Dawn Hollow

XXV

Time was truly a twisted illusion in the face of tragedy. Seconds become minutes, minutes become hours, and hours strangely whipped around the clock like a whirling tornado because nothing was as it seemed. Chaos floods and fills the air just as much as the exhaustion of it all. Nothing worked to distract the mind either. It was constantly running with worries and fears, unmade tales of the impossible that made the anxious brain squirm. Common tongue didn't even make sense. Words were jumbled, swished, and misunderstood. Life was a whirlpool, and when it had you inside, you were never let go.

His eyes kept moving in their dreaming state. Nightmares per usual, but they seemed more vivid. He dreamt of screaming, terror, and blood-covered walls. White bricks of a palace he barely knew coated in a thick icing of human insides. The dancing lights made him dizzy. Every time one of the lights went dark, he felt himself fall deeper into the darkness of the nightmares. All of the things he saw he could nearly feel too. The sensation of the flesh-tearing, the bones snapping, and the blood running through his hands. A king that had lost his kingdom in a day from war brought on by his own mistakes. It kept flooding over and over until it disappeared.

And everything was gone.

Subtle struggles escaped his lips, mind, and body in sync to wake up. The tips of his nerves to the center of his core slowly began to regain sensations. With hair uncomfortably rubbed against something warm and scratchy, head sunken into whatever was in between the warmth. His body was on a partially lower level, back aching and legs numb from the dull throb in his spine. His hands had needles in them that made them shake. He was restless and asleep but slowly becoming awake.

"Kane? Can you hear me?" PJ's voice faded in and out, "Just breathe, okay? You have to wake up. We can only help you if you wake up. And I know it might be difficult right now, but focus on your senses. Let that guide you back, okay? Everything will be okay. You will be okay."

The boy's eyes squinted one last time before fluttering opening. Above him loomed a blurry PJ, a bright smile greeting him into the waking world. Arms uneasy, the remains of his strength worked to push him upwards. PJ lowered him into his shoulder to lean on him when he noticed him struggling to keep himself still.

Half-closed eyes gazed around the room, an unfamiliar sight facing him in his disoriented state, but it was filled with familiar friends. Joseph and Erica were sitting on the ground together, cuddled and holding on to their skin like they'd vanish if not. Noah was across from them, leaning against the wall with his arms crossly folded together.

"Wh-Where are we?" Kane slurred, confused.

"Hey, it's okay; be still. We're at your old house. Melinda was the only person I could think of who'd be willing to take us in without reporting us. So we're in your old bedroom, okay?" PJ explained.

"W-Wha? Report us? What happened?"

"Depends. What do you remember?" Noah spat, looking out the window.

"Noah! Watch your tongue! I know what we went through was awful, but it couldn't have been any better for him!" Joseph shamed with just an eye roll from the twin.

"Oh please, Joseph! Don't give him any pity! He got us into this mess!"

"That's no reason to be an asshole!" Erica snapped.

"I don't...I don't understand, wh-what happened?" Kane asked again, barely following along.

"Well, what do you actually remember?" PJ posed to him. His eyes phased out in the uncertain madness that was the previous night's memories.

"It's really fuzzy, but I understand what happened."

"Well, what the fuck does that mean?" Noah asked.