"Jerome, are you okay?" Alfie asks, with a voice and a face so concerned that it hurts.
"Of course I am." I can't tell him anything. Nothing good will come of it, and he's scared enough as it is.
He stares into my eyes.
"No, you're not."
"Yes, I am." How long will he keep this up?
"Stop telling me you're okay!" He put his arms around me, and I started to feel sick. "You have nightmares every night!"
"Stop it!" I yelled without meaning to and writhed -?- out of his grasp. My heart wanted him to hold me and my body wanted him to go away. I didn't know which was which anymore.
"Jerome!" He knelt next to me. Alfie never gives up. His hands tried to comfort me again. I was terrified. The tears started to come again.
"Tell me what's wrong!" He was crying now, too.
"Don't worry about me!"
"Tell me what's wrong!"
"Don't worry about me!" What was I saying anymore?
Alfie was gone, but his voice was still in my ears. It was dark, and it smelled of damp trees and the rainwater caught in the cracks in stones.
He was coming, and I didn't have any puzzle pieces. My head felt light.
"Jerome, where are you?"
"Don't follow me!"
"Help!" I don't know who was shouting that, but it brought me back to our room.
"Alfie!" I grabbed his shirt. "I need a puzzle piece! He'll come for you, too." My face was in his shoulder. "He'll come for Patricia, he'll come for-" I saw something move.
It was just Fabian, and Mick. They stared. I could feel my sides heaving, and my whole body shrinking.
"Go away." I said, and they did. But I knew someone would remind me of this again.