This chapter is kinda short, but I have plans for the next part of it and I wanted to get this out to you as soon as I could because I'm on vacation and I don't have as much time to focus on writing. (I've been up since 2:30 in the morning don't judge me I only got three hours of sleep before my flight.) Anyway, I hope you like this little bit. I'll have the next part out as soon as I can!

Chapter Two

My eyes were glued to the TV screen. Danny and I had been watching the news when there was a sudden emergency announcement. It was still flashing on the screen, the scroll bar beneath the "Breaking News" headline seeming to fly by at a hundred miles an hour. "High security patient has escaped from mental institution; New Yorkers are recommended to stay indoors."

"It's Darren," I said, my voice shaking as badly as my hands. I set my mug of coffee aside before I spilled it; I couldn't tell if my hands were vibrating from fear or from too much caffeine. "Danny, it's Darren."

"It's not Darren," he said consolingly, coming up behind me and putting his hands on my shoulders. He applied a little pressure and started to massage the tension out of my body. "They said it was a high security patient. Darren's not dangerous enough to need high security."

I leaned back against the cushions, the remote clutched tightly in my hand. "Are you sure?"

Danny kissed the top of my head. "Yes, Andie, I'm sure. Change the channel. You shouldn't keep watching this; it won't make your nightmares any better."

He squeezed my shoulders again before he let go and turned to walk toward the window. He told me to change the channel, but I couldn't. My hands wouldn't let me. It was like I couldn't move. I was frozen, staring at the screen as the name of the patient popped up. Darren Lee.

I jumped off the couch, but it was as though I couldn't move my feet any further. "Danny, it's Darren!" I shrieked, pointing at the screen. A photo of the escaped patient appeared immediately after and my heart nearly gave out. "Oh, God!"

It was Darren, but it wasn't Darren. There was the reddish blonde hair, but it was longer in some spots than others. One of his eyes was missing, a long scratch that looked like it hadn't properly healed running across the empty socket and down over his mouth to his jaw. There was a smile on his face, razor-sharp teeth glinting in the photo's light. It was a monster. It was what I imagined Darren looked like on the inside, without his pretty boy charm disguising him on the surface.

"Relax, Andie," Danny said, still looking out the window. "We don't live where we used to anymore. We moved here after he was put away. There's no way he knows where we are. He can't get you, and he can't get me." He smiled at me before looking back to the window. "Why are there so many police cars outside?"

I turned toward him and dropped the remote to the floor. "Danny, get away from the window," I said quietly with an urgency I'd never before felt.

Danny laughed a little. "Andie, we're on the ninth floor. It's not like he can - "

Glass shattered. I think I screamed. Danny was shouting, and then he was gone, his body flung out the window and to the street below, nine floors down. And then there was Darren, standing inside the smashed window, his fingernails long and untrimmed and stained with red. He was hunched over like a feral animal ready to pounce. "Hello, Andie," he said, his voice much deeper than I remembered it being. "You look surprised. You should've known I'd be back for you."

I tried running, but he was so much quicker than me. One of his hands latched around my throat and he lifted me into the air, tilting his head to the side with a sadistic grin. "Where do you think you're going? I'm not finished with you yet."

I clawed at his hand, but he didn't budge. I could feel tears forming in the corners of my eyes. My lungs were about to explode from lack of air. "Darren, please," I choked out.

He laughed. It sounded robotic. "It's too late for begging, little girl. Continue to struggle and you're going to end up just like your little boy toy - dead and bleeding with a broken body in the middle of the sidewalk for everyone to see." He lowered me down until his one eye was all I could see. "Now scream."

oOoOo

I screamed and ended up falling off the couch, causing my hip and my elbow to smash against the floor. My knee hit the coffee table on the way down. "Shit," I said, rubbing my knee. I paused. "What just happened?"

I sat up off the floor and looked around. The apartment was dark, except for the TV playing The Big Bang Theory reruns. "Danny?" I called out softly.

Standing, I turned to the window. It was intact; there was no glass on the floor, and the curtains were partially shut. My legs were shaking as I went to go look out of it. Half of me was afraid of seeing Danny's crumpled body, but the other half didn't expect to see that at all. The latter half was correct; there was no sign that Darren had been in the apartment at all.

I laid a hand over my rapidly beating heart and took a deep breath. Just a nightmare, Andie, I told myself. Just another nightmare. Everything is fine.

What was I doing in the living room, though? Why wasn't I in bed? I glanced at the couch; there was a blanket lying on the floor like I'd kicked it off myself. Of course. Danny and I had come home from Merritt and Jack's, and he'd all but forced me to take a nap. I refused to go to the bed because I wanted to be near where he was, and so I fell asleep watching TV with him. Of course.

