The deafening silence

Broken promises

Stephen struggles with recovery.

Both physically and emotionally.

------

Stephen awoke to the sound of birds chirping outside his window. He sat up, lilac eyes slowly fluttering open.

The sight outside his window was beautiful, grass a lovely green and the flowers many vibrant colours. It was like something out of a painting.

It made him sick.

How could the world continue to thrive after his brother had departed it? Gavin made the world brighter. Gavin brought colour to everything.

Now that he was gone, it was grey again.

He could only imagine what his brother would be saying if he was here, looking out at the view with him.

"It's rather pretty, isn't it?"

Stephen's head snapped around at the voice, and he felt his heart leap into his throat.

Gavin stared out at the landscape, smiling serenely at it. Hearing only silence in response, he turned to his brother, letting out a small chuckle at his shellshocked expression.

"What? You look like you've just seen a ghost."

Stephen shook his head, eyes widening even further as Gavin laughed more.

His face went from shocked to horrified in a heartbeat as blood started to drip from his brother's mouth, creating a pool of it on the wooden floor, dying it a crimson red.

The monster grabbed Stephen's cheeks, mimicking his brother's face as it loomed over him, a devilish grin that did not belong on Gavin's face forming quickly.

His heart stopped at the words it spat at him.

"You did this to me."

------

Stephen shot up with a cry.

Body shaking and breath trembling, he gave himself a couple minutes to process everything. It was just a nightmare, nothing but his mind trying to scare him (or hurt him).

Exhaling through his nose, Stephen slowly stood up, making his way into the rest of the house.

He saw Jay standing in the kitchen, chopping up some vegetables freshly picked from the garden.

He was still getting used to the house. After, all it wasn't his. He hadn't wanted to go back to his and Gavin's shared home after what had happened, too many memories of when times were somewhat simpler.

Biting back the urge to cry, Stephen walked over to Jay and wrapped his arms around his middle, almost laughing at the uncharacteristic yelp that the blonde let out.

"Stephen, what are you doing up so early? You shouldn't even be walking around, you still need to heal." The older male scolded.

"Didn't wanna go back to sleep..." The purple haired male mumbled into his neck.

There was silence for a while, then Jay sighed, turning in his gentle hold to face him, cupping his cheeks. "Had another nightmare?"