Nomad {Editing}

::Epilogue i:: Awake

Bad dreams plagued Charlie. Full of monsters and blood and darkness, he would have tossed and turned. Yet it was as though he was rooted to the spot. It was as though he was stuck in his own personal hell.

And the longer he stayed here, the deeper he sunk into the black hole.

It was soon beginning to feel like there was no way out.

Panic split his skull open, filling him with pain like fire running through his veins. To the point where he was astonished it didn't melt through his wrists and kill him. He didn't think it was possible to survive this kind of pain.

Opening his lips to scream, his voice was stolen before it even left his lips. Leaving behind only the aftermath of hoarseness and sharp pain, as though someone had rubbed his throat raw with sand paper.

Fear tore him apart, wide eyed he looked around. Am I dead? Is this hell?

He could only pray that this wasn't the case. He didn't know if he could survive this for an eternity. Charlie had never been a particularly tough person, his brothers had always had to look out for him. Ever a disappointment to his father to this effect, but he was the third born son so as far as the King was concerned. He didn't care.

What did I do? What on earth could he have done to end up here he wasn't sure.

Logic tried to play its part even in his agony. He couldn't be dead, pain like this couldn't have been reserved even for the depths of hell. It was thoughts like this which let him hold onto his sanity, for the time being at least.

Pain was something the young boy had been very unused to in his life. Protected at every corner and every turning, the worst he had known was a graze to the knee or a particularly uncomfortable illness.

This was something entirely different, and it felt almost entirely crippling.

It seemed to light his every crevice and every inch, nothing was left untouched by the fire which seemed to shoot through his veins. The epicentre seemed to be deeper in his brain then he knew existed.

From this same place, the horrendous nightmares seemed to linger and explore.

The monsters lighting his mind were all too human, faces that should have felt familiar but were in some way distorted in a way beyond what his brain could fully understand. He knew only one thing for certain, and that was that he had to get as far away from them as possible. They were a threat and they wanted him dead.

Even if he didn't know how or why.

And he had no way to either protect himself, or fend them off. He was alone in this hell.

Dragging himself to his feet in spite of the pain which begged for him to stay lying there, to let death take him if it meant that he would be free from this agony. He ran, pushing on with a speed he didn't now he possessed. Terrified of the strangers who seemed to lurk ever closer no matter how fast he went.

It was this fear of the unknown which was making it feel like he was losing his grip on sanity.

Forcing himself on, even as he tripped over what seemed to be an infinite number of hands reaching out, grabbing at him pulling at him. He ran on, allowing the tears to tumble down his cheeks as terror quickly began to overwhelm his small form.

With a wail of terror, he managed to kick past one particular set which threatened to grab and keep him. He pushed on, but it was soon becoming more and more impossible, no matter how hard he tried.

At last his feet were pulled from beneath him and he landed with a hard thump.

The sound seemed to ricochet across the walls, until the echo of his failure was inescapable.