Sincerely Me (A Jeff the Killer Story)

Chapter Twelve~*

1- Jamie

Darkness. That's all that is around me. I try to breathe but the air feels thick and heavy. My lungs clench in my chest from the effort. Something crackles in the distance and I turn, only to be met with a huge wall of fire. There's a lantern in my hands and I realize the fire is my fault. I started this.

Smoke billows into my face and I start to cough. The fire creeps closer to me, making me take a few steps back. Branches fall from trees, their limbs covered in fire that lights up the dark forest. In the back of my mind, something tells me to run, to get out of here and go to safety, but I don't move except to fall to my knees. My vision starts to go dark and, as if I have no control of myself, I feel my body slowly lower itself down. I keep my eyes open to watch as the fire devours everything in it's wake.

Jeff steps out into my line of sight. Before I can move or do anything, he waves at me from in front of the flames and jumps in, his grin seeming to stay behind. My mouth opens to scream for him but that only allows more smoke to assault me. I cough, trying to rid myself of the poisonous gas even though it seems to be all that is around me. A hand touches my cheek and a person with a white mask turns me to look at them. My heart catches in my chest as I find myself looking at death.

The mask twists into a smile and No body puts a finger to her mouth in a gesture for me to be quiet. I try to pick myself up to get away from her but I can't find the strength to do so. Suddenly, No body disappears, only to reappear by a tree that's on fire, with Gold by her side. Gold screams my name right as No body knocks him out and drops him to the ground. I hold my hand out to him, mouthing his name, trying to reach him as the fire gets closer and closer to the both of us.

I'm trying to pick myself up when I feel arms grab ahold of me and lift me up. My eyes can barely stay open at this point but I can still find the strength to point at Gold lying on the ground and call his name. The person holding me turns from Gold and starts to run away, holding me close. I want to fight and protest, but everything started going dark and my limbs felt weak. The last thing I saw before my eyes shut was Gold standing in front of the fire, his flesh melted and body deformed.

2- Jamie

I wake up screaming with someone holding me down.

"Jamie! Calm down, it was just a dream."

I keep thrashing, trying to throw the person off me and they jump back, getting out of my reach. I'm sitting up and grabbing for my scythe when the lights flick on and I see Darcy standing by the switch, looking ruffled and pissed. My hand rests on my scythe as we look at each other, waiting for one of us to make a move. She moves first; she crosses the room and sits by me on the bed. I watch her closely, not moving my hand from my scythe.

Darcy faces me, pushes my hair out of my face, then pulls me into a hug. I lay my head on her shoulder and curl up against, trying to stop shaking. She murmurs comforting words in my ear and, after a few minutes, I stop shaking and loosen up. When she was sure I was calm, she pulls away and look at me closely. Suddenly embarrassed, I look away.

"I think you should go downstairs. The boys are playing in the living room." I nod in response and she gets up to leave. "But take a shower before you go down. You're covered in sweat and that can't be comfortable."

I only look up at Darcy to watch as she closes the door behind her. It's silent for a few seconds before I hear her walk away and go down the stairs. It takes me a few seconds more before I can work past my embarrassment and get up to shower. I jump in as soon as the water turns warm and sit beneath the stream, letting the water hit my back.

This isn't the first time Darcy has found me after a nightmare. She's been walking in on me having these stupid nightmares every night since the fire. The first time she walked in was merely a coincidence. She said she was on her way to the roof but I know that what she was really doing was checking up on me. After the first night, she moved into a room on the thirteenth floor, since most of the floor is empty. Now she's gotten into the habit of comforting me after one of the nightmares.