That didn't mean I couldn't go to bed now, though. I threw the blanket back on the couch and then made my way toward the bedroom, a little smile on my face. Danny had said he wanted to be woken up if I had another nightmare; that last one would definitely qualify. "Danny," I said in a whisper. There was no movement from the bed, though I could see his silhouette. "Danny? Wake up," I said a little louder.

There was still no response, which struck me as odd. He wasn't usually that heavy of a sleeper. I frowned and crossed over to the nightstand on his side of the bed and reached for the lamp, quickly flicking it on.

Blood. There was blood everywhere. Danny's blue eyes were wide open and staring at the ceiling, an empty expression on his face. His mouth was gaping open. There were cuts on either side of his lips like someone had made him into the Joker. His chest and abdomen had been ripped to shreds. I was two seconds from vomiting when I noticed the note sitting beside him. I was shaking so badly it was hard to pick it up. And there it was, everything I'd been fearing since Darren was put away.

I told you if he laid a finger on you, I'd kill him.

A scabby, scarred hand abruptly cut off my scream as I was yanked backward against someone's chest. Darren's lips were close enough to my ear that I could feel them brushing against me when he spoke. "You know I never lie, Andie."

oOoOo

"Andie!"

I clawed at the hands on my arms, screaming and crying and thrashing around to get free. "Let go of me, you murderer!" The hands held me tighter, trying to yank me into a seated position. "Don't touch me!"

"Andie, open your eyes."

I shook my head furiously, refusing to do so. I didn't want to see Danny's blood all over the sheets and his organs pulled straight out of his body. I couldn't look at his dead eyes for a second longer. "Don't touch me!" I shrieked, again thrashing my body to try and break my captor's hold. "You're a murderer! You killed him!"

I flipped over until I was on my side, successfully getting free of the hands on my arms. I pulled my knees up to my chest and threw my arms over my head, shielding myself from Darren's inevitable wrath. I'm not supposed to struggle; I knew it would only make things worse. But by that point I was too far gone. The tears were coming faster and harder than I'd ever experienced in my life. "You killed him," I said. My voice was much weaker than it'd been before. My resolve was gone; I was going to be murdered next. "Danny..." The sound closely resembled a wail.

Everything was quiet for a few moments. My racing heart beat was slowing down. It took much less time than I expected for me to realize that I had woken up.

I opened my eyes. Danny was on his hands and knees, hovering over me with the most concern I'd ever seen on his face before. It was a couple seconds before he noticed I was staring back at him. When he did, he spoke. "Are you okay?"

I opened my mouth and exhaled heavily, and then I burst into tears once more.

Danny sat back and slid his arms underneath me, gently lifting me into a seated position. Once there, he pulled me against his chest and held me tightly. "This was the worst one yet," he said quietly, tangling a hand in my hair. "You've never reacted like this before."

"I had to watch you die," I said, trying to choke back my sobs. I hated myself for being so weak. I wasn't supposed to cry. I was Andie White, for Christ's sake; I was a badass bitch, and I need to start behaving like one. It was a little hard to keep up that persona when I was constantly hiccupping and snotting all over Danny's shirt. "I had to watch you die. Twice."

"Darren?" I nodded. "It wasn't real, Andie."

I pulled away from him, sitting back against the pillows and laying my forehead on my bent knees. "I know it wasn't. But it felt so real."

Danny shook his head a little. "You can't keep doing this to yourself. You're not getting any sleep, and that's not good for your body, Andie."

"I can't help it, Danny," I all but snapped at him. "God, I'm so sorry I like you enough to be worried about whether a psycho is going to break out of an institution and come murder you." I hastily tried to wipe the constant stream of tears away. They kept coming. "Dammit..."

Danny was silent for a little while. I could feel him staring at me. We'd been sitting in silence for about ten minutes before he finally decided to speak. "I'm calling Dylan," he said, standing.

I was off the bed in less than a second, darting toward where he was on the other side of the room. I snatched the phone out of his hand and held it behind my back, my eyes wide with slight panic. "No!" I burst out. "Danny, you can't tell him. He's too busy right now. It wouldn't even matter anyway. The nightmares aren't going to stop."

"Andie, he needs to know."

I shook my head and backed away from his outstretched, expectant hand. "No, please. I'll figure out how to make the nightmares stop. I promise."

Danny stared at me, his gaze hard. He paused. "Fine. Fine. But the second you wake up screaming and crying from another nightmare, I'm calling Dylan. And you're not stopping me."

I threw Danny's phone onto the mattress and jumped on him, wrapping my arms around his neck and holding him tightly. "Thank you so much," I said, leaning into him. He caught me around the waist and squeezed me gently, his silent sign that he was there for me. I'd been on the receiving end of it more times than I could count, and I appreciated it every time. "You won't regret this. Just watch; I'll be good as new in no time."