Chapter 4: Dreamcatcher
She opened her eyes but saw nothing. It was dark, so dark, and the air was moist and smelled like blood. Her back was aching, and she realized she was lying on something cold and hard. She tried to sit up, but her arms and legs were bound. She started panicking, her heart racing in her ears. She gasped for air, but her breath got stuck in her throat.
She felt like she was choking.
Then there was that sound. The sound of something crawling closer and closer to her. She twisted her neck, trying to see what it was, but it was like she had been blinded.
"Who's there?" she gasped, her voice sounding muffled like someone was holding a pillow on her face. Sweat was prickling down her forehead and neck. Or was it blood? Why did everything smell like blood?
The sound of crawling was nearing her. Then it was right beside her. She could feel the air around her getting colder.
She knew that feeling.
"Richie?" she said, her voice hoarse. "I can't move, Richie!"
She could feel a breeze on her face.
"Kate," a voice said, hissing like a snake. It didn't sound like Richie, but she knew it was him. It had to be. He had just touched her cheek like before.
"Help me, Richie," she pleaded.
"Shh, don't cry."
She opened her eyes again. Had they been closed the whole time? She thought she had opened them…
She looked up and screamed.
"Kate! Open your eyes! KATE!"
Kate snapped her eyes open and took a gasp of air. Her throat felt dry. She yanked her hands off the bed and was relieved to see they were no longer bound.
"Kate," a voice said and she searched for the source, feeling disoriented. Her eyes came across Seth who was crouching next to her bed, looking pale and reeking of alcohol.
"You had a nightmare," he said, slurring a little. Kate could only nod, not trusting her voice. Her body was trembling like she had just finished a marathon.
"You were screaming so loud I thought someone was murdering you," Seth continued and let out a nervous laugh. His face, however, got serious when he noticed Kate still had a hard time breathing normally.
"Hey. Try to relax. I'm right here. It was just a stupid nightmare, okay?"
"Y-yeah," she muttered and took a couple of deep breaths. Seth was right. It was just a stupid nightmare. Just like the ones she had had before, only this time it was much more realistic. And Richie had been there…
Don't even go there, she said to herself and tried to concentrate on her surroundings. She looked at Seth and noticed he had a half eaten tortilla in his left hand. His right hand was resting on the bed, close to her thigh. Her naked thigh.
"Oh, here's your blanket…" Seth said and picked up the fallen blanket from the floor next to him. Kate grabbed it awkwardly and tried to cover herself better.
"What time is it?" she asked and used the corner of the blanket to wipe sweat off her forehead.
"About 3 AM," Seth answered, twisting his left hand to get a better look at his watch, which made some of the tortilla fillings drop on the floor. "I just came back from the bar."
"Oh."
Seth noticed his tortilla was leaking and tried to lick the salsa off his wrist, but only managed to make a few jalapeños escape to the floor.
"Fuck this shit…" he mumbled and dropped the whole tortilla (or what was left of it) on the bedside table.
Kate giggled and earned a big smile from Seth.
"Hah, I made you happy!" he rejoiced, his voice proud like he just accomplished something impossible (which he kind of did).
"You really suck at eating tortillas," Kate sneered, making Seth's smile even wider.
"I like to devour the other kind of tortilla – if you catch my drift," he said smugly and winked at Kate.
"Eww!"
She punched him lightly on his shoulder, causing him to momentarily lose his balance and fall on his ass.
"Hey!" he yelped and struggled to get back up. Kate found herself laughing louder than she had for many days.
"It's not nice to punch drunk people. Didn't your mom teach you that much?" Seth mumbled after regaining his crouching position.
"Your mom probably forgot to tell you it's not nice to rob banks," Kate remarked, smiling.
"She didn't particularly forbid it so we figured it was acceptable."
Seth winked at her again and she rolled her eyes. For a 30-something-year-old Seth was ridiculously immature, but she didn't really mind – at least he made her laugh. It was all she really needed right now.
She saw Seth yawning and her thoughts went back to sleeping. She was still tired, not having slept much because of the nightmare. She knew the worst thing she could do was be scared of going back to sleep, but she couldn't get that image out of her head…
"Hey, now that you're okay, I'm gonna go to bed," Seth said and stood up.
"No!" Kate cried out, startled to hear how afraid she sounded. She didn't want to be left alone, not now. Seth looked at her, questioning.
"I mean…" she continued, speaking more calmly. "Could you sleep here?"
"Uh," Seth replied, looking lost for a moment. "I guess I can. If you really want that."
"Yeah. Please."
"Okay, make room."
Seth waved his hands at Kate and she moved herself on the other side of the bed. Seth took off his jacket, threw it on the floor and slumped on the bed. Kate had underestimated the room he needed and realized the bed was way too narrow for the two of them to sleep comfortably. Seth, however, didn't seem to mind. He closed his eyes, put his hands behind his neck and crossed his ankles, sighing deeply like he had just gotten the opportunity to lie on the nicest bed in the whole world.
