I want to thank all those who have read my story up to this point, and thank you for your continued support! So please read on, since this chapter is for you!


Chapter 9: Beyond Nightmares

Candi's POV

"Stop" I whimpered. Helena chuckled.

"I'll never stop. You know you like it, deep, deep down."

"I don't!" I murmured in reply. Her lips kissed my hip. The bathwater was drowning out any sort of noise I could possibly make.

"Remember, you aren't allowed to tell anyone!" she sang as she licked my waist, right below my bellybutton.

I was quiet. I had no more energy to fight back anymore. She was bigger. Stronger. She could thwart any attempts I made against her like I was a gnat. No one else could help me. The door was locked, the bathwater was running, and I had already lost hope. I guess it was just habit to try to escape.

But every spark of hope was extinguished. Over and over again. Until there was nothing left.

I woke up, and I was in my room. I was alone. Tears were coming out of my eyes.

"Kyouya?" I asked. It was dark. I needed him. The memories left me alone when I was with him. I needed him. But no answer.

"Jessica?" I asked for my sister this time. She could help. No answer.

"Mom? Dad?" I asked then. Please, just someone!

No answer. Everyone left me alone.

I growled, and shook my head. Why did I have to remember all this?!

I stood up, but my legs gave out beneath me. Thunder struck, which made me jump a bit. I must've missed the flash of white. I wonder how quickly the light rain I experienced earlier turned into a full-blown storm. I wonder if it could actually be a typhoon.

Another flash of white. Except this time, I saw white hair and sparkling blue eyes with them. I stood up with strength I didn't know I had in the moment, and scrambled over to my drawers.

Another flash. Not only was there white hair and blue eyes, but a set of shiny white teeth decided to accompany it. Where was my knife? Did it get buried amongst the clothes I kept in this drawer?

Flash! I screamed when her entire face appeared for the slightest moment. I fell onto my back, but I quickly pulled myself up. Where was that fcking knife?

Tears fell down my face while I screamed at another flash. Her face was there, but her hands were there as well. I finally found it, and ran to the bathroom.

My muscles froze up in fear when another flash occurred. This time, her hands were reaching for me, and her face seemed to be melting. But the image stayed a little big longer than the duration of the flash. I was finally at the bathtub, and pulled my sleeve up. I quickly took off the bandage, desperate for the peace. The gauze that was already deep red fell to the floor. The knife was at my arm, but I hesitated.

I knew this addiction was hurting me. But it was that very pain that distracted me from the pain inside. Should I really be doing this?

Another flash. This time, her face was horrifying. Her skin was pale, as if all the blood was drained from it. There were holes that looked like spots of mold and rotting flesh. Her eyes were the same blue, but the pupil was gone. Her hair was ragged, greasy and full of tangles. Her hands were the same as the skin on her face, but the fingernails were yellow, cracked and had dirt all over them. They were reaching closer. The image wouldn't go away.

Instinctively, I slashed down on my skin. Her face return to the normal fair complexion it was. But the hands were still reaching out towards me. They didn't come any closer, but I was still terrified.

I slashed again. The hands retreated further, but she was still there.

Again. Her hands disappeared.

Again. Her face was gone, but the teeth, hair and eyes still remained. The fear didn't leave either.

Again. Her teeth were gone.

Another time. Nothing.

I sighed. Finally, peace. I gave into the pain. It was like a cool blanket wrapped around me, a place to hide from the past. I rested the right side of my head on the bathtub, and stared at my arm. The warm blood was soon covering my arm in a sea of red, and falling to the bottom of the tub. It's kind of strange to think that this blood was inside me just a minute ago, keeping me alive.

There were now 7 cuts. One was parallel to the first cut, just as deep but shorter. The next crossed with the third at a slight angle, but it wasn't as deep or long. My eyes drifted more towards my elbow where I found another cut. This one was the worst out of all of them. It was long, deep and crossed with all the others. I looked at the next. This one barely grazed my skin, but it crossed with a few. The last was closer to the top of my forearm. It was longer than the worst cut, but it wasn't even an eighth of the depth. It still bled a lot.

