The Secretary

Nightmares

She shifted in the bed, heavy breathes escape her lips.

"No...no..." Cindi's eyes flew open, trying to figure out who was sleep-talking. "Ashley..." Ashley. Only one person in this apartment would be having nightmares about that. She sat up and crawled over Tab to gently shake the sleep-talker. But they didn't wake up.

"Y/N? Y/N, wake up. It's not real."

"No...." Y/N was too deep in her dream, well really a nightmare, to open her eyes.

"Y/N, it's just a dream." Cindi positioned herself at the end of the mattress, shaking her sister in vain. "Y/N."

"No....no....stop...."

"Y/N, it's just a dream." Tab was stirring, Drake was out in the living room. Hopefully he couldn't hear this.

"Ashley, stop. Stop, don't do that." Y/N's voice was getting louder and clearer, Tab could wake up any second now.

"Y/N, it's just a dream. Wake up, please." Cindi pleaded, shaking harder.

"Ashley, put it down. Stop....stop it..."

"Y/N."

"It's...not you..."

"Y/N."

"Ashley, put it down." If anyone had just been listening they would've thought Y/N was wide awake from how strong her voice was.

"Y/N, please wake up." Cindi gently slapped her sister's face.

"Wha...is she..." Tab groggily opened her eyes.

"Yeah, nightmare. Y/N."

"Ashley. Stop. Ashley. Stop it. Ashley, no...put it down....ASHLEY, NO!!!!!!!!!" Y/N sat straight up in bed, chest heaving, hands out, scrambling at the bed sheets. "Ashley!" Cindi grabbed her hands.

"Y/N, it's not real! It's a nightmare! It's not real!" Y/N choked, eyes wide, looking around the room.

"Where...where..."

"Y/N, it's not real." Cindi said more quietly, holding her sister's hands. "Ashley's not here. She's gone." Y/N continued to breathe heavily, reality slowly dawning on her and she gripped Cindi's hands. It felt like if she let go she would slip back into her nightmares. "Ashley's gone, Y/N." Cindi said as a tear fell down Y/N's cheek. She knew Cindi was right, she was remembering now. Ashley was gone. She wasn't coming back.

But it felt like Y/N was still coated in her blood.

She let go of Cindi's hands, who was mentally cursing both Yoongi and Jungkook for triggering this.

"I'm sorry for waking you." Y/N said quietly before stumbling to the bathroom to begin her after nightmare ritual. She would scrub and scrub and scrub. Her skin would be raw afterwards. But no matter how hard she tried she could never get it off. The feel of innocent blood and injustice.

-

Unknown

"I have an update, ma'am." She swiveled in her seat eagerly.

"Oh? Do tell." She said, leaning forward, elbows on desk.

"Someone's after him, we don't know who yet, but the first place he ran was to her apartment." Her smile turned into an angry frown and she slammed her palm onto the wood beneath her.

"Fucking, bitch!"

"I-It's his first time visiting there though." The man said, slightly nervous at her behavior.
"I don't care! He visited her!" She said bitterly, turning in her seat to look at the picture behind her. She pointed her finger at it. "Bastard." She muttered. The man behind her let loose an undetectable sigh. His boss was nuts. Sometimes he wondered if the pay was worth it.