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Nightmares

By lyra

A dark figure sped down the narrow alley jumping over the debris and rubbish littering the floor and the decaying shapes seeking refuge under pieces of cardboard trying to escape the chill of the night. The blurring figure that passed them was nothing more than another hallucination caused by hunger, cold and alcohol to them. But to the fleeing man they were fuel for his already terrifying thoughts.

'Run.'

The order flashed through his mind like a lightening bolt, leaving nothing but a raw need to obey. To be anywhere else.

'Escape.'

It was disturbing how much power these impulses had over him.

'Hunt.'

The new thought stopped him in his tracks. He squeezed his eyes shut, struggling to keep the memories at bay.

The nightmares had plagued his nights ever since they'd escaped. At first mild and controllable, they had become as of late riots in his mind trying to rob him of his sanity. He used to wake up drenched in sweat, breathing hard and with his heart beating so fast he feared it would explode. The panic was so overpowering that his night vision failed to kick in and the darkness surrounding him only added to his terror.

So he'd started running through the night to escape them. But never had they affected him when he was awake.

And suddenly Ben feared it might be too late to be saved.

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TWO YEARS LATER...

Seattle, 2020

Max had been waiting in the church almost a whole day now, and still nothing. But she knew he'd come back, she would wait for as long as she had to. The cloth with the bloody teeth had been an unsettling sight. After all these years of seeing it in her dream-filled nights it was still something she'd rather forget.

For years she'd been reliving in her nightmares her most horrifying experiences at Manticore, and some more recent but few things could be worse than that hell. It had been scary at first. She was used to the feeling of fear that accompanied them. It had been present in her mind all her life. But around a year after the escape her nightmares had taken a turn for the worst.

Everything had a rather psychotic edge. The colors had become brighter and the shadows darker. The sounds were high-pitched and everything seemed worse than it had really been, which was saying something. It had made her really thankful that she needed so little sleep, and some part of her consciousness had always been a little bit worried she might be losing her mind.

'It's a good thing I found people to help me.'

At first she'd been reluctant to trust new people, Logan and his friends Bling and Doctor Carr. But after a few encounters with Carr she decided she could trust him enough to ask about her nightmares. After a little research on his part they'd come to the conclusion that they were caused by the Tryptophan she took for her seizures. Apparently it could cause you to have more dreams, especially of the scary kind, like night terrors and the like.

Knowing what caused the nightmares had helped her to control her reaction to them. The fact that she wasn't going mad gave her the distance she needed to put between herself and the emotions the nightmares evoked in her. Not that the real memories weren't enough to torture her. But she could deal with those, in her own way. Which meant pushing them to the back of her mind while she was awake and giving them to her nightmares to reign over. And that they did.

One of her worst memories was the exact one Ben seemed to be stuck in.

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Ben entered the church holding the offering in his hand. His gaze locked on the figure of the Blue Lady, he didn't see anything else.

'Please, let it be enough.'

He walked slowly up to the altar of the woman who had dictated his actions the last two years with a mixture of feelings fighting each other for dominance. He despised and adored the Blue Lady in equal parts. She'd been his only companion through the lonely years after the escape, his refuge against despair and terror, and his only real connection with the siblings he'd left behind. At least he needed to think so.

Then she'd started to haunt his nights and he'd found himself torn between idolizing her by day and fearing her by night.

But now he'd been reduced to obey her and plead with her to free him. To let him be free. Of her.

Ben stopped before the image of the Virgin Mary and put the cloth on the pedestal. He raised his eyes to the face of his angel. His own personal demon.

'Beware.'

Her voice rang through his mind. Ben turned around in a swirl of movement and came face to face with a dark haired beauty looking at him as if she'd seen a ghost.

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Max had seen the young man enter the church and fix his eyes on the Virgin. There was something in the way he moved, the way his attention was focused on the holy image that made her heart skip a beat. 'Ben.'

She moved silently, stalking him. Not that it made any difference, Ben didn't notice anything in his state. Not once did he look around, checking the room for enemies and escape routes the way they'd been taught, nor did he seem to notice any other people in the room when he passed by them.

Luckily, there were only a handful of people left in the church, and by the time she reached him they were already gone. They were alone.

The moment she got within arms reaching distance of him she saw his whole body tense, his inbred animal instincts alerting him of her presence and an instant later he was facing her, studying her.

She'd been readying herself for this moment, reminding herself every few seconds that he was killing people. He was not her beloved brother, the sweet child she grew up with. She was here to stop him.

But the moment he turned around and their eyes met she only saw 'her' Ben. And the joy in his eyes when he recognized her almost brought tears to her eyes. "Ben."

"Max."

The sound of his voice, so unlike Ben's sweet childish voice, but that of a man's, broke the spell and everything came rushing back.

"Ben, why are you doing this?"

It hurt her to see the light die in his eyes.

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Ben had been ecstatic. It was Max. His baby sister had found him and he could feel some of the darkness surrounding his soul fading. But her question shattered any dream of salvation he'd harbored. The walls went up so fast it made him dizzy and he could already hear Her.

'Run, Ben, she'll hunt you down.'

"You know why." It was an accusation leaving his lips. 'You were there, Max. You know why.'

'NOW.'

Ben blurred out of the church and disappeared in the street. He'd heard her run after him. He knew he had to leave. The church, the state. Her. He looked around searching for an escape route but something caught his eye.

He ran towards the building as if his life depended on it. He needed peace and there was only one place to find it. The High Place.

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The moment she stepped out of the church her eyes fell on his destination. She knew where he'd be headed. The Space Needle.

TBC

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