That night, I have a nightmare again.

The embodiment of my voice is back with me. We're somewhere else this time. We're at the lake Gil took me to today. I'm sitting on the bank without any shoes, letting the cold water go over my bare feet. The voice is standing next to me, silent for now. We both look over the lake at a full moon coming over the horizon. It's huge and ominous.

The voice sits down next to me and looks over at me. I look back at him to see that he's smiling. The smile isn't humorous or friendly or anything good.

"It's getting closer." he whispers. "You won't be able to resist and no one will be able to help you."

"Gil will help me." I softly tell him. "I know he will."

"You know he will. He won't though. You know that deep down inside you. He really won't."

"He won't let me."

"He won't let you do something you want to do?"

"I won't want to and I don't want to."

He smirks a little and slowly pulls out the knife he showed me before. "I think it may be a little beyond your control now. I'll come back and make you." He lays the knife down and I see my hand reaching for it. I try to stop it, though, I really do, but I can't. I can't control myself and my hand grips the handle of the blade. I feel tears starting to form in my eyes.

"P-please. I-I don't want to do this. Th-this can't happen a-again." The tears start to fall as my hand and arm go into the all too familiar motion of cutting. I close, my eyes, not wanting to see it. I'm just sick of it all. So sick of it.

"Don't fight it." He whispers in my ear. "You know you want to."

I shake my head. "N-no. I-I don't."

"You do!" He grabs my arms and makes the cuts deeper. I can't get anything out through my sobbing. I start shaking and then the shaking becomes more violent. Before I know what happened, my eyes open, but instead of seeing my bleeding arms, I see Gil's lap. I had woken up.

I look up at Gil a little, but then wince from a pain in my arms. It takes me a minute to figure out that Gil's talking.

"Birdie, stop. You need to stop."

"Stop?" I slowly and softly ask. I look down at my arms to see I've been scratching them as I slept and they started bleeding again. I'm a little scared and try to stop, tears starting to form when I find it difficult. "I-I can't." I tell him, panicked.

"Oh, hell, yes you can." He grabs my arms firmly, but makes sure not to hurt me and pulls them away so my hands can't reach my arms. "Why? Why did you go and do it again?"

I look down after calming down a little and softly tell him, "I didn't want to, Gil. I really didn't. He…he just made me do it."

"I thought he was gone."

"He's there in my nightmares still."

"Birdie…" He sighs softly and hugs me gently. "I'm going to find a way to stop this. I promise."

"Wh-what if you can't?" I softly ask, leaning into him in the hug.

"That's not possible. I am going to find a way to stop this."

"…Gil?"

"Yeah?"

"He…he said there would be another knife. It…it's a kind of pretty knife. And…and I was cutting again…and…you were trying to stop me, b-but we were yelling at each other and, Gil? I…I don't think this time turned out like last time…"

Gil just holds me closer. "It won't happen. I'll protect you from everything and anything."

"He…he said it was coming soon." There are tears in my eyes and they start to fall.

Gil gently wipes my tears away. "Sh. It will be OK. I won't let anything or anyone hurt my little Birdie."

I curl up against him and he holds me, gently rubbing my back. "I promise everything will be OK."

I just shrug a little, not sure anymore. He holds me close and strokes my hair. "Don't worry, Birdie. Everything is going to be OK."

I look up at him a little. He gently kisses the top of my head with a little smile. I lean against him again and look down at the bed.

"Hey, you should get some more sleep, though. It's the middle of the night." Gil softly tells me.

I shake my head a little. "I don't want to have another nightmare."

"You won't. I'm here to protect you from them."

"I already had one."

"Yeah, but your subconscious didn't know I was going to help you."

I just looked at him a little until he sighs softly. "Alright, alright. I'll get something for your arms." He gets up and goes to the bathroom. I can hear him rummaging through the medicine cabinet and came back a few minutes later with some bandages and some disinfectant. He fixes my arms up again while I look down. When he finishes, he pulls me close again and lies down, bringing me with him.

"So, you're not going to go back to sleep?" he softly asks me.

I shake my head. "No. I'm too scared to."

"I won't let anything happen to you."

"I-I know you won't. But that doesn't take away the fear."

"I wish I knew how to make you feel better."

"So do I. I'm getting sick of all this. I can only take everything for so long."

"I know."

I look up at him. "How…how could you know?"

"Well, I mean people can only take so much of something before they snap under it all. We just have to steer you in the right direction and make sure you stay on the right path. And I'll be here to help you to make sure you stay on it, OK?"

I nod a little. "OK."

He yawns a bit. "Will you be OK if I just take a quick nap?"

"Sure. I'll be fine. Get some sleep."

He nods a little. "OK. If you're sure." I nod and he kisses my cheek. "Good." Then he closes his eyes and holds me close to him as he falls asleep.