Daniel's POV

I had been living with David, who apparently was my twin brother, for a couple days now. It was… weird. I wasn't really used to an actual "family" model. But, all in all it was fun. Dad could cook really well and David, as annoying as he was, was really nice. Aside from a few.. concerning situations, the entire ordeal was somewhat okay. I laid in my bed, staring at the ceiling. So much about my life had changed, I couldn't believe it.

It was evening now, and I stared at the ceiling as I waited to sleep. But of course, it wasn't that easy. Thoughts began to shift, and I began to regret the exhaustion that was overtaking me…

It was dark, that's all I knew. I couldn't see, and the only thing I could hear was my own heartbeat and ragged breathing. A door opened, the small room flooding with bright light as I squinted against the harshness of it.

"Have you learned your lesson now, Daniel?"

The voice hit like a bullet, immediately sending me into hyperventilation. She had found me, how had she found me? I panicked, trying to find a way out but all I was hitting were walls. Walls were everywhere, the room was getting smaller; I couldn't breathe and I was drowning.

Then everything shifted, the atmosphere was glowing. I was outside, in the grass and there were toys spread out. There was a red-haired mess of a child next to me, and behind me was a house. I could hear shouting from inside, and I looked at my hands. They were so small, still soft and gentle. The hands of an innocent child, and not someone who had grown up broken. The red-head turned to me, smiling. There was a sadness in his eyes, one which crushed my soul.

"Don't you want to keep playing, Danny?"

David's POV

I was sleeping peacefully, dreaming of trees when my dream suddenly turned black. It was as if I was plunged into a void. I heard a menacing voice that seemed to rattle me to the farthest reaches of my soul.

I woke up in a cold sweat with a sense of dread. Somehow, I knew it had to do with Daniel. I tumbled out of my bed, rushing to get to Daniel's room to make sure he was okay, only to realize it was locked. Dad kept a spare key to all of the rooms on his dresser. I ran to get it and get into Daniel's room. I heard noises of distress, small whimpers and tossing and turning.

I burst into the room to see Daniel tangled up in his sheets. I call softly for him to wake up. He mumbles back, "Sh-she's going to take me away, Davey… She's making me- making me leave. I don't want to go…"

"Davey?" I whisper to myself. All of a sudden, like a switch being flipped, memories start flooding my head. Memories of Daniel and him as small children. They were happy and inseparable when they were younger. They used to make candies in the snow, and they had a special little game with crumpling leaves. Anyone who saw them said they were the sweetest boys they had ever seen.

I nearly cried for all the memories we didn't get to make, but I could cry about that later. Right now, Daniel needed me to wake him from his nightmare. He was muttering something, mentioning mother now and then, in ways that solidified my suspicions of her abuse.

I refocused on waking Daniel up. I called his name a few times, the urgency quite apparent, and gently shook him. It didn't seem to do much good, so I called out my childhood name for him.

"Danny!"

Daniel's POV

Jolting awake, I tried to sit up but was met with the realization that I was thoroughly tangled in blankets and sheets.

"Wh-what's happening? David? The fuck?"

"You were having a nightmare. You… You called me Davey and begged me to make sure mom didn't take you away."

"... I don't know what you're talking about. Go back to bed."

"No. Danny, we're talking about this."

David pulled the corner of my blanket, effectively dropping me onto the floor as I stared at him with an insulted expression.

"Bitch what the fuck-"

"Stop it, just cut the shit. Don't give me that, because we're going to talk about this. You're clearly repressing things, and this needs to be resolved."

"No."

"Child, you did not just tell me no-"

"We're the same age!"

"Well you're acting like an immature brat, so I'm going to call you a child!"

"Fuck off and let me sleep."

"Not a chance." He actually seemed serious, because he walked over to my door and leaned against it.

"Fucking- Ugh, fine."

"How long have you had these nightmares?"

"So I have nightmares, everyone gets that shit."

"Yes, but not everyone has those kinds of nightmares."

"Just leave it be, David!"

"Again, no."

"I don't know when they started, it's uh- it's been a while I guess. And they aren't always the same."

"Have you had this one before?"

"This one in specific is pretty new, but just general trauma nightmares? I get those on the daily. Well, nightly?"

"Focus, Daniel." David sighed, and sat next to me on the floor. He looked weird, his face bare of the smile that I had actually come to grow accustomed to. "Do you know that we used to be close?"

"I'm pretty fucking sure, yeah."

"We… we had that all taken away from us."

He looked down again, and I could see it. The same crushing sadness in his eyes, and I hated this one just as much.

"We- we could get it back though, right? I mean, we're here, aren't we? Together? With dad?" I heard him chuckle slightly at my question, and I hoped that it was a good sign.

"Yeah, we could."

He stood and bent over my tangled form, expertly tugging at wads of blanket with a seemingly practiced ease; as if he had done this numerous times before.

"I'm sorry I pushed. And just… dad deals with nightmares too. And I've seen the kind of toll they take on him."

"... thank you."

"Well, I'm tired. You probably are too, we can talk more in the morning. Night, Danny."

"Night, Davey."