Goretober 2023

Ghosts of the past

Day 6: Haunted

Ended up skipping day 5, didn't really like the prompt
This ones more sweet then anything but at least I ended up writing something for this, I wanted more comfort for once!

---

He was seeing things, he had to have been seeing things, there was no other explanation.

He brought his hands up to his sockets, closing them before rubbing them repeatedly and opening them again. He was gone.

Good, good, Dream was just hallucinating. He probably didn't get enough sleep last night, ya, that was it. He just needed a nap.

Nightmare was long gone. He's been gone for centuries, he should be over it by now. Even if he's only been aware of this for ten years, that's more than enough time for him to mourn.

He shouldn't be seeing his dead brother. He dies after eating those apples, leaving behind the entity he learned to call Corrupted. He couldn't bear to call that parasite by his dead brother's name.

He paces the floor of his house, his hand held in his head while he stares down at the floor.

Maybe, he should take up Swap's offer for a therapist. He needed help from someone if he was beginning to see things.

Maybe some tea would help him calm his nerves, as it normally did. He could think this over while waiting for Ink to return home from whatever he was doing before consulting his opinion on the matter (even if he most likely wasn't going to say something remotely helpful).

He stopped his pacing forcefully, staring ahead at a wall before turning and heading to the small roomy kitchen. Ink didn't eat so it was like he had a kitchen to himself. It was nice at times but he needed to prepare his own meals all the time, sometimes when he was simply too sad he went without and prepared himself to be scolded by Swap when Ink tattled on him.

Stepping into the kitchen he eyed the cover he'd filled with nothing but different types of tea. He was a tea person and didn't like coffee since that one time with the villagers.

He shivered at the mere thought of it.

Opening the cover more harshly than intended he winced, shaking it out of his body before scanning his tea choices.

He wanted something that would help him relax...

Lemongrass was tempting, it helped reduce stress and strengthen immunity but he scanned past it until he found some mint tea bags. Known for their soothing and calming effects, just what he needed.

After taking out one of the bags he closed the drawer and grabbed a kettle and a single teacup.

With the water filled and beginning to boil he went over to another cabinet to grab a bit of honey to put into his tea when it was ready.

When he turned around he almost screamed, dropping the bottle of honey in the process.

In front of him was Nightmare, standing looking up at him with wide eyes.

He was just like Dream remembered him, just like what he looked like before and just minutes before when he appeared for the first time.

They both just stared at each other for a moment before Dream shut his eyes and began to repeat that this wasn't real. Nightmare was dead, he wasn't here.

He was sure he was going crazy.

Not sure how long he kept going on like this until the sudden howl from the tea kettle snapped him out of his trance of panic. Opening up one of his eyes he looked at the spot his brother was standing to find no one.

He breathed a sigh of relief before opening the other and bending down to pick up the bottle of honey.

It wasn't there.

The honey, the only thing he had come over here to grab was nowhere on the floor. Ignoring the water for a minute more he turned back around only to find no honey inside the drawer he checked it.

He could find where his honey went later, he didn't want his water to boil through.

He rushed over to it, quickly taking it off of the burner before pouring some of the hot water into the teacup onto the tea bag that he placed in there. He set the kettle back down onto one of the off-burners before turning off the only one that was being used and staring at the teacup for a little.

Well, not at the teacup but rather the honey that sat just behind it.

Dream was sure that that was not there mere moments ago.

He took a shaky breath, chalking it up to just how out of it he was and turning it upside down to make sure he'd be able to get a good amount. He reached over to a small container and opened it, inside were sugar cubes. With a bit of hesitance, he picked one up and put it beside the tea.

He stared at it all for a good few minutes, waiting for the tea bag to finish seeping. It finished quicker than it felt like but he scooped the bag out, putting his hand under it to stop it from dripping before throwing it into the trash.

When he returned from the trash the sugar cube fell into the tea with a plop. He stilled, staring at something he was sure he didn't do. He wasn't that out of it and Ink still hadn't returned yet. He would have said something like always.

"Nightmare..?" He whispered like he was scared that he'd be killed for even uttering the dead child's name out loud.

There was no answer.

He was going crazy, that was the only conclusion he could come up with.

There was no way he wasn't going insane.

He really needed that tea.

After a moment he shakily let the honey drip into the teacup before taking a spoon to stir the tea and bring it over to the couch to cuddle with a blanket to watch a comfort show.

Maybe he should have made some sleepy tea instead, it was fine. This would help either way, it would help him calm down, and take some tension out of his body while he tried to process what was happening.

He turned the tv on, taking a sip of his piping-hot tea while scrolling through the channels.

Finally, he found what he was looking for, a nature documentary.

Something about them seemed to calm him down, maybe it was something about the way the narrator talked or just seeing all the thriving nature filled with content positivity, he wasn't sure.