The Rain

Chapter 7

Tw: Panic attack, self harm, blood

During the night, Tommy woke up sweaty. His nightmares had returned. He thrashed in the blankets that were wrapped around his body. Kicking and waking Wilbur up in the process. Once Tommy got free he stood to his feet and jumped away from the fire, it wasn't helping his situation much. He sat behind the couch, gripping his hair tightly and whispering things to himself. Trying his best to calm himself down like he'd done many times before.

The words from his nightmare echoed around his head and were louder than everything else. He couldn't even hear himself. Tommy snapped out of it when a hand reached out to touch his shoulder. Reacting negatively Tommy flung his legs out before crawling away and swinging the front door open. Cold air surrounded Tommy's body and filled him with relief. He stood completely still in the doorway. Letting the cold wind hug his body. It calmed Tommy more than he thought it would, and it was just air.

Tommy fell to his knees and instantly regretted it. There was no longer cold air touching the back of his legs from the way he sat. It upset him. He reached out to the door frame and used it to help himself up. His eyes were blurry but he wasn't sure why. They were sore and hurt him. But his mind was focused on the cold breeze.

Strong weights wrapped around his body and took the airs touch from him. He fought whatever was holding him and fell to the floor to crawl from the hold. To his surprise it worked and Tommy found himself standing on the damp grass in no time. The cold air was hugging his body, making it feel warm. But again Tommy just stood still, letting the air touch him. He was mindlessly staring at the moon. The clouds had moved to give him a good view of it, although they covered it almost as quick as it came.

Again Tommy's eyesight blurred, but this time his body felt heavy. The breeze no longer had the warm, calming touch it had just moments ago. Instead it felt like millions of small ants crawling up Tommy's arms and legs. Biting him and leaving small marks behind. When Tommy rubbed his arms to warm up he only freaked out feeling the many small lumps covering his arm. He began to aggressively scratch at his arms. Going as far as drawing blood. He just wanted the ants off.

Cuffs wrapped around Tommy's wrists and forced his arms away from each other. He wailed and tried to scratch at his arms again but his attempts were useless. Chains wrapped around Tommy's torso and binded tightly together. The tight restraint only panicked Tommy more and he struggled to move them off. Only his hands were still being held back.

"T...T-..TO-.....TOM-"

Tommy's hearing became clearer.

"T-...TOMMY-...BREA-TH!"

"BREATH!"

Tommy listened to the voice and took big breaths. Each breath he took hurt his chest and it came out with great difficulty. Shaking and ripping at his rib cage like some sort of caged animal needing more. His lungs were begging for bigger breathes that he couldn't supply. It hurt each time he did, why would he continue? Tommy held his breath and felt slight relief take over his chest.

"NO TOMMY! BREATH!"

His chest began to burn and his lungs felt like they were slowly shrivelling up in his chest. Panicking Tommy took another big breath in. Feeling instant relief from his shrivelling lungs but yet pain shoot up his chest. One after another, breathing, slowly became less painful.

The cuffs holding his wrists released him and his arms fell weakly by his side. The chains around his torso tightened sending Tommy back into a panicked state. Now having his hands free and clawed at the chains. He begged them to disappear and they did. Slowly the chains dropped and released him. Finding a rhythm with his breathing he focused on it. Tapping his foot along with it, like it was some sort of melody.

A cold breeze hit Tommy's body again, sending the millions of small ants, Tommy just got rid of, back to him. His hands instantly dropped to the other and mindless started to scratch again. The ants were causing him discomfort and pain, he just wanted them gone. The cuffs took Tommy's hands again and let the ants crawl down his shirt and onto his stomach.

Beginning to panic again he put all his weight onto the cuffs leaving him dangling above the ground for a moment. He brought his legs to his chest and kicked at the cuffs as hard as he could. To his surprise they let go and Tommy fell to the floor.

He landed with a grunt and a pain shot up his back from the hard soil. When he opened his eyes again his eyes darted around himself. Instead of broken chains and a pair on hand cuffs sitting on the ground near him. He saw Wilbur with blood dripping down his arm. He was sitting on the ground looking at Tommy with wide worried eyes. Then Tommy turned and saw Techno. He had a hand over his nose. Small drops of red liquid fell into the dirt. That's when it clicked in Tommy's head. There were no chains or cuffs.

Tommy looked down at his arms in a rush. Instead of millions of dark coloured ants crawling along his body, trails of blood from his forearms dripped down to his fingers and onto the grass. Were there ever ants? "Don't!" Techno said sternly seeing Tommy look down at his arms. He thought Tommy was going to start up again.

Tommy's hands began to shake and he couldn't stop his thoughts. The breeze wasn't helping him this time. Tommy hurt both of his foster brother. "I-..." his mouth shut itself before he could even say anything. Licking his lips, determined to say something Tommy opened his mouth. But when he tried to speak not even a peep came out. He was staring at his shaking hands with his mouth agape.

"Tommy? Techno? Wil?" Tommy knew that voice, but his body refused to turn. It refused to move. He was stuck looking at his bleeding arms while he shook uncontrollably. "What happened?" Tommy could see Phil out of the corner of his eye help Wilbur to his feet. "Tommy?" Phil was suddenly infront of Tommy. He would've flinched, but his body didn't even move to do that.

Slowly, Phil softly grabbed Tommy's hands and put them by his sides, out of his view. "It's ok" Phil smiled. "Breath, it's alright" he said letting go of Tommy's hands and slowly placing his own on Tommy's shoulders. Making sure not to spook him.

"I-... I-I'm-" Tommy's breathing only picked up when he tried to speak. "No-No-No-No-No, it's alright, you're fine" Phil said trying his best to calm Tommy down. "Look at me Tommy" Tommy couldn't. He wanted to. He wanted to put his trust in a family for once, but he hadn't even been here for long and already caused many problems for the family. Phil used his finger to slowly tilt Tommy's head up. "I'm here Tommy, it's ok..."

Tommy's knees gave out under him and his arms wrapped around Phil's neck. Phil hugged Tommy and got to his feet, placing Tommy's legs around his torso so he'd be comfortable. In silence Phil walked back into the house while Tommy sobbed into his shoulder.