Dangerously Sweet (MxM)

Chapter 14

***not edited

Kalen POV:

A bright light assaulted my vision as my eyes opened, causing me to wince. I recoiled back into the fabric encasing me. I groaned from the aching pain resting behind my eyes, only growing worse after the invasion of light. I pressed the heels of my palms into my eyelids, not only for relief from pain but also relief from the images lingering from my nightmare.

The fire.

I could feel a soft yet firm pressure under my body as I came to. My skin was wrapped in a smooth fabric I could only assume was silk. I tugged on the fabric until it gave, to cover half my face from the light filtering through the windows to my left. Once I was able to open my eyes I took in the space around me.

The sheets were a dark grey silk fabric, lightweight and cool. The bed under me was massive. I felt small and frail while lying directly in the middle of the bed, drowning in a sea of darkness. Directly above me was a glass chandelier, accented in gold. The glass pieces reflected light in every direction, making the material glow like fire-

The nightmare flashed through my memory and I squeezed my eyes shut to push it away, turning my head further into the sheet covering me. I noticed a soft voice speaking, but the direction was hard for me to gauge. The room must be large because the sound reverberated around the space endlessly like a thousand people stood around the bed whispering to me.

It made my skin feel cold. 

Suddenly, I was painfully aware that I wasn't lying in my bed. These weren't my sheets wrapped around me, warm and fuzzy. These sheets were cold. The light barging into the room wasn't coming through my bedroom windows. These windows were big, reaching from the floor to the ceiling with dark, thick curtains pushed to the sides. The chandelier hanging above me, reminding me of last night's nightmare, wasn't one I recognized. 

The space around me was not my own.

Now I was no longer just cold, but I was sweating too. Is that possible? To shiver from the chill in your bones but sweat from the dread in your heart? Every inch of my nervous system screamed to take flight. I wasn't safe. 

I will never be safe again, I thought intrusively.

Even though my instinct was to run, to get far from the light, the cold, the unknown, I couldn't. I was stuck. The fear was stronger than the dread, the anxiousness. I was stuck.

The whispering continued. Further now- or closer. I couldn't tell. Everything sounded staticky, almost unreal. 

I forced my eyes open, destined to watch the next events unfold in front of me. 

Across the overly large room, there were two men, standing together in the doorway, speaking softly. In my position, tucked into the bed lying on my side, I was oblivious to the majority of the room. I could see the men though, as they talked.

One was shorter, probably shorter than me, and older. He had grey hairs tangled between his dark brown ones. He was facing into the bedroom, showing me his complete profile. The older man had signs of aging littered over his facial features. The other man faced him, showing me his back. They both wore suits, but the man facing me carried a briefcase with him too. 

The words echoing between them finally started making sense, and I could make out what they were saying.

"I would just give him the day. It was a pretty severe panic attack, but nothing to worry yourself over," the older man spoke. "Be sure he eats well and gets plenty of water, he should feel back to normal by tomorrow," he instructed.