Kate turned on her side so that she was facing him. His breathing was already slowing down and he looked like he could fall asleep any second.
"Seth."
"Mm-hm."
"Do you really think Richie should have died?"
"He is dead."
"You know that's not what I mean."
Seth sighed and turned his head to look at Kate.
"Do I think he should have died? No. Am I pleased with the current situation? No. There you have it."
"He's still your brother even though he's different."
"The way I see it, Richie betrayed me by choosing that snake bitch in the first place. The fact that he later decided to join our gang doesn't change that."
Seth just wasn't going to let it go. Kate knew it was difficult – after all she had been there herself. Except she didn't have her brother anymore.
"I would have never left Scott if I didn't have to," she said quietly. She would have given anything to get both her dad and Scott back. Seth still had his brother, and she knew Richie had always been the most important person in his life, so the way she saw it, he had everything.
Seth sighed again and turned his face to look at the ceiling.
"Maybe I was a bit harsh with him…" he admitted. "He has always been a freak, but now he's like, on a whole other level of freakiness."
"He scares me sometimes."
"Yeah, me too."
"But he's not evil, right?"
"No."
Kate, too, turned to look at the ceiling, feeling much lighter. He's not evil and you know it.
It was just a stupid dream.
"Can we sleep now?" Seth asked yawning.
"Yeah."
"Good. And just so you know – I might snore. Deal with it."
Then he was out, softly snoring away like an infant.
Kate turned on her side, her back facing Seth, and closed her eyes. Seth's steady snores and the warmth of his body were soon lulling her to sleep. Then she, too, zoned out.
Kate woke up to the feeling of someone watching her.
She opened her eyes slowly and blinked a couple of times, trying wake up properly. The first thing she noticed was that it was really bright in the room, meaning it was probably already late morning, which meant she had actually managed to sleep the rest of the night uninterrupted. She then noticed she had moved closer to Seth during the night and was now practically lying on him, her right arm wrapped around his waist. She lifted her gaze to look at his face and was relieved to find him still asleep, breathing steadily with his mouth slightly open. She carefully lifted her arm and moved away from him, trying not to shake the bed too much.
She turned on her other side and let out a startled yelp.
Richie was standing right next to the bed, staring down at her, an unreadable expression on his face. Her heart skipped a beat. How long had he been standing there?
She heard a sleepy mumble on the other side of the bed and she knew her cry had woken up Seth.
"Fuck, Kate, how long did we… Richard."
Kate turned to look at Seth, who was staring at his brother, who was staring at her. Then, without a word, Richie turned away and walked out of the room. Kate could hear him going to the other bedroom and closing the door softly after him.
"Well, good morning to you too, sunshine…" Seth mumbled under his breath and sat up in the bed. He let out a growl and grabbed his head with both hands. "Geez, I'll never drink tequila again."
Kate sat on the bed, not even bothering to cover herself, and stared after Richie, wondering if she should go after him. She suddenly felt guilty like she had been doing something she wasn't supposed to. But she had just been sleeping, right? There wasn't any reason for Richie to be mad at her.
Seth reached for his jacket on the floor and went through its pockets. He found his cigarettes and instantly lit one, sucking it eagerly. Kate frowned when the smoke reached her nose and tried to wave it away with her hand.
"You two should seriously quit smoking," she said.
"Drinking will kill me before I get cancer," Seth answered nonchalantly and blew a puff of smoke straight into Kate's face, making her cough.
"Well, then can you try not to give me cancer?"
"Nope."
"Thanks, Seth."
Seth just laughed, got up from the bed and threw on his jacket, the cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth.
"I'm gonna go buy some new clothes. I fucking reek," he said between his teeth. "You wanna go with me?"
"You said you can't go outside…"
"They're looking for two white men, not one, duh. It's totally safe."
"Right." Kate rolled her eyes. She wasn't going to comment on Seth's illogical explanations. Besides, she also needed new clothes, and now she had permission to leave the house.
"I'll come with you," she said. "Can you just go outside while I get dressed?"
Seth raised his eyebrows, staring openly at Kate's body.
"Can't see why I should since I already saw everything, but whatever… I'll wait for you by the car."
He left the room and closed the door after him. Kate got up, went to the bathroom and did her morning routine (well, some of it, anyway, since the water was too dirty to get a proper wash up and she didn't have any make-up with her). She then dressed up in the white dress and walked to the hallway. She hesitated in front of the Richie's door, not sure if she should tell him they were going away.
She decided against it after figuring Richie was probably sleeping and wanted to be left alone. She could talk to him after they got back. So she opened the front door and stepped outside, closing the door quietly after her.
She walked up to the car that was parked in the shadow next to the reception. Seth was waiting for her, leaning on the car.
"Let's go," he said, and opened the car door for Kate.
A/N: Sheez, I'm sorry for making you wait. The next one won't take as long, I promise (and this time I mean it ). Again, I'm happy so many people seem to like this story! Stay tuned!
