I. Nightmares
Silence and darkness. Darkness and silence.
Everything seemed blurred together, unraveling at the seams till it was just a jumbled mess before his eyes.
He liked the silence. It was better when it was quiet because when it wasn't the others came to visit. Pulling at his hair and clothes as he stared blankly at the wall, whispering his name with honeyed voices.
"Jaycee…"
"Jaycee…"
"JAyCee…"
"cOMe to uS. JaYcEE."
"WE lOve yOU JaYcEE."
Screams and pain ripping across his mind. Tearing tearing and then howling in his ears as the voices got louder until he cried out for them to stop and they let him be… for a time at least.
It was cold.
sOcoLd So ColD.
His body was shaking, trembling, dying slowly from his pain. The floor wasn't solid beneath him anymore, always moving, always speaking, whispering, hissing.
"JAyCee…"
He didn't scream anymore. He didn't speak he didn't blink he didn't dream. He was broken.
bRoKen.
But they didn't leave no matter how broken he was. They just kept repeating on and on in his head. On and on and on and on and on and on and on and on…
"Jaycee."
A hand on his shoulder and its strange, the feeling. It's… what's that word?
Cold…
Someone pulling him close "It's alright Jaycee. It's warm now you see? I'll make sure you're warm."
Warm. That was the word he was looking for. It had been so long so long since he'd been warm. They were always there, always cold.
"Sh… It's alright Jaycee. They're not there anymore."
Had he been speaking aloud? He couldn't remember. Did he even know how to speak anymore? It had been so long…
"Come on. Let's get you out of here."
Can't move. The shadows holding on tight. Holding on and whispering his name. Again and again and again.
"Well I'll talk louder then, alright?" a breath "Jaycee! Jaaaaayyyyccceeeee!"
He can move again. Clutching onto this bright person he takes a step into the light.
"…Jaycee? Jaaaaaayyyccceeee!" there's an insistent poking at his cheek and the boy cracked open one blue-gray eye, grumbling low in his throat at having been disturbed.
A laugh "Oh come on now you can't fall asleep in class all the time!"
Jaycee yawned and stretched in his chair, getting stiff muscles moving again and popping joints back into place "Ugh. So tired…"
The girl laughed softly, her long blonde hair bouncing with the action "What were you dreaming about?"
The boy flicked dark pink hair out of his eyes, glancing up into the girl's violet gaze "Nothing, Hime-chan." he got to his feet and started walking "Come on we're gonna be late right?"
For his lack of an answer he was promptly hunted down by his friend and thoroughly questioned. He didn't answer, about the past or the way she seemed to shine brighter than anything else.
Thank you, Aaralyn.