Nightmare

Everyone has points in their lives when they get scared. There are times when your little brother does something like fill your sandwich full of worms, so when you take a bite, your mouth is full of those slimy, crawly little creatures. There are other times when you spend countless nights lying awake after hearing mommy and daddy screaming at each other, yelling they can’t do it anymore, and that they want a divorce. Then there are the times when your friend is being stupid, pretending he just got run over by a car just to see if you care about him.

That was nothing compared to what was happening to me.

Screaming was probably the worst thing I could have done at that moment. I shouldn’t have screamed, because what happened next was enough to probably scar me for life. The figure reached out, shoving it’s hand over my mouth, silencing me, moving closer, so it’s face was no more than a few inches away form mine, as he examined me closely.

I quickly squeezed my eyes shut for a moment, wishing I could get the image out of my head. Maybe this was just my mind playing tricks on me?

Before me, wasn’t whom I was expecting, or hoping it would be. I thought that it would be one of the guys; I thought it was just some practical joke that was being played on me.

I thought wrong.

The figure before me wasn’t human, but it wasn’t the undead either. The figure before me was a spirit, like the ones that came to me in my dreams. It was definitely tall, towering over me, making me cringe and shrink away in even more intimidation, but he was also quite skinny, yet having some nice muscles showing through. He had black hair that was grown out a little, hanging around his face in what looked like a style all of his own.

His skin was deathly pale, as white a chalk, sticking to the bones on his face. His lips looked like they were sewn shut, with the large stitch marks clearly showing in black. The eyes were dark and sunken in, but underneath that, I could see the kindest eyes in the world. They told me that they would never harm me in any way.

My breathing calmed down, my heart beat returning to a normal pace just by looking at his eyes. He slowly removed his hand from my mouth, taking a step back, still continuing to stare at me like I was some strange creature he had never seen before.

“Hello?” I whispered, my voice slightly shaking.

The spirit just continued to stare, not saying anything.

“Starr?”

I snapped my head towards the door, hearing someone trying to open it; the voice I knew was Zacky’s.

“Starr, are you in there?” He shouted, still trying to open the door.

I looked back at the spirit, seeing it shrinking away from me, slowly disappearing into the darkness. “Yes… Yes, Zacky, I’m here!” I yelled back.

It sounded like Zacky was trying to break the door down, and he finally got it open, rushing over to me.

“Starr? Starr, are you okay?” He asked holding onto me, seeing that I was standing there, probably looking like I was in a state of shock.

“Did… did you see him?” I asked.

Zacky’s looked at me with confusion on his face. “What? What are you talking about?”

“Him!” I pointed a long, slender finger towards the darkness, where the same spirit was.

Zacky looked over his shoulder, still holding onto me, before returning his eyes to me. “Starr, there’s no one there.”

I glanced at Zacky, and then returned my gaze to the spirit. He just stared at me a moment longer before slowly vaporizing, disappearing into the darkness completely, like he had never been there to begin with. A sigh escaped my lips as I stared in shock at the empty room where he had just been.

“Starr, what are you even doing here?” Zacky asked. “How did you get here?”

I just stared at Zacky, feeling as if I were going to faint, my head starting to get all fuzzy I suddenly felt my legs give way, not able to support me anymore, but Zacky quickly caught me before I had a chance to hit the floor.

“Whoa,” Zacky’s arms wrapped around my body, holding me up, his confusion turning to a look of worry. “Starr, are you okay?”

I just shook my head no, unable to really respond. Zacky just nodded in an understanding way, picking me up.

“Let’s get you back to your room,” he said softly.

And to my room we went. Zacky placed me down on my bed, sitting at the edge, just watching me as I stared at the comforter I sat on, thinking back to what I had encountered in that room, pulling my knees up to my chest and hugging them tightly.

“Starr…”

I heard Zacky whisper my name, as if not to scare me, and I looked up at him.

“What happened?” He asked.

