The apartment was too quiet, which was something that I was never used to. The only sounds that were made was Ringo purring, and even that wasn't too loud. The atmosphere in the room was so cold and tense, it felt like a layer of ice was over everything. It was rather unnerving, and I just wanted things to go back to normal.

Matt was sitting next to me on the couch. He didn't even try to hide his worried and slightly terrified look on his face. If I'm honest, I don't blame him. Tom was sitting next to Matt, his face in his hands. He seemed frustrated and upset.

I attempted to break the silence. "Tom, Matt, I'm-"

"How long?"

The room, by some miracle, seemed to get even more quiet then it was. I immediately shut up. "Tom, what do you mean?"

He glanced up at me, anger etched onto his expression. "How long has this been going on? When have you been meaning to tell us?" He paused, his voice cracking as if he were going to cry. "What were you thinking?" He looked down at his hands again.

I felt regret building up in me. I tried to say something, but my brain seemed like it couldn't connect to my mouth. "I-I…" Why was it so difficult to talk now? "I don't know."

He stood up and stared at me. "You know what? Just…forget it." He left the apartment, almost slamming the door behind him. I didn't know how, but the room got even colder after that. My feeling of regret only got worse, and I felt like I was going to cry.

Matt stared at the door, appearing just about as shocked as I was. We both sat in silence once more, letting the awkward feeling settle. I tried to get rid of the tension, but that only made it worse. "Matt, I'm sorry. I just didn't want to bother you and Tom, and-" Why was my voice cracking so much?

Matt tilted my chin up so that we were keeping eye contact. I expected to see him upset, but he appeared to be the opposite. In fact, there was a small, but kind smile on his face. "Edd, relax. Yes, you did a foolish thing. But, that doesn't mean that we'll hang it over your head forever." He paused. "So, now that everything is out in the open, why don't you explain what's going on?"

My throat felt like it was getting even tighter, making even more difficult to breathe. "N-no Matt, I shouldn't. This is all my problem, so you shouldn't have to…" My vision began to blur, so I stopped talking, knowing what was going to happen next.

Matt sighed. "Edd, listen. I may not be the smartest person, but I know when someone needs to let things off there chest. Now spill it, because I'm not leaving until you say something." He placed his hand on my shoulder. "You shouldn't think that your problems are some kind of burden."

And so, I cried. I let everything go, my words spilling out with no filter. I cried even after I felt like I couldn't breath. At some point, Matt had wrapped me up in an embrace, but I didn't try to push him away. All I could do was sit there, talk, and cry. At some point, Matt kind of joined in with me on the crying.

When there were no more tears to let out, we sat there and let the silence sink in. For a long time, there were no words spoken. Finally, Matt stood up. He turned to me, wiped a tear away, and walked up to the door. "I-I'll go get Tom. He should probably hear all of this." I nodded as he slopped out of the door. Okay Edd, get yourself under control, I thought to myself.

A few moments later, Tom came back in the apartment, Matt following behind him. Tom sat down on the couch, the anger from before almost gone. He turned to me and sighed. "Look, about what happened earlier…I'm sorry."

I sighed. "Don't apologize. You have every right to be angry." In all honesty, he did.

He nodded and leaned forward on the couch. "So? Spill it, I'm ready this time."

I told him everything that I had told Matt. Thankfully, I was much more calm this time. The whole time, Tom had an analytical, serious look in his eyes, like he was processing every last word that I said. Finally, when I finished, he sighed. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out. For a few seconds, he sat there. Finally, he spoke up.

"That was just…wow." He turned to me. "So, Tord is like some kind of dream phantom, huh?" He ran his fingers through his hair. "Don't answer that question, it was rhetorical." He paused. "And this has been going on for months?"

I sighed and shifted on the couch. "Yeah, it's…like that. It was horrifying seeing you guys dying over and over. I-it felt so real sometimes."

Matt sat down next to me, a small smile plaguing his lips. Tom placed his hand on my shoulder and gave a light shove. I accidentally bumped against Matt, but he didn't seem to notice or care. Suddenly, a serious expression appeared on Tom's face.

"Look, I still don't know wether I should be sorry for you or mad at you. You've been through hell with your whole sleep problem, and I get that. Still, you should've said something. Yes, we've had our own problems after everything that happened with…you know. But still, it was really stupid to keep all of this to yourself."

I nodded, the tears reappearing. "I know, but I think that it's a little late for that, don't you think?" I forced out a chuckle, trying to ease the mood in the room. But, like I expected, the attempt was met with silence. Okay, that was bad timing on my part. "Look, now that everything is out of the way, there is one problem. I've told you guys everything, but that won't make the nightmares go away."

