Summary: Horatio had a hard time sleeping, he has very real a scary nightmares. Will he be forced to tell his friends about his childhood to get rid of his dreams?
AN: I watched "The Amityville Horror", for the third time, when I decided to write this fic.
It's not a happy fic.
Chapter one: Are you afraid of the dark, son?
Dean Caine didn't liked to be disturbed when he read the morning newspaper.
But with two little kids in the house, that could be difficult.
His oldest son, Horatio, only eight years old, sometimes glanced at his father. Trying to see in his eyes if he was mad. The little boy was short and quiet. He'd learned early not to talk without permission.
Beside Horatio sat Raymond, only four, he didn't know what it was like when dad got mad at you, because dad never got mad at Raymond. Raymond was his favorite son, his special boy.
Horatio's tiny hands tried to grasp his glass, but he dropped it.
Everything went dead quiet, even the buzzing sound from the refrigerator stopped.
Dean Caine gently placed his newspaper on the table.
He slapped his oldest son right in the face!
Horatio whimpered a little, his cheek stung.
Crying was a bad sign, that would only get his father more agitated.
"Don't you know now to disturb me when I'm reading, boy?!" His father yelled.
The little boy nodded.
"I'm sorry sir." He said.
Dean Caine stood up and grabbed his son by the neck collar, he dragged him up the stairs. The little boy could not keep up with his father's pace and stumbled on the steps. Hurting his knees.
"I'm going to teach you some manners" His father growled.
Dean tosses his son into his room, and closed the door.
He slapped his son across the face, and heard him whimper.
"Don't cry! What are you? A rat?" Dean said and took off his belt. "You have to learn to be strong!" He yelled and slapped his son with his belt, the belt his Horatio across his back.
He cried now. Begged his father to stop.
"Don't tell me what to do!" His father yelled and hit him once more.
Dean suddenly stopped, he opened his closet door. He remembered very well that his soon hated closets.
He'd leave his son there for hours, and he always screamed.
Dean grabbed his son by the collar and walked towards the closet.
"Are you afraid of the dark, son?" He asked, "Too bad, since you're going to have to spend a lot of time in here." He said and tossed his son inside the closet.
"NO!!" Horatio screamed as his father closed the door, then he heard him drag something heavy and place it in front of the door.
"Please sir, let me out!" He screamed.
There was no answer. Horatio was sweating now, his back hurt and he couldn't see anything.
"Please let me out, don't leave alone with them!" He begged, he didn't want to be alone in the darkness, then they would come for him.
It was dead quiet and he felt hand touching him.
"NO! Let me out! Let me out!!
-I-
Horatio sat up in his bed screaming "No!"
He was covered in sweat, even his sheets were wet.
This was the third day he had had a nightmare. He looked towards his closet, and felt a shiver run down his spine.
"They" were only imaginary figures, but they still scared the hell out of him.
He hated his closet, even as a grown man, he was afraid.
He stepped out of bed and started pacing around in his room too calm down.
His clock read 4.45 a.m. He sighed, he had fallen asleep around 2 a.m.
He went to his bathroom to take a shower.
He hated seeing himself in the mirror, and especially when he was naked.
He had scars on his back, many scars. Some were big, others ran across each other.
He showered quickly and got dressed, then he went to work. He hoped Alex wouldn't mention how dead he looked.
-I-
Horatio sat in the lab, he was waiting for some test results to be done.
He thought about his dream, why did he have them now? It wasn't the anniversary of his mother's death, nor Raymond's.
Maybe it was because it was Halloween?
But then again, he had never had nightmares on Halloween before.
"Earth to Horatio." Eric said, waving his hand in front of his boss.
Horatio snapped out of his thoughts.
"Yeah?" He asked.
"You okay?" Eric asked, his boss sure looked dead on his feet.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just went to La-la land for a minute." Horatio sighed.
"Okay. Well, found no fingerprints on our murder weapon, but we got the killer's blood on the tip of the knife, however there's no one to match it too." Eric said.
Horatio sighed, maybe it was the case that they were working on that caused his sleepless nights? A girl had come home and found both here parents dead, only to be raped and stabbed badly a few minutes after coming home. They had one suspect with a motive and no alibi, but with Delco's new evidence, they had two suspects.
"Delco calling H." Eric said, his boss had zoomed out again, "Hello? Please respond." He said.
Horatio snapped out of his thoughts… again.
"Huh? Sorry, I just…" Horatio said.
"Went on a little trip too La-la land again." Eric caught him off, smiling.
"Yeah, exactly." Horatio said, "Well, that means we got another suspect, so we better look through the families friend again."
"Sure, I'll get right to it." Eric said, leaving.
Horatio rubbed his tired eyes, if Alex saw him like this, she'd kill him, probably Calliegh too.
He looked at his watch, only eleven. It was going to be a long day.
-I-
Horatio flushed his toilet, he had just threw up everything he had eaten in the last couple of days.
He banged his head against the bathroom wall, why? Why? Why?
He couldn't figure out why his dreams were affecting him so much, he couldn't even eat anymore.
