Our Eternal Ruin (Auslly)

2. The beginning

Weakness is just pain leaving the body.

Five Months Earlier

~Ally~

I repeated the same mantra over and over again until I thought I was going to lose my mind.

It wasn't real.

I was having the nightmare again.

It wasn't real.

Never a good sign when you wake yourself up because you're screaming so loud.

Footsteps neared the door and then it burst open, revealing my roommate, you know, the one I just met a few hours ago.

"Are you okay?" She took a tentative step through the door and crossed her arms. "I heard screaming."

Right. I was a freak. I wanted a fresh start, and what did I get?

A gold star for traumatizing my roommate, the only friendly face I'd met since arriving at the University of Miami.

"Um, yeah." I managed to keep my voice from shaking. "I know it's weird but I still have night terrors."

At the look of disbelief on her face, I added quickly, "But only when I'm really stressed out."

And when I'm on heavy medication, but I left that part out.

"Oh." She licked her lips and looked back out into the hallway. "Do you want me to sleep on the floor or something? I mean, I will if you're scared."

Bless her southern hospitality-filled heart.

"No." I smiled. "I'm good. I hope I didn't scare you."

"Yeah, well..." Cassidy waved me off. "I didn't really like that lamp in my room anyways."

"My screaming broke a lamp?" I cringed.

"No." She shook her head. "My fall broke the lamp. Seems jumping out of your bunk bed at one in the morning's a contact sport. My lamp being the main target. No worries." She sighed. "It didn't suffer. It shattered on contact with the floor. And then again after I slipped on the teddy bear that also fell. And that's great since it broke my fall onto the floor, making it so I escape with two faint bruises."

I covered my face with my hands.

"Holy crap! I'm so sorry!"

"Nah, it's fine. I'm a walking accident." She laughed. "But if you plan on screaming all night, I'm taking the floor. My lamp killing days are behind me."

Smiling, I nodded. "Sure. I just... I don't want you to—"

"Stop apologizing." smile was warm and inviting "Oh, and I sleepwalk so if you wake up to me standing over you, try not to punch me in the face."

"Wow, we're sure a fun pair."

She grabbed a blanket from my bed and threw it onto the floor. "You know those little comment sections in the housing part of registration?"