Stepbrothers

Chapter 7

  Today was already the worst day of my life. I was starting my new school tomorrow, you know, the ones where my brothers are treated like their famous and I'll be treated like a human punching bag. Oh, and as if my anxiety wasn't bad enough already, my old friends would be there. I had changed so much since the last time I saw them. Chances are we would have nothing in common, and those social butterfly bastards would probably want to start a conversation with me. I'm awkward with pretty much everyone, I never know what to say or do, and every time I strike up a new conversation I suddenly become very aware of every single flaw I have. So, that's gonna be fun.

I swear, Blake has told me about fifty times to be hopeful and excited for this new year. Which is, to be honest, quite difficult when you already hate everyone there, including yourself. I attempted to express this opinion with him, but he only looked a little worried for my well-being. Speaking of Blake, I heard him trudging up the stairs, humming a little tune.

"Noah! Time to wake up!" He smiles as he walked into my room without knocking. I pulled the blankets over my head and groaned, not wanting to get up. "Come on, Noah! It's the last day of summer. Why don't we go for a swim?" I shook my head quickly, I did not like swimming.

"Why not?" Blake asked. "You've been in here for ever, you need to go outside!" He booped my nose. It was terrible.

"I don't want to, Blake. Just let me sleep." I sighed. He looked a little hurt, but noogied my hair lightly, smiled a little and walked away. I had almost fallen back asleep when the twins burst through the door. Yippee.

Josh sat on my bed. "Hey." He smiled. I was terrified, was this a trap? My eyes must have shown my fear because Josh looked worried. "You good?" He asked, putting a hand on my back. I scooted away from his hand, hating the physical contact.

"I know you miss him." Jacob said, sitting on the other side of my bed. He was referring to how Danny had to leave again. I was very uncomfortable, not only were people in my room, but they were trying to get me to talk about something I was uncomfortable about. I tried to pull the covers over my head to avoid conversation, but someone pulled them off. It was Blake, I guess he came back.

"Are you okay?" Blake asked for what felt like the millionth time. The answer was no, but I fake smiled and nodded. "I'm fine." Nobody bought it.

"Your dad said you get nightmares. Is that what happened last night?" Jake asked, he was talking about how last night I woke up screaming. Sometimes that happened, don't ask. I didn't respond, I looked in the pillow that suddenly looked very interesting to me, which I guess was response enough. Everything after that was kind of a blur, as I was half asleep. People kept asking questions, but I didn't answer, my vision went fuzzy and I fell asleep.

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My dream was hell, literally. I was standing in a pit being burned alive, which is how the majority of my dreams started out, when suddenly I was yanked from the flames. I was, of course, very grateful at first to this stranger, when suddenly I realized who it was. It was my crazy uncle on my moms side. He did... bad things to me when I was little. Really bad things.

"Why don't we cool down?" He asked in a menacing voice. I knew what that meant. Suddenly there was a bathtub beneath me, filled to the brim with freezing cold water, and I was being suspended by my ankle above the tub. I was lowered down quickly, and I barely managed to get a breath of air before I was plunged head first into the ice cold bath. I writhed around, trying to get out of his grasp, but I couldn't. I knew better than to try to scream, it would only waste my air. For around five minutes I was dunked into the water, only to be hoisted out just before I ran out of oxygen. As my head was forced underneath the water, something pulled my hair and I screamed. I looked down, and it was my mother's corpse, blue with cold, falling apart as she decomposed.

"Join me, Noah. Join me." She chanted relentlessly, as I screamed "No, no!" and begged her to stop.

Suddenly I woke up, panting and screaming. I was lying in a puddle of my sweat,which was freezing. My throat was sore and my eyes tired from crying. Blake ran in, and held me in his arms as I sobbed into his shoulder. The twins cautiously walked through the door, sitting on either side of me on my bed.

"Shhh, Noah, shhh." Blake tried to calm me down, but I was hysterical. I was still sobbing into his shoulder, and Jake began to rub my arm, with Josh rubbing my back in soothing circles. Blake kept shushing me gently until I was only crying quietly. The twins were silent as they tried comfort me.

"What happened?" Blake whispered in my ear. I shook my head in response, a little embarrassed about what had happened, not to mention the fact I was still lying in Blake's arms, nearly sitting in his lap. I was very awkward about these things, especially if it involved physical contact, but for some odd reason, I felt so safe right now. I didn't want to leave Blake's side no matter what. It almost felt like Blake was my real big brother. "You're pretty sweaty, why don't you go take a shower, bud?" Blake said soothingly. I shook my head again, I really didn't want to be alone after a nightmare like that one. I mean, that one doesn't even break top ten nightmares, but I was scared nonetheless. "Why not?" Blake asked, trying so hard to take care of me. I blushed a little, like I always did, and leaned closer to Blake. I was so much shorter than him I had to push my head up as far as it would go, and Blake still had to bow his head so that he could me whisper.

"I don't wanna be alone, Blake. Please don't make me be alone again." My voice was hoarse from screaming and crying. Blake looked solemn as he nodded, and brought my head into his chest. I closed my eyes, and fell asleep.