He felt the darkness surrounding his body, his eyes were still not used to the shadow and it was hard to be brave being completely alone. A chill ran down his back and he could hear his heart beating strongly, he knew it was approaching, soon the silence would be broken and the darkness would give way to terror and pain, he should be used to it, after all it was happening so often he already knew what sounds to be alert for but he could not stop the overwhelming fear he felt as he tried very hard to fight it and be calm but it was a lost cause and he knew since the beginning he could only do his best to prepare himself for the worst.
He ran his fingers gently across the rough surface of his pillow, imagining that at some point it would have been soft to the touch and cushioned but he could not remember ever feeling it, for as long as he could remember it had always been that rigid, dusty and rough. He knew like everything given to him it must have been of someone else before it ended up in his bed, maybe his father's or from a stranger. He sighed, he was just letting his mind wander as he didn't want to face what was coming but that did nothing to help him.
He breathed with some difficulty, coughing slightly from the exertion and trying to be quiet he quickly bite his lip hard and put his hands on top of his mouth to stop any sound so he would not attract unwanted attention prematurely, the raven waited before removing his hands from his mouth and listened around to find out if he had successfully avoided the danger, al least for now, after a moment of tension he focused on being as quiet as a mouse and noticed with relief that the room was still submerged in silence and darkness. He thought for a moment if perhaps tonight he would be lucky and be able to sleep a little without interruption but he quickly dismissed that idea, he knew that it was foolish to hold out hope that would later be shattered.
He stirred in bed thinking if it would be better to try to hide, maybe it would be one of those rare nights when his personal tormentor would be too drunk to search all the room and would end up giving up, if that happened the next night would be worse to compensate for the lack of it but at least he would have a peaceful night.
He chose to try and hide, things were already bad so they could either stay bad or get slightly better so he carefully took the thin blanket from himself and slowly got out of bed to avoid the rusty springs of his old mattress giving him away. He lower himself to the floor and then his body gently slid under the bed until he hit the wall, there was dust a bit more than in the rest of the room, it was cold and possibly more than one bug was around but he preferred it a thousand times.
He didn't know how long he lay there scribbling on the dusty floor with his finger until finally it happened, the door to his room burst open causing his heart to flutter and his hands to shake. Loud footsteps echoed until they stopped right in front of his bed, a thick voice echoing throughout the room giving him chills. "So you want to play hide and seek you little freak, well you better pray I don't find you out, if I do you will wish you hadn't been born."
"I wish it already" thought Severus with sadness that was quickly exchanged for fear when he heard the familiar sound of his father removing his belt, he heard him give it two strong tugs testing the hardness of the belt for when it will be used and then he started walking around the place moving furniture and peeking out behind it, the closet creaked, letting him know that his father was right now peeping inside, things were thrown to the floor and the search continued, the little boy squeezed his little hands and held his breath feeling the sweat running down his back when suddenly it happened the thing he had been dreading the most, the enraged face of his own father adorned with a cruel sadistic smile appeared in front of him.
"I've got you" snarled the huge man and grabbed Severus by the arm with a strong bruising grip and then he pull him out...Severus screamed and felt a pair of arms surrounding his trembling body, he flinched from the touch and try to get away his mind screaming he had to run away, he was in the middle of a panic break down when he heard a gentle voice calling his name so very different from the one always haunting him "Severus, Sev, calm down everything is fine, it was just a dream, he can't hurt you anymore I'm here with you, I will protect you."
Severus opened his eyes trying to focus them and regularize his breathing his lungs were burning and his throat hurt from the screaming, the hand of the other male started to gently pet his hair and more sweet words were whispered to his ear, after a moment he could finally see his surroundings clearly. He was not in the small and dirty room of his childhood but in a wide, elegant, illuminated and warm room, the opposite of what he had seen a few moments ago, this place was so different from his nightmares he was able to finally calm himself and let go of the ghost terrorizing him. The man behind him smile warmly to him trying to fill him with confidence and gave him a look filled of love and understanding.
Severus didn't even knew how he had gotten so lucky his life had turned into something almost out of a fairly tale but even with that there were times where he still had nightmares, he couldn't understand why he couldn't just let it go and forget but this wonderful man didn't care and was always there for him even when his past ghosts were to much for him to handle, the man surrounded him in his strong arms and Severus let himself be pampered he would never know how his husband managed to be so patient and loving with a man so broken like him but he was grateful for it and wouldn't change it.
Like that surrounded by his husbands arms, lull by the beating of the others heart and soft breathing he went back to sleep this time a calm and peaceful dream.
