First Punch ➟ Kellic

T W E N T Y F I V E

I wake up feeling absolutely exhausted. The room is pitch black, and I have this sense that something woke me up. Then I hear it, this obnoxious repetitive buzzing. I squint my eyes even though it's dark, looking around for the source when I spot my lit up screen on the floor beside me and everything clicks. Whoever's calling me is damn lucky I'm a light sleeper.

"Hello?" my groggy voice says into the machine, too tired to have checked the contact name.

"Shit," I hear Jake's voice say from the other side. "It's late, I'm sorry. I just had...I thought..." his voice is panicky, his breathing uneven and heavy making me dart into an upright position. "I can't...I need y-..."

"Where are you?" I frantically ask, anxiety flooding through my body as my heart thumps in my chest.

"I'm home, but...Lucas..." he's struggling to get a sentence out and it just makes my worrying so much worse. "I-...can I come over?"

I open my mouth to say yes, but I hesitate. I listen for any noise in the house, praying that everyone had gone to bed.

"Sorry," he mumbles, his breathing all over the place. "I know that...I can't. And...it's late. Just...talk, please. I...I need y-...your voice."

I blush a little at the fact that even something as simple as my voice can help to calm him down. But I have a better idea. I don't hear any noises in the house or see any lights, and I know it's a risk but he's more important than any stupid risk.

"Get your ass over here," I tell him, hoping that a joke will help diffuse the situation. "Do you want me to come meet you? I can be there in like 10 minutes."

"No," he mumbles, his breathing quieting the slightest amount. "I...come to you."

"Okay," I reply, a little out of breath myself. "Okay. Don't hang up. I want you to keep talking to me, can you do that?"

"Y-yeah," his shaky voice replies. "Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me. Just try to breathe, okay? Follow my breathing."

We go quiet for a minute and I take loud, deep breaths. It doesn't seem to help though and he just keeps hyperventilating. I continue to instruct him on breathing and reassuring him that everything's okay and that it wasn't real.

I've never seen him this bad before. Whatever the nightmare was must've been worse than any of the others that I've seen. I'm so concerned now. Not that I wasn't before, but I didn't know they could make him react this way. I've never had a nightmare before, and I didn't realize how scary they can be. I need to figure out how to stop these.

"It was just a dream," I repeat. "Everyone's fine, and I'm right here."

By the time he reaches the home base, his breathing isn't as shaky and sporadic, but he's still fairly out of breath. I'm so fucking worried. I don't know how to help him.

I run down the stairs, still on the phone with him as I whip the door open. I don't know how late it is, but luckily for me, it appears as though everyone's in bed already. Otherwise I don't know what I'd do.

Jake's standing a few steps from the door and I hang up as I run over to him, not even bothering with a greeting before pulling him into a tight embrace. His body is trembling as he hugs me back, his face buried in my shoulder.

"Hey, it's okay," I worriedly coo. "I'm right here."

His fingers dig into my skin, but I hardly even notice as I run my hand up and down his back to try and sooth him. He's really scaring me right now. Jake always tries to put on this strong, confident front, and I know behind it is a struggling little boy. I never knew how scared he really is, and little control he really has. I never knew he could get this hysterical. It's kind of nice that he's willing to show me this side of him though.