Summary: Who knew that even the worst of all nightmares could end as a sweet dream? Matthew had been getting a lot of nightmares lately. But in those nightmares, someone stepped out of the shadows and will eventually give Matthew something that he had deserved in reality since a long time ago.

I felt like I was floating. I felt as if the breeze was trying to blow me away from where I sat. I looked around, severely confused. I didn't remember how I got here. I didn't even know where here was. I was sitting on a building's ledge, with my feet swinging back and forth over the edge. Usually, I would begin to freak out in this position, fearing the possibility of falling, but for some reason, I felt calm and relaxed. I looked down and almost fell off the roof because of the shock and fear that had collided within me. I was over a hundred meters above from the ground floor. I felt like I was sitting on top of the Empire State Building.

My breathing increased and I bit my inner cheek. Calm down, calm down, Mattie, if you continue to shake, you're gonna fall and you're never gonna eat pancakes again…How about, instead of looking down, look forward, eh? Yeah, that's a good plan…I pulled my gaze from the ground to the view presented before me. I gasped softly and my opened mouth turned slightly upwards. The view was beautiful.

The sky was dark, almost as if it were turning black. If it weren't for the lights that flashed from the other buildings around me, the whole city might've been engulfed in the unforgiving darkness of the night. The lights brightened up the whole city and I wondered if it was possible to go blind from just looking at this huge amount of lights with varying colors, mostly white or yellow. The noises from the bustling crowds beneath me were faint and I felt at peace because I had never gotten this much quiet time.

Usually, I would be surrounded by the bustling crowds of the city district. Business men and women talking to their clients through their phones, groups of friends chatting away as they walked to their destinations, the blaring of horns by impatient drivers who had the misfortune of driving themselves into an unmoving traffic, it was chaotic and the noises would constantly give me headaches that would last for the whole day.

I sighed at the peacefulness with a smile on my face. Although there was still the distant noise echoing in my ears, it was quiet enough for me to relax. I felt the cool breeze brush past me. It was cold, but luckily, I was wearing a fairly thick hoodie and a t-shirt with baggy pants to keep me warm. I wished I could stay here forever. I don't care if I lose my soft bed and delicious thrice-a-day meals; I just want to feel at peace!

Before I knew it, my peace was interrupted by the sounds of soft footsteps. I turned my head and saw someone wearing a black hood over their head which almost covered all of their features. In the light, all I could see was the man's deathly pale skin. His head turned a bit to face my and he gave me a small grin. "It's pretty awesome here, isn't it?"

I smiled at him and nodded. He must have been one of the residents of this building, if ever this was an apartment or a hotel. If not then maybe he was here to relax as well. Matthew opened his mouth to reply. There was no harm in speaking to someone, right? "Yeah…I would pay millions just to stay somewhere this peaceful for the rest of my life."

The man sat beside me. I began to feel uncomfortable. He sat a bit too close to me. I scooted away and luckily he didn't move from his spot. "You do realize that staying in a dream for the rest of your entire life will kill you, right?"

I thought he was kidding. Maybe it was because the scenery felt like it could only be seen in dreams. I laughed because I lacked a response to give him. We stayed silent for a few more minutes before he spoke up. "But silence was never really my thing…"

"Hmm…then you're in the wrong place. Guys who prefer noise should be down there, right?" I told him. The man shrugged. "I just thought you might want some noise, that's all. When you get used to it, noise is pretty awesome. Try appreciating it sometime."

My smile faltered into a weaker one. "I'm already used to noise and I still don't appreciate it, so I'm gonna have to decline, thanks."

The man crossed his arms. "Then maybe you should try getting used to some other kind of noise." He suggested. I looked at him quizzically before he brought ups hand up. He snapped his fingers and the sound echoed from everywhere. In the back of my mind, I thought I could hear the distant chanting of voices. As the seconds passed, my eyes began to widen as soon as the voices were audible enough to understand.

What kind of loser wants to be alone all the time?

A freak

He's worthless

Waste of space

His family would've been better without him

It must suck balls to have someone like him in your life

He's probably an attention whore inside

He doesn't want friends? He doesn't deserve them!

I clutched my head at the voices that began to swirl in my mind. Where was all this coming from? It suddenly became hard to breath. As my grip on my head tightened as the voices grew louder, I glanced at the hoser beside me. He was smirking? Was he behind this? How was he doing this? Oh my god, my chest was tightening as if something was crushing me. Where had the silence gone? I slapped my hands over my ears, hoping to block away the sounds, but alas, they just grew louder. In between the voices that I've never heard of, I could hear familiar voices. They were the voices of those who were beloved to me. I felt the tears form in my eyes. With every word I heard from their voices spat, I felt each letter pierce my heart like a thousand needles.