Every time he ate it was as if he saw maggots crawling around in his food, and it felt like he was choking and then, and then he threw up.
He started pacing around in his living room, he didn't want to go back to sleep.
Instead he sat down in his couch and turned the TV on.
-I-
Blood shoot eyes met angry blue eyes.
"Are you done ruining my day?" Dean asked his scared son.
Horatio nodded.
Dean helped his son get out of the closet.
The scared child was told too fresh up and then help his mother with the groceries.
He splashed some water in his face and saw his little brother on the floor outside the bathroom.
Ray looked at Horatio, his eyes told him that he knew what their father did.
His eyes also begged Horatio not to do something wrong again.
The scared child sighed, how was he ever going to stop agitate his father? He was so scared that he made mistakes, simply by being to careful.
"Hey, you dumb ass I told you help your mom, how long can it take too just fresh up?!" His father yelled from the bottom floor.
"Coming sir." The boy answered.
Quickly running down the stairs to help his mother, he almost ran into his father.
"Watch it!" His father growled.
Horatio waited for the slap to come, but it didn't come this time.
His mother greeted him with a smiled, and eyes saying that she knew, but chose not to see.
Her eyes told him that she faked her smile, for him, trying to make him and his little brother happy. But why? What good did it do? His father would still take his anger out on him.
He hugged his mother, and she hugged him back, she held him for a long time, too try and comfort him.
Horatio stepped away, his back hurt, and he didn't want his mother to hold too tight.
He gave her a smile, a fake smile of course.
Everything went smoothly as they unpacked the groceries.
Afterwards the little boy didn't know what to do, he could play with his little brother, but if they were too loud, their father could get very angry, very angry indeed.
Instead he sat down at the kitchen table, and petted his cat. His cat, Tom.
Tom was black, and didn't move around much.
Maybe he too had learned not to make too much noise.
Dean walked into the kitchen, growling.
He took a glass of water and then looked at his son petting the cat.
"What have I told you about letting the cat be on the table?" Dean asked.
Horatio stiffened instantly.
"That it's not okay, sir." He said.
His father walked towards him and grabbed his arm.
"Then why is the damn cat on the table?" He growled.
Horatio felt tears burning in his eyes.
"Sorry." He quickly said, hoping his father would calm down.
His mother walked into the kitchen.
"Dean, you're hurting him." She said.
Dean let go of his son's arm.
"So maybe you want me to blame you for his mistakes? How will he learn if you take the blame for everything?" Dean growled and grabbed both his wife's arms.
"Dean, stop, its hurts." She said, though she knew nothing would stop her husband now.
Dean let her go and turned around and slapped his son, again and again.
"When are you going to learn too keep that goddamn cat away form the table?!" He yelled, hitting his son in the head with his hands.
Horatio crouched down and heard his mother beg his father to stop.
Dean turned around and slapped his wife in the face.
"Do not interrupt me when I'm teaching our son some discipline!" Dean growled and hit his wife in the face with his fist.
Horatio was still crouched down on the floor, he heard his mother's whimpers and his father yelling.
"Please stop!" He yelled to his father.
His father turned around and pointed a finger at his son, "Okay, you'll rather be the one to stand up for your mother's mistakes?!" Dean asked, growling.
The little boy with now bloodshot eyes didn't answer, but he knew his father took his silence as a yes as he moved towards him.
-I-
Horatio was trashing around in his couch, "Please stop!" He begged.
"No! Don't hurt me!"
Horatio screamed as he fell out of his couch.
He panted as he ran his hands down his body, no injuries, at least not physical.
"I'm safe, I'm safe" He kept repeating to himself.
His pulse was racing and once again he was covered in sweat.
His sat on the floor and jumped as his phone rang.
"Horatio." He answered, still trying to calm down.
"Hey it's Frank, are you alright? Did you run to the phone?" Frank asked on the other end.
"Eh, Yeah." Horatio lied.
"I thought you had better physical condition than it sounds like." Frank joked.
"Yeah, well, I'm also tired." Horatio said, and regretted it as soon as it was out.
"Yeah, I've seen that, anything you want to share?" Frank asked.
"No, it's okay, I'm fine." Horatio lied again.
"Alright, well I got a DB in a warehouse, it's the same memo as the in that family murder, cut from ear to ear." Frank said, "Are you up for it?"
"Yeah, give me the address." Horatio said.
Frank gave him the address and Horatio said he'd met him there in about half an hour.
Horatio hung up and Frank hung up.
"Okay be cool Horatio, don't fall asleep in the car, and try to look somewhat alive." He told himself.
It was dark around him, the TV was on, but it was nothing but anti war.
He sighed, "Grow up H, there's nothing in the darkness that can kill you." he said to himself.
But he could swear that he heard evil laughter somewhere.
As he was about to leave his house, he heard his father's voice over and over again.
"Are you afraid of the dark, son?"
TBC…
AN: Poor H, I really do but him through a lot of misery in my stories don't I?
Anyway, Thank you Queen Sunstar!