Moonbay

"C-Colby no. I can't do this. I really can't," Liam said with a whimper for unintentional emphasis. "I'm not ready for this."

"Liam calm down sweetheart. Breathe. You're going to have another panic attack. It's ok, I promise." The stern order in Colby's voice scared the boy enough to make him stop talking but it didn't slow his breathing. He rocked back and forth on his bed, clutching the small white phone that was attached to his nightstand like a lifeline.

"Look, I'm going to go Liam, ok? I don't want to drive on my phone. I know you'd kill me for that, wouldn't you love?" Colby said, teasing.

"Ok," Liam whispered, not even able to muster up the courage to laugh. He knew he was being stupidly fearful but he couldn't help it. He hadn't left the building since he was first admitted at 15, three years previous. He didn't count the occasional venture into the outdoor patio that the doctors forced him to go through with.

"I'll see you in twenty minutes. Promise." Colby hung up but Liam clutched the receiver until it blared out angrily and he slammed it down with shaking hands. Why did he have to leave? He just wanted to stay in Moonbay, where he was safe from the grabbing hands and lecherous stares he remembered in the real world. His fantasy world may have been ugly but at least he could control it sometimes.

But no. At one day from nineteen he was being discharged, instead only being required for out patient care four times a week. His family was ecstatic he knew. They had thought he was doomed to be permanently in a mental facility for the rest of his life, trapped in horrifying memories. Jen, of all people, was shocked it had been Colby to save her little brother.

Colby had been angry, defiant and malicious when he'd come to Moonbay. He thought he had everything to prove, and that had meant getting the silent boy to talk. Liam was Colby's project. Liam knew that. Liam shivered fearfully as the thought resonated through his thin frame. Colby had kept his promise, had called constantly since he'd been let go but what about now? If Liam left Moonbay, it meant Colby had been successful. It meant he could leave him alone and in danger with all of the evils that lay in wait.

He couldn't go out there. He couldn't lose the one person he finally trusted. Liam shivered again, his lanky frame doing nothing to keep him warm in the chilly temperatures of the room. Tears streaked down his face as he realized the truth. He would have Colby only one more day before the boy would disappear or turn on him. What if he turned on him?

Liam found himself suddenly gasping for breath, desperate as he clutched his throat. He couldn't breath. He was going to die and he'd never see Colby again but Colby would never hurt him then. The mahogany-haired boy stumbled to his feet, staggering frantically to the bathroom. He made it to the toilet just in time to bring up his lunch but for once the purging didn't help to calm him. Usually it did, creating enough of a distraction as unwilling as it was, that he could breath again.

Not this time he realized as he still gasped for hair, using those breaths that he did gain to scream fearfully. The sound was frantic and unexplained. It was only as the doctors came in that he regretted his actions. They came running, one already pulling out a needle. It would probably he hurt, he realized. And he wouldn't be allowed to see Colby. But Colby was going to leave him tomorrow anyway. Colby.

"There's nothing to be afraid of," Jen whispered to her brother quietly, kneeling next to him as the doctor stretched his arm out. Liam bucked and yanked, trying to escape but couldn't. The doctor and his staff were strong, steady. "Liam why are you doing this? Why are you so afraid of everything?" his sister asked, pleading. "Just be strong for once!" He shrunk as she glared at him and stood up.

"You craven little wimp," she hissed at him, eyes turning a blackened amber with anger, her face twisting into a hideous resemblance of his uncle.

"No! No, please," Liam begged, tears rushing down his face as the needle was stuck into his arm. Just as he faded out he saw Jen with her gentle blue eyes, looking down at him. He had let his fear overtake him once more, turning a loved one into another unnecessary monster with his fear. When would he learn to accept, to not fear anything new? A quiet, nagging part of his mind that had been all but forgotten laughed at him, said he never would.