All of my cuts were bleeding, and my entire body throbbed. I felt dizzy. I wonder if I could find a gauze large enough for the mess that was now my forearm. I looked down, and my old gauze was 10cmx10cm, but I needed one that was 15x15, at the smallest. I barely was able to reach over and find the first aid kit with the wraps and gauze. I was going through so much gauze and wraps, I would need to buy some more. I could always use the back-up credit card my parents gave me.

I found a couple 10x10 gauzes, and used my blood soaked knife to get one of them to fit my wounds properly. My vision was beginning to blur. I reached over and turned on the shower to get the blood off of there. I had learned to use toilet paper to clean up the misplaced blood.

Soon, my wrap was on, and I was pinning it. I always had trouble with the safety pins, but it was especially difficult when my vision kept getting worse. When I finally got it, I turned off the shower and quickly cleaned up the blood. I put everything away, my knife included, and dragged my tired body back to bed. I didn't even think about the dreams that would await me.

But I didn't know right then that waking up from the nightmare wasn't going to be so easy this time around.

I played with some dolls with Jessica. My doll was a hyperactive daughter with blonde hair while Jessica played the serious mother with dark hair. I giggled.

'Mommy, mommy! Can I go ride my pet moose today?! Pleasepleasepleaseplease?!'

'No honey' Jessica sighed. 'We don't even own a moose. Honestly, where did you get that idea?'

'Come on!' I whined. I felt like I was the doll. That was the thing about me playing with dolls. I almost always got way too into it. 'We have 15 mommy! Their names are Lynn, Rudolph, Victor-'

'Candi!' Jessica exclaimed. I was confused. My doll's name was Natalie. Why did she call me Candi? 'You go to your room right now!'

Her voice was a shrill yell. My eyes were wide as I nodded, and walked up the stairs. I stopped at the top step. My room was only two steps away, but…

I whipped around. Behind me was black. I looked down, and saw my normal body. But why was I in the doll's house? What was going on? The dollhouse was split in half, so according to whatever reason I could scavenge in this strange dream, I should be able to see the playroom no matter where I was in the house. But there was just black.

"Hello Candi" a scratchy voice said. I whipped around, and there was just one door. It looked the door to the bathroom. I looked back, but I saw was a large blue eye. It twinkled, and I recognized it as Helena's. I looked back ahead, and dashed forward to the only placed there was: the bathroom. Once inside, I slammed the door shut behind me and locked the door. I closed my eyes, breathed deeply, and rested my back against the door. I slid to the ground, and opened my eyes. But there was just white.

I stood up, and furrowed my eyebrows. I looked to my left and my right, but all I could see was the room. There were walls, but no windows. I whipped back behind me, and the door had disappeared. The room flicked between white and black. It was as if I was inside a stroke light. I tensed, but turned back around.

There was the Helena I imagined earlier. Her skin was so pale, it looked blue in the flickering light. Her head was tilted forward, her long white hair covering her face. But I already knew what her face looked like. Her body was covered in a torn and dirty white dress. The stroke light gave her a more menacing aura than what I could see during the flashes of lightning. Her left arm reached over her shoulders. Her body followed. Her head turned upside down and she started to crawl like a crab towards me. I screamed.

My scream was silenced, even though I could still feel my vocal chords moving. Instead, a sound that was like a shriek coming through a static-filled radio got louder and louder. She stopped and turned back so that she was in a crawling position. Her hair moved, and I noticed blood covered her face. The spots on her body weren't dirt, nor was it dirt under her fingernails. It was dried blood.

She suddenly sped towards me at full speed, and I screamed louder. Her face was covered in my blood. She was eating my legs. I couldn't run anymore, but I was too frozen with fear to even think of such a thing. All I could see was her face. The blue eyes were charged with insanity and violent sadism. Her mouth was horrifying: brown and black teeth bathed in my red blood. Many teeth were cracked in half, some were pointed and the rest were missing.

Then she got to about where my butt was. The monster took her time eating up to my waist. The rest of my torso was devoured within seconds.

Now, only my head remained. It fell to the left, where I could see the playroom. There was my family, sitting there and eating popcorn, watching me as if I was a horror movie. I stopped screaming. The monster just ate my vocal chords. PLEASE HELP ME!

JESSICA!

MOM!

DAD!

SAVE ME!

The last thing I saw was Helena's face. Her eyes were closed, and everything was white. She had a faint smile on her face. Her eyes opened, and the had no pupils.

