Why Not?

Chapter Seventeen: Sweet Dreams in Sea Major

You and your parents loved the beach.

In fact, you'd try to go every other weekend when they had the time off. You liked the long island's beaches. 

So, as you stand there, watching your parents bury you in the sand, you begin to wonder. Your mind wanders off, and you land on one, simple question.

Why?

And from this, sprung so many hard and almost unexplainable questions.  

Why did everything go to hell? Why did things happen the way they did? 

Why did it have to be you?

After a moment on consideration, you stop yourself. These questions are better off left alone, you reminded yourself, people seldom like the answers to those questions, so don't go thinking you're gonna be special. 

You look back to the waters, only to find your parents gone. Instead, it's your current family. tony, Scarllet, Stephen, Steve, Bucky, Micheal, Maverik... They're all there.

The world around you glitches, like it would if you were in a broken simulation. Things return to normal, if only for a second, before glitching again.

You memories shift and glitch around you as you start to feel dizzy. You can't control what's happening-- this dream...

This dream just became a nightmare.

You look around you, you look around at your new place. You're...

home. 

---------

You pinch yourself, wondering if this is real. You can feel it, but it's dulled as if there were a filter between you and yourself-- like you have gloves on. 

You're home, but are you really?

You can smell ( favorite baked goods) coming from the kitchen, the type your dad would always make and accidentally burn. You could hear your mother humming her favorite song from in the kitchen-- the way she always did while cleaning.

You had to be at home. This was home. This was your home.

You raced from your place by the door to the kitchen, "Mom! Dad! is that really--" you stop in your tracks. Nobody was there. 

"Honey, is that you?" that was your mother's voice. She sounded so close. Close enough to touch but there was no one in sight. 

There was no one. 

You tried to run outside, you tried to shout call out. You did. You could hear yourself. You could hear your footsteps, feel the vibrations your feet made. You could smell the wood that made the patio.

This feels so real. This is real. This is a memory. This has to be a memory.

No, you mentally scold yourself, memories have people. Memories have pain. You know when you're in a memory. You're in a dream-- a nightmare.

It was true. You'd fallen asleep on the couch while watching Finding Nemo. Scarllet was across the room, curled up into herself on the loveseat. Maverik was there with you too, laying in the cuddle corner about two feet away from you.

From where you were, where you stood in your own nightmare-- your own mind, the world was nonexistent. 

They were so close. They just had to tap your shoulder...

And yet, from here, where you crumpled to the floor as you struggled to breathe, they were worlds away.

You could breathe. You could die here, right? Your heart would stress out and give up?