Senseless

“Andy, wake up! Andy!”
I was dreaming. I was standing at the edge of a building, a black cape fluttering in the wind behind me.
There was a black and yellow bat symbol patched over my chest.
I was Batman.
“Andy!” the voice continued to shout, desperate cries reaching my ears. “Andy, please!”
“Don’t worry, I’ll help you!” I promised.
There was a faint hint of smoke in the air, slowly getting thicker.
“For fuck’s sake, Andrew!” another voice called out. “Wake up, now!”
“What?” I mumbled, confused as I opened my eyes and let them adjust to my surroundings.
I wasn’t standing over a building, and I definitely wasn’t Batman.
“Damn it.” I muttered.
“What?” Ashley asked, with a bemused expression. His eyes were frazzled, but he seemed relatively calm.
Unlike Alexei, who kept peeking into the hallway and towards me.
“I was having this dream, where I was Batman and I could smell smoke. I was supposed to save people!”
Ashley smirked a little, pushing my hair back and kissing my forehead. “Were you really?”
“Yeah.” I nodded.
It was silent for a second, before I remembered.
“Wait.” I sat up. “You were attempting to wake me up, weren’t you? What was that about?”
“I don’t know.” Ash shrugged. “Alex was worried about Robert-or-whatever and he just really wanted to talk to you.”
“Oh.”
Getting up from the bed, I trudged towards Alex who had moved towards the windowsill.
There was a slight draft, considering it was open and I was stripped down to my boxers.
“Alex?” I murmured, sitting next to him. “What’s up? Why aren’t you asleep? It’s almost one in the morning.”
“I’m scared, Andy.” he replied, hanging his head. “I don’t know where Robertin could be, or if my siblings are okay.”
“Hey, it’s alright.” I mused, ruffling his feathery black hair. “There isn’t a need to worry, if you can’t do anything about it right now.”
“That’s the point, Andy!” he yelled. “We could be driving and getting closer, and instead we’re at a hotel!”
“How about you get some sleep?” I suggested, slightly taken aback by his demeanor. “It’ll calm you down.”
“I can’t sleep!”
He looked flustered, wringing strands of hair between his fingers.
“Alex, what’s wrong?” I asked, rubbing his back. “You seem a lot more anxious than normal.”
“I’ve been thinking…if you run into Robertin, you won’t know it’s him because you’ve never seen him!”
“Then tell me.” I decided, sensibly. “What does he look like?”
“He’s tall.” Alex started, staring out the window with a pensive expression. “Taller than you, even. He’s got light skin and green, green eyes. His hair is dark brown, which falls over his forehead.”
“Does he have a thin mustache?” Ashley interrupted.
“Yes…” Alex narrowed his eyes. “He’s also got a…tattoo on his left arm. It’s a shield, divided into three parts. There’s vines surrounding it, and a crown on top. Then, on the right there’s a lion and -”
“On the left, there’s a gazelle.” Ashley interrupted again. “There’s a banner underneath it too, right? I couldn’t make out what it said though, but it was a cool tattoo.”
“How do you know?”
“There was a man in the lobby with that tattoo.” Ashley informed him. “I took a few minutes to look at the structure.”
“What?!”
“It’s alright, it’s alright.” I promised, brushing Alex’s hair back. “If anything, I doubt he knows you’re here. Hell, he probably wouldn’t recognize you if he saw you.”
“I guess…”
“Come on now.” I took his hand. “Let’s get to bed, alright?”
“Alright.”

It didn’t take long, before I slipped back into that dream.
Once again, I could hear the fluttering of the expensive fabric behind me as I overlooked the city.
“Andy!” a voice yelled, seeming distraught.
Facing the distance in a cocky and bold way, I promised their safety and silently went in their direction.
Alright, maybe not silently. I might have been humming the Batman theme song under my breath.
Shut up.
As I became closer to the desperate pleas, the air become thicker with fumes of black smoke.
Almost as if I couldn’t breathe, I fought to keep moving.
Thwack!
“Oh, fucking hell!” I yelled, sitting up and clutching my head.
There was a ringing in my ears as a warm trickle started falling down the side of my forehead.
“You’re awake!” Alexei cried out happily, an alligator paperweight held in his small hands.
“What the fuck?” I mumbled, looking around the hotel room blearily.
Besides me, Ashley turned in his sleep before yawning and sitting up. He looked dazed, but his eyes widened when he saw me.
“What the hell happened?!” he demanded, pulling his shirt off and pressing the wadded black fabric against my head.
“Alex decided to give me a little wake-up call.” I forced out, feeling the dizzying effects of the hit.
“WHAT?” Ashley seethed, facing Lex. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing to my boyfriend?”
“He wouldn’t wake up!” Alex defended himself. “I didn’t want to hurt Andy, but he sleeps too much.”
Sheepishly, I nodded my head and agreed.
“I don’t give a fuck!” Ashley retorted. “I knew you were trouble from the start! I don’t get why -”
“Do you guys not smell the smoke?!” Alex demanded.
Ashley stopped yelling mid-sentence to lock eyes with me before taking a deep breath.
His eyebrows scrunched together and we realized Lex was right.
“Fuck.” I whispered.
There was a distinct smell burning wood in the air, but not in that “Oh, that’s nice, a campfire” way.
It was in that second that a shrill noise echoed through the building, as the fire alarms finally noticed.
“We need to get out of here.” Ashley realized.
“You think?” Alex hummed.
Shooting him a look, Ash jumped out of bed and grabbed the three bags we had brought with us.
We hadn’t really unpacked, so we were okay.
Looking around frantically, I pulled on my boots and leather jacket before practically bursting out the door.
I could hear Ash and Lex following me, so I didn’t wait.
Once I reached the second floor, the halls were alive with flames. They were licking the ceiling above them, causing burning embers to fall.
“Fuck.”
“Andy!” Ashley yelled out, placing a hand on his shoulder.
They were both fully dressed, Ashley somehow managing to pull an Amity Affliction shirt from his bag.
There wasn’t any way we could move forward.
The only set of stairs were on the other side of the flames, which seemed to dance in our panic.
There was a throbbing sensation in my head and the heat was becoming suffocating.
Almost as if there wasn’t any air to breathe.
The smoke was burning my eyes and I had lost track of Ashley and Alex. I couldn’t hear them.
Trying to listen for them, I heard screaming.
That’s when I remembered, we weren’t the only people in the hotel room. There were others.
Innocent lives that were burning away.
“H-help…” I coughed out, feeling myself fall to the ground.
There was a sharp pain as my hand landed on a shard of glass, the jagged each cutting deep into the palm of my hand.
The warm trickle of blood was numb in comparison to my head, and that throbbing was becoming next to nothing.
The close distance of the flames hurt. I couldn’t move.
“H-help.” I tried again.
All of a sudden, I could feel the pressure of small hands pulling on my waist. I was dragged in the opposite direction.
There wasn’t any escape over there.
I was going to die.
There was the slamming of the door as someone closed it. We were locked in a small room.
The smoke had lessened, and I could see well.
I still couldn’t breathe.
We were trapped, and I was going to die on the floor of the second floor with a stranger to my right.
To my surprise, I could breathe fresh air.
Looking up, I saw his silhouette opening the window.
“Let’s go!” Ashley’s voice called out, and hands picked me up. I was brought to the window and looked down.
I could see Alexei waiting on the grass, a frightened look on his face.
He seemed alright, so I nodded and jumped.