I bit my lip. “I…”

I didn’t know what to say. I know what I saw in there, I know what I had faced for those moments, but Zacky… Zacky didn’t see it. Even when I was still staring at the spirit, Zacky said there was nothing there, that we were the only ones in the room.

Did this mean that I was going insane?

“Nothing,” I said softly, my eyes meeting his. “Nothing happened in there. I was just wandering around, and I just ended up there. I don’t even know how I did.”

I saw Zacky staring at me, studying me to see if I was lying, reminding me of when I had first spoken to him on the train, telling him my name was Jerica.

“Okay,” he said, but I still wasn’t sure if he was buying it.

“Zacky, what was that room?” I asked.

I saw Zacky’s jaw tighten slightly, his eyes hardening for a moment. “Nothing,” he said looking down. “It’s just an old room in the house.”

I nodded, seeing that wasn’t the truth, but to wanting to push it. That just meant that I would have to go find that out on my own, through other means.

“Starr, I don’t want you going anywhere near that room, okay?” Zacky said, the seriousness of his voice catching me off guard a bit.

“W-why?” I asked, not understanding.

Did he know something I didn’t know? Well, obviously, yes, this was his house. But what was so wrong with that room? Why did I need to stay away from it?

Zacky just stared at me, as if contemplating telling me something. “Just don’t go near it,” he said. “Please.”

I saw how serious he was, so I nodded in agreement. I wouldn’t go near it.

Zacky nodded, looking down at the bed before getting up.

“Zack, wait!” I called out.

Zacky stopped, turning back to me. I thought of the spirit I had faced, thinking how terrified I had been, and how he had gotten me out of this room, following him to that other part of the house. I shivered lightly.

“Can…” I started, wondering if I would sound stupid for asking this. “Can you stay with me tonight?”

Zacky’s face softened. He slowly nodded yes, coming back over to me. I sighed a sight of relief, thankful I didn’t have to stay here alone after that. I scooted over in the bed, making room for Zacky, who pulled off his shirt.

With the faint light coming from the partially closed curtains, I could see the shape of his body, as well as the tattoos that covered his skin, making me bite my lower lip. He still read as perfection to me.

Zacky crawled in next to me, lying next to me on his side, staring at me, with me doing the same. He suddenly reached out, his arm hooking around my waist, pulling me against him. I was surprised by his action, causing me to squeak, which only made him smirk. I looked down at our bodies that were pressed against each other, trying to hide the blush that was on my face.

“Goodnight Starr,” Zacky whispered.

I moved down a little, hiding my face in Zacky’s neck, my arm sliding around his middle as well. “Night Zacky. And thanks for saying with me.”

That was the worst night’s sleep I ever had. Each time I fell asleep, I was suddenly jolted awake again by another terrifying nightmare. It seemed like I couldn’t keep my eyes closed for more than ten minutes before the spirits of the underworld came to me.

And I saw the spirit from earlier. I saw the one that had led me to that room. I saw him just as clearly as I had, and he wore that same long gaze as he had then. I wondered who he was. He seemed to be very comfortable in that room, like he belonged there.

I lay on my back, keeping my eyes shut, wanting nothing more than to sleep, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t fall asleep. I felt Zacky beside me, his arms securely around me, his head resting on my chest, his face hidden in my neck, as his upper half rested on top of me.

If I weren’t so tired, and my head filled with so many unanswered questions, I would have been ecstatic. But at this point, all I could do was let out a content sigh, resting my head next to his, feeling his soft hair brushing against the side of my face, wrapping my arms around him in return.

This actually brought me some comfort as I finally felt sleep overtaking me.

“So, do you think they did it?” I heard a voice whisper.

“How the hell am I supposed to know?” Another one whispered back. “I’m not the one that can read people’s minds!”

“Well her mind is blank, stupid!” the first voice shot back. “She’s asleep!”

Yep, that was definitely Brian and Johnny.

“Well, it looks like they might have done it,” Brian murmured.

I opened my eyes to look at them, and the moment they saw that I was awake, they both grinned.

