Ch 33
Ben
I was walking on the shore of a warm and beautiful beach. I loved the beach, I loved the water and the feeling of freedom that came with it.
"Ben come on!" I heard her call out. By Force her voice was lovely, it brought peace to even the darkest thoughts within me.
I laughed and ran after her towards a cave on the cliffside. It wasn't too far from us, we ran for a total of 10 minutes. Rey was a faster runner. Her small size and lean legs helped with how quick and stealthy she was.
"Rey, wait!" I yelled after her, but she kept running. I could hear her laughter in the distance and as I saw her disappear into the cave, her laughter got louder.
When I got to the mouth of the cave I felt this dark chill run down my spine. It was pitch black and the darkness began to call to me.
She doesn't love you. She'll leave you. She's terrified of you.
She hates you.
I tried to block the thoughts from my head and I couldn't, I grabbed the sides of my head and screamed. The thoughts plagued me and kept repeating in my head over, and over, and over. It felt like when I was in the in between and I struggled with remembering my life here.
I heard an ear-splitting scream in the middle of my breakdown that snapped me back into whatever reality I was in.
I looked towards the darkness of the cave and saw nothing. Just more pitch black, an endless nothingness.
"Rey!" I screamed, my echo bouncing off the walls and eventually subsiding.
She hates you.
I began to walk deeper into the darkness.
She wishes you never would have come back.
The more steps I took, the harder it was to fight the darkness off.
You're a murderer. That's all she'll ever see in you.
Each sentence felt like a knife in my chest.
Each step felt like lead.
Another scream.
Fear rose in my chest and my throat got thick, tears began to sting my eyes.
You'll be the death of her. And she yours. You'll destroy each other.
The screaming got louder.
"Rey…" I said as I continued walking through the dark tunnel. There seemed to be no end to it.
"Ben…" I hear a voice say behind me. I turned around and suddenly she was there. I could see her even through the darkness I knew it was her.
She had a pained expression on her face and she was gasping for air.
"Ben… HELP ME!" she shouted at, it was so loud I had to cover my ears and everything around me started shaking. She screamed again, and I woke up covered in sweat and gasping for air.
I had been dreaming. I reached over to the side where Rey would have laid. She was gone.
I sat up in alarm and my shields instantly lowered in order to sense her better. I soon found her thoughts. She wasn't… herself… she was… in a dark cave… screaming. I jumped out of the bed and looked around to find the balcony door was open. Not wide enough for anyone to notice, but enough to let a breeze through. The slight flap of the curtains gave that much away.
I felt myself begin to panic, how had she gotten outside? I could see her silhouette as she stared out across the water. Her thoughts grew darker, she was terrified of whatever was going on in her mind. I couldn't see it, I only knew it was dark and cold and it was hungry…
I was snapped out of her head when I saw her begin to climb on to the balustrade. Everything after that happened too quickly.
She took a step and almost began to fall but I quickly reached her. I managed to wrap my arm around her waist as she plunged, and I pulled her back over the balustrade.
The inertia it took was strong and I fell on the ground hard with her on top of me. She rolled off me and looked around.
"Ben? Ben… what's going on? Why are we outside?" she said, her voiced trembled with fear.
I sat up and looked at her, she was… crying. She was terrified… it was the same fear I'd seen in her when I saw the memory of her parents leaving.
"You were dreaming… I think our connection opened when we fell asleep and linked our dreams. It was just a dream, okay?" I told her, and she gave in to the tears. She hugged her knees and cried. I was still in a state of shock, but I knew she needed me.
I moved closer to her and she instantly jumped into my arms. I knew we wouldn't get any more sleep that night, so we got up together and headed back into the room.
