It's All In Your Head {Sequel to STCG}

Chapter 22 - Recovery

"You're going to die a slow and painful death today."

"No I'm not. No I'm not."

"Ye-"

"You're not real, you're not real, you're not real."

"I a-"

"We killed you, we killed you, we killed you."

"No, yo-"

"Mum!"

I sprang up in bed, breaking out in a sweat. Mum, Dad and my younger brother Joe were sitting on the end of my bed, waiting anxiously for me to wake up.

"Emma? Oh goodness, we thought you were having a fit or something, you were shaking so much in the bed. Was it a bad dream?"

Gasping for breath, I managed to squeak out, "yes, a very bad dream."

"Wanna tell us about it?" Dad asked gently.

"Mm... Joe might get a bit scared..."

"Oh yes. Joe, distract yourself for five minutes. We need to talk to Emma," Mum said, signalling to the door. Joe said a quiet "fine" and hurried out the door, shutting it behind him.

"It was a short dream. Really, really short. I can't remember what everything looked like, but I was talking to..." I swallow the lump in my throat, sniffing to hold back tears. "To Leather Face. Atleast I think it was him. All I heard was a voice, and it sounded like him. He said I was going to die." And that's when I couldn't hold back my emotions, that's when seeing the looks on my parents faces was all too much, that's when it all burst out.

They patted my shoulder sympathetically as I let out a croaky sob, but I wanted more affection - I threw my arms around them and pulled them closer towards me and almost screamed into their chests.

I remember reading something in a book about fear:

If you don't learn how to be scared, you'll never really learn how to be brave.

I thought it was inspirational, that whenever I was scared I was just learning how to be brave, but now I've realised I haven't been learning to be brave. I was learning how to cope with fear, I was preparing myself for a load of more anxiety and worries. When have I ever been brave these past months?

You have, a positive voice in the deepest spot of my mind reassured me. You killed Leather Face. You untied all those girls on the school trip who would've been killed by Leather Face. You've been braver than you've ever been in your life.

But those girls were still killed, every single one of them. I failed trying to save them. I should've run off the first chance I got, atleast I wouldn't have had to see everything I did. I can't take that back.