James fought against the hard wood walls closing in on him, suffocating him, pressing his ribcage until it threatened to splinter. He tried to scream, and his throat felt like it was being massaged with sand paper, but no sound could be heard.

The walls were getting closer, closer. His lungs felt like someone was squeezing them, and he couldn't move no matter how hard he tried to kick his way out. James' mind got fuzzy and woozy with lack of air. He couldn't breathe anymore. He was drowning in the darkness…

"James! Wake up now, it's ok!" Logan said, shaking the boy's shoulders quite roughly. Carlos was curled up in his bed, covers pulled to his chin, as he watched the scene unravel nervously. This wasn't the first nightmare that James had suffered from. Or what did Logan call them? Night terrors, or something like that. It had been almost a month since the Halloween incident, and nearly every night since then, Carlos had ran to Logan's room to fetch the smart boy for help after being woken up to the sounds of James' violent nightmares.

They scared Carlos. He was terrified by James' fear. And he knew Kendall and Logan were, too. He saw the surprise and pity on their anxious faces each night as they ran to James' bed to hold the flailing boy down to keep from hurting himself. One time, he knocked a lamp with his hand and the light bulb cut into his skin. Another time he put a fist into the wall.

Finally, James awoke from his fit with a loud, rattling gasp and immediately started sobbing. He was surrounded by Logan and Kendall's arms. All they knew to do was comfort him. Even Logan, who was super, ultra-smart and knew how to fix everything didn't know how to fix this. He couldn't take away James' fear. He couldn't change what happened.

"You're safe," Logan whispered to the sobbing brunette, rocking him gently. "You're not in the coffin, you're home. I'm here, and so are Kendall and Carlos."

James coughed and sniffed, taking in his surroundings. His night terrors always left him confused, as if he was in a different reality. It took several moments for him to realize that he was not in the musty, rotting crypt but in his warm bed.

"They're getting worse," James whispered, and his friends knew he was referring to his horrible dreams. They could tell his dreams were getting worse. Each night he screamed louder. Each night it was harder to wake him up.

"It's gonna be ok James," Kendall said, laying his friend back against the pillow. He wasn't sure if it was true or not. They're prayers and hopes were empty. James was not getting better.

"No, I'm not going to sleep this time," James said, sitting up and swinging his legs over the bed. What was the point of sleeping if it only ruined him more than he already was?

"Buddy it's 3 am," Logan said. "You need sleep."

"What sleep?" James said bitterly. "I haven't gotten a decent rest since… That night. I'm going for a walk."

"James," Kendall said, getting up to follow his friend out the door, but James put his hand up.

"Just… Don't. I need to be alone, guys." James grabbed a hoodie and left the apartment.

"What are we going to do?" Carlos squeaked, breaking the solemn silence. "He's so… Broken."

"It's because he won't talk about it," Logan said through gritted teeth. His concern was driving him angry. "If he would just open up and let us in, maybe we can help him through it."

Carlos and Kendall were quiet. It was true. James refused to talk about his dreams or what happened that night. Even though he had the dreams every night, he would claim he was perfectly fine every morning. For the first week, he actually had the nerve to deny it, but Logan yelled his ear off for thinking that they were really that stupid.

"He's obviously not ok," Carlos said softly, bringing his knees to his chest and nuzzling his head onto his soft, comforting pillow. "Why can't he just admit it?"

Kendall gave him a sympathetic look and patted his blanketed arm. "Just go back to sleep, 'Litos. We'll talk to him tomorrow, ok? We're going to do something about this. What he's doing isn't healthy and we aren't going to let him suffer any longer."

Carlos nodded and wrapped his small arms around Kendall's neck before settling back onto the pillow. Kendall gave him a warm, encouraging smile and went to turn out the dim lamp on Carlos' bedside table.

"Wait, don't," Carlos said, catching Kendall's wrist. His voice became slightly sheepish. "I, uh, leave it on please?" The Latino had become accustomed to sleeping with the light on, since his traumatized roommate couldn't fall asleep in a dark room anymore. Kendall nodded.

"Sure buddy. Good night."

"Night, 'Los," Logan said affectionately. They waited until Carlos closed his eyes and relaxed before they quietly left and headed to the living room, waiting for James to arrive home.

A/N I am so sorry that was so short! This is picking up a mind of its own! It will most likely be one or 2 more chapters now haha. I love writing a scared, nightmarey James! Have a great night tomorrow! It's a big day for me, I am excited, and of course I'm going to be Kendall Schmidt. Of course…

Please review? I love hearing from everyone. Hope you are enjoying my little halloweeny story. Good night1