Episode 16: I Dream Of Danger

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Darkness, nighttime. The Swellview Zoo, in the lion's den. I can hear them snarling beneath me as I scream and cling to the rockface for dear life. I don't know how I got here; I don't know why I'm here, and I don't know if I'm going to get out of it.

Looking down from on high, I can see the beast pacing the enclosure, waiting for me to fall to my doom, straight into its awaiting jaws for supper. I can't help the terrified scream that pierces the night air, and for a moment, I don't even realise that it's me making the noise until ragged breaths tear from my throat to soothe the burning in my lungs.

This is it. This is how I die, but I won't be trounced when I still have so much to live for. I take a step, grappling for friction with movements that sap my energy bit by bit. It's no use; I can't pull myself up, not when my arms lack the power of those heroes who surround me.

"I should lift weights more," I grunt, feeling my limbs give up when I try to pull myself higher and away from those gnashing teeth of the lion below me. Maybe it would be best to let it have me; that's the circle of life, and it's not like anyone was going to help me. I am completely and utterly alone.

Or so I thought.

"You mean ever?" A jokingly cocky voice asks me from above, and I look up to the sky, not in prayer this time, and I see him. Henry, the kid I've known since, well...forever.

But right now, he's not my best friend, but the superhero's sidekick who's going to save me, and it is the most extraordinary relief of my life to see him standing there with that arrogant smirk.

I shout his name, begging him to save me, and my hand reaches to grasp his garish red and blue uniform so I can haul myself up. He's pompous as usual; his head has always been huge since Ray gave him the job, but he's still sweet and generous, so he gladly obliges, saying, "I know. It's why I'm here and why I lift weights."

If I weren't clinging to the enclosure so hard, I would've smacked that smirk off his face, but all I can manage is an eye roll as he offers me his hand. I gratefully take it, and with incredible strength that I didn't know he had, he pulls me up--singlehandedly and without even breaking a sweat. A weightless feeling comes over me as I leap over the lip of the rock, his hands on my waist, so I don't slip, and then my feet are back on solid ground. It's all thanks to Henry Hart.

It's dizzying to think of how close I came to death, but it's even more so to look up and see Henry's soft eyes gazing into mine. His hands don't leave the top of my hips, and I'm sure I should be separating from him by now, but I don't; instead, when the lion roars at losing its dinner, my form presses against him to smother my shivers.

"Shut up, lion! I'm in the middle of something here..." his voice changes from harsh when addressing the creature to as soft as silk when he turns to me, and it takes all of my strength not to gasp when he does.

This feeling; (y/n) always says that when she first met Ray, her heart felt like it was flying, and it took her breath with it. That falling in love with him was like meeting a part of her she didn't know was missing. She says it was a feeling of helplessness because all of a sudden, no one else in the world mattered but the guy standing in front of her, the forbidden lover she wanted but couldn't have. And now, I know what she means.

I shouldn't want Henry Hart. He's my best friend, and I've known him since, well, forever, but right now, he isn't my best friend, but the handsome boy leaning in to kiss me. And, despite how wrong it is, I find myself leaning in too...

~

Charlotte jolted awake, plagued by the dream she'd been having for days. How long had it been since she'd slept properly? She couldn't tell anymore; the mornings, afternoons and nights were blending into long hours of restlessness that led to her nodding off in the most inappropriate places, only to wake up when she reached that disturbing scene again.

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