There was no way point to any of the trio going back to bed, as it was two in the morning when they had woken up. Instead, they decided to chill out in the living room, with Henry sitting on the sofa whole flipping through the channels on the tv, Ellie leaning against the wall while scrolling on her phone, and Charles at the dining table, happily eating Looped Fruits (apparently it was never to early for breakfast.)
Ellie glanced up at Henry as he stared blankly at the flickering screen, not seeming to absorb anything he was seeing.
"Henry, pick a channel."
Henry jolted, as if waking from a trance. "Right. Sorry," he signed, clicking on the remote one more time, and ending up on the channel playing the news. He put the remote down next to him and left it.
The reporter on the news was live in ... some kind of park, interviewing several people about ... going grocery shopping?
Boring, Henry thought to himself, shifting his position to sit more comfortably. But it's better than the nightmares.
The news reporter started to wrap up. "And that is all I have for you this morning. Back to you, Alice."
The screen flashed red and white, transitioning to another reporter, sitting at a desk in the news studio this time. Henry looked at the corner of the screen, where it showed her name: 'Alice Hamilton'.
She shifted the papers in front of her on the desk. "Thank you, Anthony. Now, to another topic: a military science lab was recently raided of expensive devices by the criminal organization known as the 'Toppat Clan."
Charles inhaled his cereal, choking on his milk. "Excuse me, what?"
"I thought we sent those idiots down to The Wall!" Ellie walked over to the armchair next to the sofa, sitting in it and leaning foward, clearly curious about other information.
Alice went on. "The clan had recently managed to escape the criminal-holding complex called The Wall, and so far, authorities have yet to capture them again. The Toppats had stolen mysterious, government devices, thought to be worth over billions of dollars. Their reasons for this particular raid, as well as the clan's current location, are unknown as of this moment."
The screen flashed again, this time, showing a still image of one of the devices, a blocky, rectangular remote with three buttons and a glowing, green antenna.
Henry's heart seemed to stop.
That remote ...
It looked eerily similar to the one he saw in his nightmare, from the clumsy, bulky way it was put together, to the location of the buttons, and even down to the shade of green.
His mind flashed back towards his nightmare. The distorted noise and voices, the physical and emotional pain that came from it, the memories of all his consequences ...
He sat frozen, one hand stuck in the air as it reached for the screen, and the other hand digging into the sofa cushion so hard, that it was starting to tear.
No ... not again ... please ...
It was like he couldn't breath.
He was so caught up in his own fear, that he didn't realise that his friend was calling his name.
"Henry!"
Henry snapped back to reality, blinking and gazing away from the tv. There was Charles and Ellie, standing over him with worried looks on their faces. He hadn't even realized that tears were pouring down his cheeks.