"K... why." B mumbled, wiping the snow off of his face. "Come on you made my cigarette go out."
K burst into laughter, grabbing his hand. "I'm so sorry!" She said, laughing even harder. "You should see your face!"
B smiled at her, shaking his head as he searched his pockets for his lighter.
They heard snow crunching behind them and turned around to see A approaching them.
"What does he want?" B murmured.
A stood before them, holding a paper bag in his hands.
"Hey, K." He said with a small smile.
"...Hello." She said suspiciously, looking him up and down. She was still annoyed with him.
"Here I got this for you." He handed her the bag.
"What is it?" She asked, opening it up. "It smells good."
She put her hand in and pulled out a paper plate with a slice of pizza on it. B watched as her face lit up.
"I know how much you love pizza," A said, smiling down at her. "I've been a bit rude lately, I wanted to know if you'd be willing to forgive me?"
K had one of her hands brought to her chest and was smiling at him softly.
"Aw, A of course." She jumped up and gave him a hug. "Thank you so much you're such a sweetheart."
B stared at A. Sweetheart. Hmph. He relit his cigarette.
"No don't worry about it!"
B blew streams of smoke into the air silently, watching as they faded away into the grey sky above him. He heard the snow crunching again.
"B you know those are horrible for your health right?" A asked as K sat back down next to B, pulling A down with her.
"Eh, so what." B sighed, flicking ashes into the snow.
They were quiet for a while, just staring over at the frozen pond. Small white flakes began to fall from the sky. B suddenly stood up.
"Where are you going?" K asked him as he walked past them.
"Inside." B said blankly. "I hate the snow."
"We'll come with you." K said getting up, then helping A stand.
B held back a groan. He really just wanted to get away from A. They caught up to him and K stood close to him.
"It's freezing."
"Yeah."
B squinted his eyes as the annoying snowflakes tried to blind him. They got onto the porch and stomped the snow off of their shoes. They opened the door and were met by Vienna. She glared at B, but saw A and her expression softened.
"Oh, hello A, how was driving?" She let them into the foyer.
"K what's that?" Vienna asked, smelling the air. "It smells like food. You just ate breakfast isn't it a little early for that?"
"A got me pizza." She said. "I guess I'll put in the the fridge for later."
"Oh," She smiled at A. "Did you get that while you were driving, A?"
"Why yes I did." A said, smiling triumphnatly.
They kept chatting until K started looking around.
"Where's B?" She asked.
B had slipped away from them unnoticed.
"Probably in our room," A said, taking K's hand. "Let's go."
K's face got a little red as Vienna smiled at them. A led her up the stairs and into his and B's room, but the dark haired boy was nowhere to be seen.
"I guess he's not in here after all." A said.
"Yeah..." K said quietly. She knew where he was.
...
It smelled like death. Blood stained the already dirty carpet. A dead body lay in the corner. It's face looked familiar. He leaned in closer, trying to get a better look.
"B wake up."
B gasped and quickly sat up, his head colliding with K's.
"Fuck." He growled, falling back down onto the couch with his hand pressed to his forehead.
They were in the attic. B had come up for some peace and quiet, and had fallen asleep on the couch. As usual. K sat on the arm, leaning over him.
"Sorry." She said, wincing in pain. "You were asleep again."
"Yeah."
They were quiet.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
B brushed his hair out of his eyes and sighed. He stared up at K.
"...It smelled really bad and everything was dirty." B said. "I saw someone dead on the floor, I couldn't see the face... I don't know who it was but I felt like I knew them, but I couldn't remember."
"Have you tried looking at his name?" K said quietly.
"I couldn't see it." He sighed. "I don't know if it's the same man or..."
K rubbed his arm, trying to comfort him. B was so confused. He didn't now how he could possibly know who this man in his nightmare was. Why did he seem so familiar? He didn't know anyone besides those who lived at the orphanage; he had been here for as long as he could remember.
"I don't really want to talk about it anymore." B said, he felt funny.
"Alright."
…
A few days later Murphy was back again, and B had decided to take K's advice and tell him about his nightmares. It was probably going to stab him in the back later but B was desperate. He wanted to know who the heck this man was, but mostly he wanted to sleep.
"I want you to remember as many dreams as you can right now, write it down in this book." Murphy handed him a composition notebook.
B stared at him blankly. How was writing these things down and reliving all those horrible nightmares going to help him?
"B come on this is important! Don't look at me like that." Murphy said, forcing the book into the boys hands. "If you ever do anything I ask you to, let it be this. It's important."
B held the book, staring down at it. Murphy handed him a pen.
"If you want me to help you sleep better I have to know what's causing your nightmares, so hurry up."
B sighed and opened it to the first page and started writing. He recalled all of the times when the faceless man pinned him to the ground, or to a wall, choking him. Or when he locked him in a closet. Or other times when he would throw things at B, yelling nonsense at him.
When he was finished he handed Murphy the book and watched as the man tried to maintain his composure. He wasn't expecting what B had written down. He quickly read the words B had printed neatly on the paper, his eyes moving rapidly across the pages. He lowered his glasses and cleared his throat.
"You say here that he screams things at you," He said, pointing to an area on the page. "Do you remember anything specific that he's said?"
B chewed on the inside of his mouth.
"He usually just says 'It's your fault' over and over again."
Murphy nodded and noted this next to what B had written. From the look on his face B figured Murphy knew what was going on.
"Have you seen his face?"
B shook his head.
"And how long has this been happening?"
"For years." B said, still staring at the man's face. "I just didn't think it was that important to tell you."
He finished writing this down and stood. He looked nervous. "I'll be back in a moment."
Murphy left the room and met up with Roger who was standing in the hall. They spoke quietly, but of course, B could hear them.
"He's remembering for sure."
"Are you positive?"
"Yes, he's been visiting him in his dreams, the boy is just telling me now."
"So what do we do?"
"I have to take him off of that medication, its enhancing his nightmares."
"We cant do that he's going to-"
"Roger I don't want him remembering what happened back then. Its a miracle he even forgot. If he were to know what he did... it would drive him to madness I'm sure."
...
"Okay B so what we are going to do is gradually take you off your medicine." Murphy said, picking up B's medicine bottle off the desk. "I'm going to taper down the dosage so every time you take it, you're putting less into your body until you're completely off it, do you understand?"
B nodded slowly. He wanted to ask questions. What the heck was going on? What happened back then, and why the hell couldn't B remember it? Why does everyone in this house know about B more than B even knows about himself? He desperately wanted to know who the man was, but he could look at Murphy's face and know he would never tell him.
…