We might have been better people without you, Matthew.

Mon Dieu, how pitiful of you, Mathieu, we don't deserve to have you around.

Mom's, Dad's and my whole life would have been better if you weren't born into our family, Matthew.

They were the voices of our family friend, Arthur, my cousin, Francis and my very own brother, Alfred. I wobbled up and shook as the breeze tried to push me over the edge. My head throbbed, my heart ached, tears threatened to spill from my eyes. I told myself that those voices weren't real. It was just a case of paranoia. They loved me, they treated me as their little brother. I refused to believe this.

"T-This is wrong…These are lies…" I muttered. I looked over the edge and felt the heel of my foot tease the edge of the rooftop. The hooded man chuckled as he watched me with his hood covering almost all of his face now. However, I could tell that he was smirking at me. "But what if they're all true? What if they really said that? What if they really mean that?"

"They're not true!" I screamed as I shut my eyes. I could feel the tears dribbling down my cheeks. I felt panic explode within me as I stumbled and nearly fell off the roof and into the heart of the bustling city. "Who are you to tell me that they're true? What do you know anyway? Who the hell are you anyway?!"

I roughly wiped away the tears and I stepped off the building's edge. I opened my eyes that now had a blurred vision, but despite the blurriness, I saw that the man had left me. The voices had died down and I was left in peace once more. I sighed in relief and looked back at the view. I smiled to myself. That was a stupid outburst. I knew for sure that the people whom I considered my family would never think that way about me. I decided to step on the edge once again before someone pushed me off the edge. Before I could even figure out what the hell happened, a toned arm caught me before I could fall a level down.

Sweat began to slide down my head and I felt the adrenaline pump faster within my veins. Under my feet was nothing that could save me. Once those arms that had grabbed my body release me, I would be a dead man. One arm hugged my torso to the owner of these limbs' chest while his other hand was clamped on my chin. I felt the man's hot breath tickle my neck and heat crept up my neck.

"I can control you, Birdie. Remember that, because if I get mad, it might be the last thing you'll ever do, and that won't be awesome." His husky voice whispered with a hint of a teasing tone. My face grew hotter and I squirmed. He grip on my chest tightened and it was suddenly hard to breathe again. The feeling of someone crushing my body had returned and this time, I felt that it wasn't going to go away any time soon. I began to choke. My lungs needed air and my throat was clogging up. My eyes widened and I began to squirm because of instinct. I squirmed enough to make the man release me.

…which was still, in fact, a bad thing.

Maple.

I jumped out of whatever position I was in and as soon as the tightness in my chest had vanished, I took in gallons of air. Sweat coated my face and my mouth was dry. I could feel dried tears on my cheeks and my eyes had gone crusty. I looked around frantically. My breathing slowed down and my panic soon died as soon as I realized that I was in my bedroom. I placed a hand on my rapidly beating heart and sighed both in relief and happiness.

"Oh my god…what the heck…?" I mumbled. I looked at the clock and groaned. It was only one o' clock in the morning. I was still hours away from when I would usually wake up, but seeing as though I'm not getting anymore sleep tonight, I decided to go make a midnight snack and prepare for an unexpected movie marathon. I got up and climbed the ladder that had been positioned next to my bed. On the bunk bed above me, I could see my brother sprawled out on his bed, with his pillow in his arm and his blanket nearly falling off of the bed. I smiled and ghosted down to the dark living room.

That was one weird nightmare, I thought to myself. My mind drifted back to the arms that had delayed my death in the dream. My face began to heat up. That was embarrassing. I then remembered how his hot breath tickled the skin on my neck. It all felt so real. I felt the breeze that had passed him. I felt the presence of the man behind me. I felt those arms grip me as if it were trying to save me from falling. I felt his breath on my skin. Lastly, I was definitely sure that someone had definitely whispered in my ear. I wonder if it was Alfred. I scoffed at the thought. As if he was the type of guy who would wake up early in the morning for a minor reason. But at the thought of those vivid events, I felt my face heat up.

I hung my head in shame as I walked to the kitchen to find something in the fridge. As I looked down, I groaned and my face heated up even more. It looks like the heat in my face isn't the only thing that's going up this morning. The marathon could wait. I needed a cold shower.

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