Matt smiled. "I think we can find a way."

._._._.

It was another beautiful sunset tonight, the kind that made feel fuzzy and relaxed. I could sit there for hours and watch the day turn to night. It was rather relaxing, and it set me in the proper mood for the evening. This evening, that's what I found myself doing. I was sitting on the apartment building's roof, trying not to gaze directly into the sun.

Life has been crazy for the past couple of weeks. Tom, Matt, and I have been looking for ways to take care of my nightmares (night terrors in technical terms). There were several suggestions of how to take care of these, though not too many of them helped since they required someone to be with me. However, one stood out to me was a suggestion to try lucid dreaming. I knew that I'd have to try it eventually, but I could never quite get a handle on it. Oh well, I'm sure that it will come to me eventually.

I glanced up at the sky, surprised to see the stars appear so quickly. Checking my phone, I saw that it was now about 8:30 PM. "Wow, time really does fly fast," I muttered to myself in amusement. I had to get home, so I stood up, ready to head inside.

Suddenly, I heard something moving behind me. Every muscle that I had went stiff in a second. My body froze, refusing my commands to move. What was that thing that passed? Robbers? Muggers? My mind kept spinning with all of the possibilities, yet the rest of me refused to work with it. Just as I was able to get my feet to cooperate, the figure materialized right in front of me.

In that moment, I felt the world slow down. I tried to run, but my feet were anchored once more. The only thing I was able to was let out a couple of quiet whimpers. The figure stood in the shadows, their cruel smile standing out from the darkness. I felt my panic rise even more now.

Just as I could get myself to run, the figure lunged at me. Before I could react, they started to drag me towards the edge of the roof. I tried to fight back, but that didn't help anything. They tightened their grip on me, causing me to let out a yelp of pain. "Quit squirming if you know what's best for you," the figure hissed at me. Judging by the voice, I'd say that the person was definitely male.

They-he shoved me to the roof's edge, my body bending over the ledge. My panic reached its peak when I saw the cars so far down below me. The man let out an amused laugh. "Any last words?" they asked.

Suddenly, I was able to work my legs again. While they were distracted, I shoved the man away as hard as I could. I bolted, not even attempting to look back. However, I was satisfied to hear him let out a shocked grunt. I ran to the stair doors, my heart pounding in my chest. Yes, just a few steps closer, and I'd be home free!

Just as my fingers brushed the doorknobs, the man grabbed my ankles and pulled me down onto the ground. The wind was knocked right out of me, the fight in me leaving in one second. My eyes squeezed shut, hoping that he'd go away. He took this as an opportunity to pin me to the ground.

The man was yelling at me, but I wasn't able to pick out much of what he was saying. He was gripping my arms hard enough to breath. I opened my eyes a crack, even though that wouldn't help me any now. However, when I saw who my attacker was, everything clicked into place. Everything made sense now.

"You're…not…real," I managed to get out.

Every bit of amusement left the man-Tord's face. "What are you talking about?" He seemed panicked, like I had caught him doing something wrong (I technically did). "Edd, look at me, of course I'm real!"

I looked him right in the eyes, not letting anything else distract me. "You're not Tord. Tord is long gone." I shoved him off of me and stood up. For the first time in a while, my legs didn't wobble. I glared at him, my fists clenched. "Tord is dead, so you can't be real." I started to walk toward Tord, which caused him to back up. "Do me a favor and screw off. Better yet, don't ever come back here."

Tord's face was filled to the brim with fear. When he tried to talk again, I noticed that he was starting to fade away. It was like watching dandelion fuzz fly away in the wind. Then, in a few seconds, he was gone. The only thing left behind was pure silence.

Immediately, my tough guy demeanor melted away. I had read about doing this kind of stuff, and it seemed fairly easy to do. But time after time, I kept slipping up, and I didn't know what I was doing wrong. But after so many times of trying, I finally faced Tord! "I did it," I whispered to myself. A huge grin spread across my face. "I did it! I finally did it!"

A/N: Wow, it's been an eternity since I updated this. I am so sorry that this took such a long time to update. Problems such as mental health and starting high school took up my writing time. However, I did find just a little bit of time in the late evening to work on this.

If anyone seems out of character in this, I'm sorry. I wrote this when I was half asleep. This was supposed to be longer, but I decided that this was long enough. But anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, even though it was rather crappy. The next update will be at around Christmas as a present for you guys. At least, I hope it will be.

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Once again, thank you for reading this, and happy Halloween!

DisneyisaLifestyle, out!