Unmasked

Chapter 13

Benji's POV

A blood curdling scream woke me up from my much needed sleep. I jerked my head up thinking it was Ryder, having another sleep paralysis episode.

This scream was different, it didn't come from Ryder. It had a more feminine voice too it. I remembered that Quinn a girl from our school, that randomly showed up at our house was staying the night for awhile.

I kicked the blankets off from over me, sending a chill through my body. I was wearing some grey sweats with a light black t-shirt. I jogged to my door, and down the hallway to the spare bedroom where she was staying.

I took a deep breath and opened the door slowly. She was sitting on the bed, drenched in sweat rocking back and forth, eyes darting around the room. My eyes softened seeing her in this state, I had no idea what happened to trigger this. Maybe she had hallucinations or sleep paralysis as well?

Her eyes met mine and they instantly widened, sending her into a panic state. She furiously grabbed the covers, and wiped off all the sweat on her face, and stopped rocking back and forth. It was no use though, I had already seen.

I took cautious steps towards her, not wanting to alarm her or scare her away. I sat on the edge of the bed, not too close and not too far. "A-are you okay?" It was a stupid question to ask, really, but I didn't know what else to say.

"Fine." She lied, teeth gritting.

I sucked in a breath knowing damn well when someone said they were fine, they really weren't. They were the exact opposite.

"Why were you screaming?" I whispered. Her eyes were focused on the ground, not daring to look me in the eyes, as if she was scared to. Maybe she was? "Just a nightmare." Her raspy voice answered me back. I slightly nodded my head, still unconvinced. "Are you sure it wasn't something a little more than that?" I pushed further. If she was still in denial I wouldn't press anymore, but I just wanted to make sure she was okay.

"Just a bad dream." She whispered through clenched teeth, seemingly growing frustrated. She reminded me of Ryder a little bit, with little patience and a lot of anger. I nodded slightly giving her a soft smile. I stood up and walked into the bathroom that connected with the spare bedroom. I grabbed a glass from under the sink and filled it with tap water, bringing it back out for her. She slowly took it, and took a sip from it. I turned around and started heading out of her room. I turned around slightly giving her another small smile. "My room is just down the hall if you ever need to talk." With that I closed the door softly and walked back into my room.

I read the alarm clock seeing the bright red words on the screen. 3:07 AM. I let out a small sigh, knowing I was going to have another restless night.

Anytime I lay my head down on the pillow, I started to overthink everything. Soon enough my head would start to ache, or my stomach would get in knots. Sometimes it got so bad I had to run to the toilet, and empty my guts.

I tried talking to my guidance counselor about it and they said it happened to every normal teenager. I agreed with her but I also felt like it was much more. The bags under my eyes are now 20 shades darker, but I put foundation on under them so none of my brothers notice. I can't have them stress out about my problems, they have too much going on anyway.

I take a deep breath to try and settle my nerves, and walk to my desk and pull out my oil pastels and paper to distract me with.

I jerk my hands back and forth across the paper aggressively, trying to take my thoughts elsewhere.

Why was Quinn screaming in the middle of the night because of a dream? I've never done that when I've had a nightmare. Neither has anyone of my brothers other than Ryder.

I wouldn't question or push her too much. If I have to wait for her to come around, and talk to me herself than so be it.

She seemed shy and reserved, but also scared and angry. I'm pretty good at reading people but It's a little harder for me to read her. Her demeanor seemed blank all day yesterday, keeping to herself and steering clear of all of us. Now that I saw her again, from the moment I walked in the room I realized she was a lot more than that. I wanted to know more about her, she seemed like an interesting book to read that had a different kind of ending than you wouldn't have expected.

I took a deep breath and looked at the drawing I just made, it was sloppy with no time or effort really put into it. My eyes slowly became droopy. I dropped the pastels and walked over to my bed, falling down onto it and pulling the sheets over me once again.

Letting darkness take over for a limited time, so I could get a small amount of peace.