, I grabbed the knob of the door, and turned it.

What stopped me wasn't my dog's infuriatingly loud barking, but the voice of a stranger.

"What are you doing?" Came a deep voice from behind me. I squealed like a little girl, and clutched Graham to my chest as I spun on my heel to face the source of the voice. What I saw made me have to pick my jaw up off the floor, and scrape up whatever dignity I had left for openly gawking.

The person in front of me had to be around my age, no younger, though. He has dark black hair that hangs in his eyes and cups his ears. His eyes are a devastatingly bright blue, and his features are just as sharp.

He's wearing a black "Asking Alexandria" t-shirt with black skinny jeans. He wasn't lanky, either, which confused me. Not to be stereotypical, but normally people who looked and dressed like he is have zero muscles, and wore skinny jeans so they didn't look weird in baggy ones. But this boy...he made it look so attractive....