Disclaimer - I own nothing you recognise.
Challenges listed at the bottom.
Word Count - 371
Warning for creepiness and character death.
Why Didn't You Save Me?
It started with a feeling of being watched. Whenever he looked around, there was nobody there, and yet he could still feel eyes on him wherever he went. He told himself he was just being paranoid because he was newly marked. Carrying the Dark Mark held an imminent risk of Azkaban, so of course he was feeling more jittery than normal.
Except he began to hear whispers. Just his name, and it was never in a voice he recognised.
He started to feel gentle touches to his skin and that was when his grip on reality started to slip. He had visions at random times, and his dreams were getting more vivid by the night. Barty didn't know what was going on but he didn't like it.
It wasn't like he'd cast anything to evoke spirits, and on his research, that was generally the cause to happenings like this.
He wanted to ask someone what was happening to him, but to show weakness to the Death Eaters was to commit suicide, and he certainly wasn't about to complain about his situation to the Dark Lord.
He could have told Regulus, he knew, but Regulus was gone. He'd disappeared with little more than a kiss to the cheek and a promise to 'see you later'. He still wondered about Regulus often, but the only time he'd asked about his boyfriend's whereabouts, he'd been tortured to the very brink of being irreparable.
Lying in the bed the two of them had once shared, Barty let himself drift to sleep, hoping for a few hours of peace before the vivid dreams began. He didn't get it. Instead he had a nightmare of drowning in freezing water, slimy limbs gripping at him all over.
When he woke up, he was gasping for a drink, tears rolling down his face.
Sitting up, he stared at the man in front of him. Regulus looked… not like Regulus. His eyes were no longer there, just empty sockets, and his skin looked pure white and mottled.
"Why didn't you save me?"
Barty screamed when the… thing was suddenly over him, his hand reaching through Barty's mouth. He felt a grip around his heart, and then Barty knew no more.
…
Written for;
Showtime ; 38. Paranoid
Hamilton Mania ; Act 2, Prompt 5. Barty Crouch Jr. / Extra ; 27. Evoke