Nightmare

What Is This?

Eventually, Levi and I both fall asleep. When I awake he's still sleeping and I take a moment to look at his shadowed face. His mouth is parted slightly with drool attempting to escape, and his head it tilted upwards on the pillow. He's laying on his side with his arm still around me which I remove so I can go shower. I grab a new towel and rush to the toilet, relieving myself before discarding my boxers. Now that the light is on, the bathroom looks much different. I can see the white tiled floors and the peachy pink walls.

When I start the shower it only takes a minute before it warms up and I step in, immediately letting the hot water scald my body. For the first time in a while in this nightmare, I can finally shampoo and conditioner my hair. Once the conditioner is set in I wash my body with the new body wash, which is also something that is rarely able to be done. I sigh in relief with my newly cleaned body and leave the shower, turning it off. I grab my towel and start drying off before realizing I didn't grab any clothes and curse myself. I sigh and leave the bathroom, walking back into the bedroom and into Levi, literally.

"Oh! Sorry," he says. I chuckle and look up at him, noticing him looking down my body. I smirk and step closer. His eyes shoot up to mine as he watches curiously.

"It's okay, I was just grabbing some clothes." I stare into his eyes and briefly let them flicker down to watch his adams apple shoot up then back down as he swallows. I look back up to his face and glance at his lips, something I seem to be doing a lot. I clear my throat, glancing back up at Levi. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah," he nods. "I felt warm for a change." A small smile plays on his lips and I can't help but smile back.

Walking past him towards the closet I say, "We'll probably want to move within the next few days. That is, if we don't wake up first." I pull my briefs on underneath the towel before letting it drop to the floor, putting on a pair of sweats.

"Will it come back?" I turn around to see Levi already staring at me, his eyes darting to the ground once I meet his.

"At some point, yeah. Something leads it to you if you stay in one place for too long, I'm not sure what."

"That's messed up," he scoffs. I nod and shrug, walking past him and down the stairs. I head to the kitchen and grab a bowl of cereal. Who knows what time it is?

"This is a nightmare after all. Not surprising to me, I guess." We both sit down at the table and Levi glances at me, curiosity streaking his face.

"Hey, has anyone else been in here with you?" I stop mid bite as I look up ever so slightly to see him. His arms are spread out on the table with his hand holding his chin. He's leaning forward out of his chair as he looks at me, shifting nervously. I guess I'm taking too long to answer.

"Once," I mutter after a moment. I hold my hand up when Levi opens his mouth to talk, instructing him to not. I already know what he's going to ask. "His name was Grayson. We were best friends when I was younger."

"Did he just stop being pulled into the nightmare? Where is he?" I sigh and push away my cereal, my stomach churning at the gory thought of Grayson.

"Once you come into this nightmare you don't get out. We learned that the hard way. Grayson thought it wasn't real, nothing could hurt him. He was careless, but mostly in a good way," I let out a dry chuckle. "We were on the move. The thing was close and Gray wanted to see it. He said, "Maybe if we know what it looks like it can't scare us anymore. We won't be trapped in this dream.""

"Michael, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," Levi whispers. I give him a reassuring smile and take a deep breath, the memory becoming vivid in my mind.

"Michael, stop being such a pussy!" Gray snapped. I was too scared to look it in the eyes but Grayson was fearless. He looked danger in the eyes and this was just another thing of proof.

"I don't want to, Gray. What if we get hurt?" I held onto his wrist, begging him to stay. He yanked his arm away scowling at me.

"This isn't real, Mikey. Please come?" Gray looked up at me, pouting and using his puppy eyes. Maybe I was being a pussy. It's a nightmare, what could happen?

"Fine," I mutter. He squeals and wraps his arms around me, yelling 'thank you' over and over.

When it was time to leave and lure the thing to us, we had everything we needed packed into a backpack. Gray was determined to see what the monster looked like. When we got closer to where we could here the growls, he stopped upon noticing my shaky hands. I didn't want to do this.

"Michael, don't worry. Maybe if we see what it looks like it can't scare us anymore. We won't be trapped in this dream." Gray grabbed my shaky hand and kissed the back of it, smiling when I released a big breath.

"Okay." He grabbed my hand and pulled me closer to the thing, it finally realizing that it wasn't alone. We hid behind a tree as it let out a monstrous roar, stomping its feet in our direction.

"When I count to three, we rush onto the road and stare it dead in the eyes. Then it can't scare us!" He whisper shouted. My stomach churned but I nodded along anyways. When the monster got closer Gray began counting.

1...

2... He grabbed my hand, smiling at me. His eyes glowed in the dark mist, a sparkling near black. It was comforting.

3... He ran. I let go of his hand, not able to do it. Gray quickly looked back at me, staring in confusion. It happened so fast I was sure it was a hallucination.

He was turning to run back, maybe grab my hand and pull me into the road. When his eyes met mine he opened his mouth, eyes widening as a sharp spike was thrown into his body. Blood went everywhere as it was pulled out, Grayson falling to the floor, eyes clouded. He didn't even see it coming. I couldn't take my eyes off of him as the monster slammed the spike into his body over and over again. I fell to my knees and let out a quiet sob, staring at Gray's now deformed face.

His brain spilled out of his severed skull, blood coated his face. There was a giant hole in the center of his stomach, his intestines spilling out. One of his legs was severed off of his body, laying on the side of the road closest to me. Immediately I threw up, emptying the contents of my stomach before crawling back to the tree, leaning against it. I don't know if it was because of shock, but I couldn't hear anything anymore. It was silent.

Grayson's body laid dismembered in the middle of the road as I sobbed.

"At some point I fell asleep from exhaustion. I woke up at my house and didn't hear the news until late that night from my parents. I was devastated. When I fell back asleep I was at the tree, but Grayson's body wasn't there anymore. There was no sign that it had even happened."

Levi got up from his chair, rushing over to me and gently pulling me up. He wrapped his arms around me and hugged me as I cried into his shoulder for the second time. He kissed my head and we just stayed there until I calmed down. Even then we stayed put for a while, not letting go of each other. Even after remembering Grayson, Levi calmed me down. I felt warm in his embrace and safe, even though there was a monster out there somewhere. We swayed ever so slightly as Levi kissed the top of my head once again. I sighed in content and hugged him tighter, nuzzling my face in the crook of his neck.

I wanted to stay here forever with him, but as my chest grew warm and fire set inside it I knew we were about to be separated. Levi apparently had caught on as he hugged me tighter and whispered 'goodbye'.

When I came to my pillow was wet with tears and my mind never faded from the thought of Levi. Even as I showered and got dressed. When I got myself a banana and set out to look for a new job. He was on my mind; and once again I found myself itching for nighttime to arrive.