I played with some dolls with Jessica. My doll was a hyperactive daughter with blonde hair while Jessica played the serious mother with dark hair. I giggled.

I played with some dolls with Jessica. My doll was a hyperactive daughter with blonde hair while Jessica played the serious mother with dark hair. I giggled.

Three more times. Three more times, my family idly watched as I was eaten alive. Three more times, her eyes opened to show no pupils.

I screamed.

My eyes lazily opened. The sun was shining in my window. I looked over at the clock. It said 12:00. I looked over on my other side, and there was Helga with a damp washcloth on my forehead.

"Oh, I'm glad yer awake, dearie. Ye were screamin' for an hour straight. Ye have a fever too."

"Oh…" I said weakly. I did not feel any different than normal. Well, it was kind of warm. And my palms felt wet. And my back.

"Here ye are" Helga said, holding a glass of water up to my mouth. She helped me sit up. "Drink up."

I happily chugged all of the contents. I looked again, and there was a tray set on my lap.

"Eat yer heart out. We've all been worried about ya. Everyone wants ye to get better."

I looked around, and saw no one. "Where is everyone?" I asked softly.

"Jessica is at school, and yer Mum and Dad are at work."

They cared about me? Funny. I don't see them anywhere here. They didn't care when I was being raped in their own home. They just gave me medication when they saw that I was depressed. They didn't ask why I was sad. They didn't care. They just wanted me to stop being a bother. And they wouldn't care if they found out the real reason for my wounds. "Is that so?" was all I managed to say. I picked at my food, eating small bites of the waffles. Didn't she know I like pancakes?

"Ye keep eating while I'm away, and I'll be right back" she said. Helga stood up and left.

I sighed, throwing my plate of waffles in the trash. I was slowly sipping my orange juice for about 5 minutes before Helga came back.

"My, my, ye ate that quickly."

"Yea" I said smiling weakly. "I didn't realize I was so hungry."

"Well, how 'bout I take that from ye, and I'll let ye sleep." Helga smiled as she took the tray and helped me lay back down. She smiled as she left. I didn't sleep though. I remembered my dream suddenly, and I had to cover my mouth and plunge my face into the pillow to muffle my scream. The image was absolutely gruesome to play through in my head. And her crawling figure speeding towards me didn't help one bit.

I didn't want to sleep.

Kyouya's POV

I furrowed my eyebrows. Usually Candi is here by now. It was 10 minutes until the start of class. I anxiously watched the clock as I waited for her to get here.

9 minutes. Should I have checked to be sure she got home okay? What if she's not okay? What if something happened to her on her way back?

8 minutes. Did she take a car home? Did she WALK home? But it was raining! What if she caught a fever?

7 minutes. Hold on. I'm panicking. Maybe she's just really tired, and didn't want to come and stop by before class. Or maybe-

6 minutes. –she doesn't want to see me. What if I made her angry, and she doesn't want to even look at me anymore? Gah, I'm so stupid! I should have left her alone.

5 minutes. She would normally be leaving now. Maybe I would have time to see if she's here before lunch. Then maybe like yesterday, she could sleep easier.

I gave a heavy sigh.

"Are you okay?" Tamaki asked me. I looked over at him and smiled.

"I'm fine" I replied.

I stood up right as the bell rang, put my things away and quickly walked to classroom 2-A. I stood outside the doorway, examining the crowd to see if Candi was there. I didn't see the tall auburn haired girl anywhere.

Once the crowd had cleared the doorway, I jumped in. I saw Haruhi eating her bento calmly at a desk, and there was no on else. "Where's Candi?" I asked. I hope I didn't sound desperate.

"She didn't come to school today. The teacher said she had a fever."

"Oh. Okay." I walked back out, and found myself right back at my classroom. I sighed, and sat down at my desk.

I really should have checked to make sure she got home alright. I really should have made sure she had a way to get home. I cursed in my head. There were so many things I could have done to prevent this fever, but I completely screwed up. Candi was sick because of me. I'll have to visit her after Host Club.

I cursed when I thought of the Host Club. Another curse came when I remembered she was probably angry at me, so she wouldn't want me to visit. Man, so many curses. Why did things have to be so complicated?!


Such is the thinking of men. It seems Kyouya is no exception. So, how did you guys like that chapter? Really dark, ne? Well, the next chapter will hopefully be happier, but we'll see.