Killer Protector: REDUX (JTK story)

Chapter 3

[Hey, what's up, it's yo boy...

Uhhh

Gluteus maximus of pussland.

the third.

I struggled with this chapter a tad bit.

Please like it.

My existence relies solely on validation from others.

pls

Also, TRIGGER WARNING: this chapter does contain some hefty assault and allusions to r*pe. But everyone's okay!

Well, mostly everyone.

Anyway enjoy, you stinkies.

That's what you are now. Stinkies.]

Chapter 3

Over the past 8 years, I've had this recurring dream once every few months. Sometimes I experience only a moment of the full thing, or sometimes it'll all be a blur, but when I wake up I always recognize it in the end.

It always starts off with me hiding behind a tree. I sit there for a while, shifting in my spot, peeking out every so often with a smile on my face.

Then, a child's head pops up from the brush beside me and I scream out with surprise and glee. They laugh and chase after me and I wonder if they had found any other kids too. My heart pumps hard as I run and run past thickets of trees and shrubbery, hopefully to find another hiding spot. I wouldn't be caught, not this round!

Braving the thought of bugs, I shoved through some bushes and then—

Sometimes the dream ends there. And I experience those moments where I jolt in my bed after feeling as if I'm falling through space.

But I fall through the bushes this time, and I keep falling, and I don't know when I'll stop. I'm too startled to panic about it.

Frustratingly, this part of my dream is always a blur of shapes and colors, it never clears up despite all these years. My head starts to hurt a lot. The sunlight gets impossibly bright. Someone is calling my name but I can barely make it out. Warbled sounds reach my ears—they're speaking to me—but I still don't understand a single word.

Then, there's a change in the bright sun above me. A single black dot. It doesn't move or grow bigger, yet I have this feeling in my gut as if I don't like looking at it. Just one little black dot. It doesn't feel right. It shouldn't be there. It...needs to go away—

And it's over. The dream always ends there.

When I first told my parents, they attempted to take me to a child psychologist to see what it could mean. It didn't help much, unfortunately. The doctor had said it could be my subconscious manifesting my childhood anxiety in my dreams. The fall, the headache, the black dot; it all led to what could be my interpretation of anxiety. And what with kids at school beginning to ignore me or treat me differently, it probably triggered its mental growth—thus my recurring dreams.

But this wasn't news. My mental debilitation had always been present, even before my heart condition. Despite making efforts to work on it, the dream never went away. It always comes right back, as ambiguous as ever.

It happened again last night. Usually I would ignore it (I've grown used to when it happens), but for some reason I couldn't shake it this time. It bothered me so much that I couldn't go back to sleep for the rest of the night, and before I knew it, it was morning.