“Hey there Starry,” Johnny said with a smile.

“So, have fun last night?” Brian added.

“Brian, Johnny, why are you watching me sleep?” I asked.

The two guys looked at each other before returning their eyes to me, before starting to talk at the same time.

“Well, you see—”

“It’s all like this—”

“Brian, Johnny, you do realize that nothing happened between me and Zacky last night, right?” I asked.

The guys nodded, with smiles that could be found on a kid who was being confronted about eating cookies before dinner.

“Oh, yeah, uh, we knew that,” Brian laughed nervously. “We knew that, Starr.”

Johnny just nodded his head quickly in agreement. I just gave them a smile that read ‘get out’. They quickly got the message.

“Uhm, we just wanted to come let you know that you need to get up soon,” Johnny said. “So we’ll see you later.”

“Yeah,” I said.

They both gave me small waves before practically running out of the room. I sighed, closing my eyes again, returning to the position I was in before I was interrupted.

“Those two just don’t know when to quit,” Zacky said, a smile in his voice.

I sighed. “You would think they’d have something better to do with their time than to stand there watching me.”

Zacky chuckled, his lips brushing against my sweet spot, making my bite my lip. “Poor, Starr… she just doesn’t get a break…”

“I know, poor me,” I agreed.

I felt Zacky moving around a bit, and then he was no longer touching me. I opened my eyes to see that he was already up, reaching for his shirt. I sat up, looking at him in confusion, wondering if I had said something wrong. He noticed, flashing me a small smile.

“The guys are right,” he said, slipping the shirt over his head. “You do need to get up, Starr.”

I crunched my eyebrows together, still confused. “Why?”

“You’ve got a busy day ahead of you,” Zacky said.

I agreed to get up, taking a quick shower before meeting Zacky in the kitchen for breakfast. I was in the midst of eating a spoonful of Cinnamon Toast Crunch when Johnny walked in.

“Hey Johnny,” I smiled.

“Hey Starr, Zacky,” he said.

Zacky just gave him a nod, acknowledging him, taking another sip of his blood.

“So uh, Starr, you about done here?” Johnny asked, looking very impatient.

“Uhm…” I glanced at Zacky who just shrugged. “I guess?”

“Okay, come on.”

Johnny grabbed my arm, helping me up from the stool I was sitting on, starting to escort me out of the room. I said a quick goodbye to Zacky before I was led away, back towards my room. Johnny moved at a very fast pace, making me worry that my arm would have been pulled out of the socket since I could barely keep up with him.

“Johnny, what’s going on?” I asked as we stopped outside of my door. “You seem so anxious for something.”

Johnny stopped, turning to face me, holding onto both of my arms. “Uhm… Starr, there’s some people that you need to meet.”

I shrugged like it was no big deal. “Okay, Johnny. But that’s no reason for you to look like someone’s gonna die.”

I saw the terrified look still on Johnny’s face, making my smile falter lightly.

“Uhm, Johnny,” I glanced over my shoulder at my door behind me. “What exactly is in my room, waiting for me?”

Johnny licked his lips. “Nothing.” He said it like he was still hiding something from me. “Just some people you need to meet.”

I raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Okay,” Johnny opened the door, pushing me inside.

One look into my room, I suddenly felt all the terror from Johnny enter me. There, I saw four girls that looked completely bad-ass. The moment I entered, their eyes locked onto me, standing from where they were spread out, coming together before me in the most intimidating way possible.

“Uh, girls, this is Starr,” Johnny said, a bit nervously. “I’ll let you all get… acquainted then, and leave you to it. “He pushed me forward a little more before practically running out the door.

“Play nicely now!” He called before the door slammed shut.

I as about to open my mouth to stop Johnny, to beg him to not leave me alone in this room, but he was gone before I could. I turned my head back to the girls that stood before me seeing that they were staring at me like they were ready to rip me apart.

I felt like a gazelle that was surrounded by a bunch of hungry lionesses.

I never get a break, do I?