Matt was awoken from a terrible nightmare by the horrible default phone alarm noise. He drew a sharp deep breath and felt instant relief from the fact that the Fearlings killing him and Haven hadn't been real life, but a sudden fear soon replaced it when he remembered what had happened before he had become unconscious. Even after everything he had done- slept in late, played Minecraft with Stephen close to the screen, tried to exercise before he went to Grandpa Sloan's house, drunk coffee- he had fallen asleep.
He turned off his 1:50 a.m. alarm and all the others, got up off the kitchen floor, and stared in horror at his filled stocking over the fireplace. Now, the L.E.R. would still need help, and he dreaded admitting to the others he had failed, especially Haven and Garvit.
"Are you okay?" Today 12:01 AM. A message from Haven.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Matt texted in reply. He doubted she was still awake, but he didn't want to keep her worrying once she was. However, he still didn't want to explain anything to her yet.
He looked around him. All the metal shards from the shattered swords were gone. Matt's guess was that the demon horse had removed them, like it had moved him, so as to not attract suspicion from North. What even was that creature, anyway, and why hadn't it killed him? It hadn't taken the weapons, either, surprisingly enough. The Disruptor was where Matt had left it, and the sword was on the floor next to him.
The teen looked at the mug of coffee on the short table in front of the couch. Although he knew he should probably empty it, go home, and go to bed, he didn't want to gather his things just yet. Doing so would mean admitting defeat, and he wasn't ready to do that.
His phone vibrated with a text. Haven.
"What happened?" she asked. Oh heck. Well, at least he wasn't completely to blame for the failure. Since when did Pitch have that kind of dark creature?
"I killed all the Fearlings that attacked, but then a demon horse knocked me out. Not my fault."
"A demon horse? You mean a Nightmare?"
Well, the name would certainly make sense.
"Maybe. Are they made of black stuff but have glowing yellow eyes?"
"Yes."
"Then it was a Nightmare."
Matt sighed. If Haven knew about them, he should've, too. "Where did Nightmares come from?"
"They're a recent creation of Pitch's made of corrupted Dreamsand."
Oh. So that was why it was able to put him to sleep. And probably why it hadn't killed him. Knocking him out was most likely easier and less of a mess.
"How recent?"
"I don't know, whenever the events of the movie took place."
Oh. He had thought he knew everything he needed to about that thing from the others. Haven must have researched it herself at some point.
"Why are you still awake?"
"I was worried about you."
That sentence struck his heart, provoking both feelings of joy and guilt.
"Sorry about that."
"That's okay."
*}{/*}{/*}{/*
Haven stood in Matt's grandpa's living room and watched Angelia, Duran, and Garvit take in what Matt had told them, holding her plastic bag filled with those clear orb things she and Micah had created.
YOU ARE READING
To Survive without the Guardians
FanfictionHaven Avery and Matt Sloan have gone many years of their lives being haunted by Fearlings, or, as they know them as, "shadow ghost people" or "demons." They don't know why they're targeted, but they don't really care. They're much more concerned wit...
