and i can go anywhere i want / anywhere i want, just not home / and you can aim for my heart, go for blood / but you would still miss me in your bones / and i still talk to you when i'm screaming at the sky / and when you can't sleep at night, you hear my stolen lullabies
- my tears ricochet, taylor swift (folklore)
tick, tock.
tick, tock.
tick, tock.
only the sound of the annoying clock on his bedside table can be heard within the darkness of his room. sasuke has his eyes closed but sleep won't come for the past two hours.
it's almost 3am and he keeps on tossing and turning, wondering how he can't sleep tonight. he's been exhausted for the past two weeks because he keeps on waking up at a certain time frame between 2:30 to 3:00.
it's been different for each time— a rustle in the sheets, a faint knock on his bedroom door, a squeak of the hardwood floor. he wakes up with these sounds that never fails to rattle his bones in unease.
sasuke is not one to get scared of sounds, or anything really.
but then, tonight, another sound comes.
hmmm, mhmm, hmmm…
it's coming from his kitchen, just across his bedroom door. eyes still closed, he pays it no mind, thinking it's only a trick of his mind. but then, it comes again, this time a little louder.
hmmm, mhmm, hmmm…
sasuke immediately opens his eyes and bolts up from his sleeping form. the window by his room is wide open, welcoming the freezing cold air. goosebumps start to rise on his arm and the back of his neck, but sasuke believes it's not because of the cold.
there's an eerie silence that permeates his entire apartment. his place and his life have always been quiet because he likes it that way. he's not one to indulge in unnecessary noise just to break that soundlessness because he's used to the quiet himself.
but this is different. the stillness in the air makes him anxious and the hushed humming that's coming from outside feels a little sinister despite the peaceful melody of it. not to mention that he lives alone. who is it then?
hmmm, mhmm, hmmm…
it's a full-on humming now and sasuke can't take it anymore. quietly, he gets out of bed and carefully pads the bedroom floor with his bare feet. the humming continues, a haunting lullaby of some sort, and sasuke holds his breath as he approaches his door.
just a peek will do.
and before he puts his hand on the doorknob…
hmmm, mhmm, h-
it stops.
sasuke can feel cold sweat running down his back as his hand hovers on the door handle. he's still holding his breath, thinking that whatever or whoever it is in his kitchen may hear his exhale once he does.
with all the courage he can muster, he turns the knob around. the door gives a faint groan and sasuke grips the door harder before moving to peek around the small gap it made.
his kitchen is empty. only the lights above his stove are on and there is nothing amiss. sasuke exhales the breath he's been holding for a while now. it's only in his head.
standing a little straighter, he closes the door first before walking towards his open window to close it too. his hair stands on end when the air kisses his skin and before he can hold it—
"i like the cold, sasuke-kun."
he whips around and there on his bed lies his dead girlfriend sakura, smiling with her dead green eyes, waiting for him.
and that's when sasuke bolts right up, panting and sweating bullets, as he frantically calms down his racing heart. it's just a dream. a very horrible dream.
sasuke clutches his chest in some poor attempt to keep it together. it's been a while since he dreamt of her. he checks his bedside where a small calendar and a clock sit together with their first picture as a couple.
today is supposed to be their third anniversary.
he lost her when they were in college to a tragic car accident. they had a huge argument the night before and they haven't spoken the entire day, and the next things he knew, he got a call from her best friend saying that she's gone.
it's one of his ultimate regrets; if not the most. he didn't get the chance to say he was sorry for being paranoid and for being so selfish. he didn't get the chance to say he missed her when she wasn't around. he didn't get the chance to say he loved her.
he will love her, always.
in his bones is a longing so deep he thinks he may never recover. and maybe that's why his unconsciousness plays some tricks on him, especially on this special occasion for the both of them.
subtly, sasuke takes a look beside him where there is no sakura waiting for him to get back to sleep. even after all these years, his heart still remains aching with the loss.
he rubs his face with both hands before covering it entirely as he plops back down to get a few hours of sleep. he removes his hands to stare up at the ceiling, breathing in and out. a few moments pass and his heart calms down.
there's silence in the air, save the hushed tick, tock of his clock.
he turns on his side…
and freezes.
then, he hears her again—
"go back to sleep, sasuke-kun...:"
a/n: a poor attempt at something different ahfadjfkajdf my brain cells are shaking