The 'nerd' is dangerous

Nightmares

A heartbreaking cry echoed towards me. I was standing in the same clothes as the night of the accident, on the side of the road. Everything was silent aside from the desperate cries of a petrified child, the screaming was male yet extremely young, almost like a baby's. As the voice cried out once more it registered in my mind. It was Andrew.

My body worked automatically, my bare feet hitting the tarmac with each rushed step. I had never ran so fast in my life as I sprinted towards the terrified cries of my baby. My mind going through every worst possibility of what was happening to him. I yelled out to him but what replied made my blood run cold and my nerves spike.

"Mama!"

As I saw the scene before me I was conflicted, the instinct to protect my child compared to the fear of seeing the pile up in front of me. My grey car an utter wreck, the bumper crushed with the hood smashed up to my equally ruined windscreen. The other car, a small red vehicle was in an even worse condition with two visible bodies, a male and a female. The woman in her seat, her head smashed against the window, dried blood poured down like wine, her arms at awkward angles, the bone sticking out of one arm. The man had been propelled out of the car, a jagged hole in the windscreen, his body still and mangled, his body stabbed from the glass and his head at an unnatural angle face down on the road.

The cries far louder, each brawling sob was as if I was being punctured in the chest with the glass from the cars. The sounds engraved into my brain as I looked for my son. The sounds clearly coming from within my car, in the backseat.

"Baby, it's okay, I'm here." I assured him as I shook myself out of my terrified state, ignoring the glass tearing into the soles of my bare feet I moved closer to my car.

"Mama!" The cry increasing in terrified desperation as I approached. Seeing the ever so slightly moving body of my child.

As I prized the jammed door, I grabbed my son in my arms. His ripped arm clasped around my thin top.

"Thank you...Mama." The voice distorted into a demonic tone as it spoke the last word.

In confused horror I looked down at my son and what I saw made me stumble backwards frantically, my hands over my mouth in shock, tears streaming down my face as I began to hyperventilate. Wreaking sobs filling the air as I looked at the monster before me.

The mangled body of Andrew with it's face utterly altered. Its mouth was covered in a sheet of bloodied flesh, no opening for speech. His eyes were missing, instead replaced my a empty eye socket dripping with blood. His small arms taloned, the one not stuck in the smashed interior of the car, reached out to me as if seeking comfort.

"Mama. Please help me." The creature called out from its sealed mouth.

"No..." I shuddered out as I staggered back once more.

"Save me mama. I'm scared. Please help me mama."

"You're not–no." I replied in terror.

"Why won't you save me mama. Don't you love me anymore?" It mocked cruelly from the car, his voice cracking with fear in between echoing cries as the monster copied his voice.

"I do! But–You...You're not my son." I dropped to the floor.

My exposed skin turning sticky from the pooled blood as it seeped into the fabric it could reach. My body entire body shaking as I cried.

"Why did you leave me mama. You left me alone mama. I'm scared on my own."

I continued to cry hysterically as the abomination called out to me in the form of my son. my brain swirling in its confusion and horror.

"You killed me mama! YOU KILLED ME!" It screamed with its true gravelly inhumanly low voice, the sound echoing through the air and chilling me to the bone.

The door of the car slamming open with a thundering smack as it flew against the other car, hitting the female corpse directly, my petrified wail escaping as I tried to scramble away as the voice began to cackle menacingly, its voice like lightning to my soul.

I shot up in bed, panting as if I had just ran a marathon. My heart pounding in my chest as I cried, not even noticing my dad on the side of my bed with an anxious look on his face. After my panic attack subsided, it took me almost half an hour to stop crying completely.

"It's alright kiddo. It's alright." He rubbed my back comfortingly.

I collapsed into him, wrapping my arms in a harsh hug, he pulled me off with a comment about hurting my ribs any further.

"Let's get you some hot chocolate." He helped me up before we both went downstairs at a painstakingly slow pace, my feet dragging as I took each heavy step.

I sat silently at the kitchen island, my dad quickly making two mugs of hot chocolate with marshmallows floating on the surface as he brought it over to me. He leant against the island as I sipped at the boiling liquid, blowing on it constantly as I waited for it to cool.

"Was it about the crash?"

"No–yes. A crash." I admitted as I cradled the mug in my hands, the heat warming my skin like a comforting hug.

"Were you driving in the nightmare?"

"No."

At the hospital I had already explained to him about the dreams I was having during my coma which the doctor talked to us about being uncommon but not impossible. I hadn't gone into much detail about it other than hearing Colton talking and seeing Elle's teddy bear popping up at random times. I gave him a fast rundown of the dream after explaining about Drew in my coma dream which he took extremely well all things considered.

"Well seeing any of my kids injured is hard to bare, halloween costumes is enough for me. I'm sure it's the same for you, even if it was in your coma honey." He reassured me.

I smiled weakly at him before taking a large gulp of my drink.

"I think you are hanging onto the fact that there is a possibility that he is real. I know he might feel like he was but...it's not possible Anna."

"I know...It's just–" I sighed, not looking at him but knowing he had an eyebrow raised and a piercing expression on his face. "I want him to be, part of me and Colton."

"And you will have that, one day. Drew was a coma fantasy, he can't be real, not really. Have you told Colton about it?"

"That when I was in a coma I fantasied that he was murdered by a rival gang and I had his kid who's now terrorising my dreams? No, He'll think it's stupid." I flailed my arms around as I stressed.

"He may be an idiot in a few aspects but I don't think he will, try talking to him, it might work."

"How do you know?" I looked at him in confusion but I got in return was a smug knowing look from behind his mug.

"You should get to bed kiddo, you have an early start."

"In 4 hours." I looked that the clock glaring down at me.

After he left the room and I had downed the rest of the warm drink, I procrastinated sleeping for over half an hour before I decided that instead of going to sleep I'd work out.

I spent just over three hours in our home gym punching the hanging punch bag after warming up. Each punch was calculated and purposeful as I poured all of my energy into it, not even realising how fast the time went until my alarm to wake up rang through my mind.

I showered and did the rest of my morning routine before heading to school with a new sense of determination to talk to Colton about what was going on recently, part of me begging silently that he would understand.