Frailty (Tweek x Craig)

4

The branch at the base of the tree was lifted just enough to trip him as he ran. Tweek knew this was it. Finally, after all this time, they were going to catch him.

Tweek couldn't find his voice to form a scream as the darkness closed around him, muffling any source of hope with their suffocating grasps. He could see, only barely, the spiraling, red eyes that belonged to the loudest one; it grinned with excitement at his struggling.

It caressed the scratches he'd made earlier that day, the stinging causing his body to rise against the torture. He couldn't get away. He didn't have control over anything as it made the scratches deeper, ripping open the wounds until they were oozing blood again.

Screaming into the shadow formed around his mouth, Tweek thrashed against the thing that wanted to control him.

He didn't want it to. It couldn't have him.

The shadow didn't care what he wanted, it didn't budge as Tweek used the rest of his strength kicking at the invincible demon. Shaking and sweating from fighting for his life, Tweek couldn't move away as it leaned down to whisper with it's cold breath in his ear: "You will never win. We will devour you whole!"

Somehow, Tweek's eyes snapped open.

Sitting up in his soaked sheets, he could still feel the icy presence of the shadow. Tweek rocked back and forth as he continued to shake, enveloped completely in a cold sweat. The terror that thing brought to him was real, but Tweek wasn't sure how much of it was just in his head.

It didn't matter.

What mattered now was cleaning up the mess he made before his parents noticed. If they were going to notice anything, it would be something like this, and that's the last thing he wanted. Tweek knew they'd just send him off to a psychiatric hospital, and never look back.

Hot liquid spilled down his arms as he stood up, the blood beginning to drip down his fingers as he stared at the scene in shock. Not only was his dream extremely painful, but he had inflicted that pain upon himself. Again! Tweek muffled his sobs as he inspected the wounds. It made his stomach churn.

His nightmares were trying to rip him apart.

Dwelling on this made it seem much more real than he wanted to admit, so Tweek bundled his sheets in his arms, and quietly made his way to the basement. He could take care of that one thing. Every other problem though? He was fucked.

Dryly chuckling at himself when he successfully made it back to the main floor with zero interruptions, Tweek wondered if anyone else his age soaked their sheets with sweat from night terrors. Even though most of the people he thought were his friends turned on him, Tweek wouldn't want them to go through something like this.

Fully awake now, Tweek started a pot of coffee. He glanced at the clock on the microwave, the pit in his stomach growing larger as he realized he only managed to sleep for about four hours. But, he refused to rehash the same thoughts that'd been plaguing him for a decade now.

Thinking back to the previous night when he was out with Kenny and Butters, he wondered why they were hanging around him. Based on their lack of judgment, Tweek was curious about what happened in their lives.

Kenny made sure to add him to a group chat before they departed, too. And now, Tweek couldn't stop thinking about it. He needed a distraction.

His phone sat on the counter, a black screen staring back at him as he gnawed on his bottom lip. Well.. I'll try not to fuck this up. But what if they hate me? Or what if they're only talking to me to get information about me?! And then they'll tell everyone how fucking pathetic I am!