~Dougie's POV~
It's been so long since I had a peaceful night sleep. Sleeping used to be awesome. Everybody loves sleep. But now, sleeping has become the worst thing in my life; I'm not even sure you could call it sleeping anymore.
I've tried many times to perk up enough courage to tell the guys, but then I remember how stupid I'd sound to them. How they'd laugh. How'd they'd tell me how childish I was being. And it kills me to think that I can't say anything to them.
Now every time I sleep I'm stuck in this frenzy of running and tripping, screaming and terror; and there's nothing I can do about it.
I always find myself screaming when I awake; just like in the nightmare. I'm sweating and my skin feels like it's been set on fire. I can hardly breath and my heartbeat is so fast and so loud that I can hear it pounding through my body into my ears.
After calming myself down, I usually just lay in bed staring at the ceiling. Or sit in the windowsill, meaninglessly staring out of the misty glass at the bright lights in the distance. Or pointlessly sitting on the edge of the bed with my head in my hands, sobbing silently because I can't tell anyone about it. Because that's all I can do.
So here I am again, in this hell hole...
~Narrative POV~
There's a man in a forest. He's running at a speed that he never thought was humanly possible. A man with long, matted blonde hair; full of mud where he had tripped and slammed into the ground. A man with sweat dripping from his forehead, trickling down his nose and splashing into the dry mud beneath his feet. A man with cuts all over his legs and his arms; blood flowing out of them and falling down his oily skin, from where the fingers of the trees had slashed his flesh wide open. A man being hunted down by the creatures of the night. A terrified man. A man called Dougie.
The monsters are coming from all directions. Dougie is trapped. They surround him in a large circle, and Dougie is stuck in the middle. This is when Dougie knows it is the end; he's finished! There's no getting out. Dougie falls to the ground on his knees and brings his head down to his chest. He covers his head with both arms and tucks it in tightly; his eyes slamming shut. Dougie lets out a scream that echoes through the forest, it bounces off the trees and ripples through the Earth...
"Dougie!" A voice hisses.
Dougie's eyes shoot open to find someone pinning him to the bed. His heart punches at the walls of his chest, as if trying to break free. The bed beneath him is soaked through with sweat and his skin is hot and sticky. His lungs don't seem to take in any oxygen as Dougie fills them repeatedly with air through his mouth, barely any gaps between his breaths.
"Are you alright mate?" The voice whispers through the cold night air.
As soon as Dougie's mind focuses from the surge of panic he finally realises who it is.
"T-Tom? W-What ha-happened?" Dougie stammers between breaths.
"Why don't you tell me? You were screaming like someone was murdering you!" Tom asks confused.
What on Earth is he supposed to tell Tom?
"I-I dunno.." He mumbles, looking off into the distance trying not to make eye contact with his friend.
Tom's eyebrows morph together questioningly. Dougie's eyes glance into Tom's nervously.
"Uhm... you can stop pushing me down now.." Dougie says, feeling quite uncomfortable with Tom's tight grip on his shoulders.
"Oh! Sorry mate.." Tom apologises, releasing Dougie from his grip.
Tom slides under the covers with his younger band mate and sits up with his back resting on the headboard. Dougie does the same.
"Bad dream, eh?" Tom says sympathetically.
"Y-yeah, I suppose.."
"What was it about?"
Dougie looks over at Tom for a moment; he doesn't exactly want to describe his nightmare to Tom, but by the look in Tom's eyes, he's not going to let it go. Dougie sighs and gives in.
"Well...I'm being chased in this forest, and they're coming from everywhere. I'm running really fast but they always catch up with me. Then when they do there's no getting out, 'cause they're surrounding me..." Dougie explains.
Tom stays silent for a few seconds.
"So what exactly are chasing you?" He asks.
"Uhm, I dunno..." Dougie says nervously, "It doesn't sound like much, but I don't really want to get into it in more detail. I don't want to bore you with my problems."
"Hey, I'm your best mate; your problems are my problems." Tom says.
Dougie smiles at Tom slightly, "Thanks mate."
"Don't mention it," Says Tom, "But wait, you said 'usually'. Does that mean this isn't the first time it's happened?"
"Yeah. To be honest, it's been ages since I had a peaceful night sleep. Actually, I can't even remember the last time I didn't have one.." Dougie explains.
"Why didn't you tell any of us?" Tom asks stunned.
"How could I? I thought none of you would care. I thought you'd just laugh at me."
"We would never do that, Doug."
"I know now that you wouldn't, but what about Danny and Harry? They're not exactly the most sensitive guys in the world." Dougie utters.
"No I guess not, but I'm sure they'd understand."
Dougie sighs and slides back down into the covers, laying on his side to face Tom. Tom lays beside him and tucks his hand under the pillow to support his head. The two guys stay in silence for a while as Tom closes his eyes to sleep. Dougie just lays there, looking at his friend sleep, too afraid to do the same and wishing he could sleep peacefully like that. Dougie doesn't know it, but Tom isn't sleeping. He's too worried about Dougie to sleep.
"Doug?" Tom says, breaking the silence.
Dougie is slightly stunned that Tom isn't sleeping, "Yeah, Tom?"
"Are you ok?"
Dougie looks Tom in the eyes. He has kind eyes. They're somehow comforting to look at. He bites his lip and timidly whispers a simple word as his eyes become glazed over.
"No."
Tom puts his arm around Dougie's back and pulls him in, then placing his other arm comfortingly around Dougie too. Dougie quietly weeps into Tom's shoulder as Tom hugs him tightly and soothingly strokes his back.
"You'll be fine, I'll be here if you need me." Tom whispers lovingly.
"Thank you," Dougie mumbles, sniffling.
The two bestfriends embrace each other's comfort and warmth, Dougie feels safe with Tom.
The nightmare's back again. It's the same every night. He's surrounded and they're closing in. Doug is crouched on the ground, petrified for his life. They're getting closer.
And closer.
And closer.
And closer.
"Dougie!" A voice bellows.
They push past the crowd, knocking each demon to the ground and they turn to dust.
"MOVE!" The person shouts, fighting the creatures off with his bare hands and feet.
They finally get to Dougie who is still kneeling on the floor.
"Doug!" They shout, throwing their arms around Dougie and cuddling him tightly.
"T-Tom?" Dougie stutters.
"It's ok, dude. You're safe now!" Tom says.
Dougie wakes from his sleep to find that it's already morning. Tom still has his arms wrapped around him and he's fast asleep. Dougie yawns and looks at Tom, remembering his nightmare and how Tom had been in it. He smiles and quietly giggles to himself
That was the best night sleep he'd had in ages.