[WEEKLY] Same dream

Being a child, walking and holding someone's hand… then searing pain over, and over and over again-

Ori shoots up out of his bed, hyperventilating. Its the same dream again, its always the same fucking dream.

Breathe… Breathe. Breathe.

You’re still hyperventilating. Goddamnit. Okay okay okay,

Five things you see. What do you see?

String lights on the walls. Your glasses on the nightstand. Your favorite pillow, it looks like a jack-o-lantern. The horror movie posters on the walls. Bat stickers on the ceiling, they glow in the dark! You see the eyes staring at you…

No no no, not real. Breathe. Four things you feel. What do you feel?

You feel, pain in your arm. No, no, don't focus on it. What else? You feel… your knitted blankets on your legs. You feel the wind coming in from the open window, you really should close that. You feel your sheets under your hand, they have a spiderweb pattern. Hand…

Don't think about it. You're okay. Breathe. Three things you hear.

You hear, white noise, static. Can you even hear anything at all?

Stop. Breathe, you are safe. Focus on the real sounds. You hear, you hear… crickets it's late at night… not dawn yet. Safe, you're safe.

What else do you hear? Two more things.

You hear: the wind outside rustling the trees, it's been very windy lately. The only thing you can focus on is the sound of your breathing. It's… slowing down, you're calming down. Just keep going please.

Two things you can smell. Breathe in, Breathe out.

Cinnamon. The smell is everywhere, your favorite. It’s hard to smell anything under it. But you focus. You can smell the crisp air outside, it's moving into autumn. You love autumn, but the dreams are always the worst during it. The dream…

No stop. One thing you taste. Last thing, you're safe.

You taste... how gross and dry your mouth is, ew.

It pulls you to reality. you're in bed. You’re safe, you’re home.

Ori breathes out, clutching his pillow tightly.

“I’m safe, I'm fine, I'm… I'm fine.” He manages to find his voice after what felt like years. You need to call someone. Him, it's late, will he be mad? He told you to call him if the dreams get really bad, but it's just been so long.

It’ll be fine, he just has a temper, It’ll be okay. He’ll protect you.

…Right?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ori paces around the entryway of the house, constantly checking outside. Hopefully he gets here soon, he always knows what to do. Suddenly, the front door opens, scaring the absolute shit out of Ori. 

Holy fucking shit, this dude is allergic to knocking.

“Do you not know how to lock doors, child?” Aniol says while inviting himself inside, closing the door roughly behind him. 

You unlocked it earlier when you called him, should you not’ve? You were trying to show him you… it doesn't matter, don't bring it up.

“Oh! I uh, unlocked it just a few minutes ago… I'm sorry. Thank you for coming though, I know it’s late-” Ori starts to speak, quickly getting cut off.

“It certainly is. I'm a busy person, you best feel lucky I've given you the time.” 

You shouldn't have called. He’s busy, you know that. All this over a stupid nightmare- 

Stop, stop, stop. Stop. It's okay, he said it was okay, you're okay, he promised to help you. 

Aniol stands up straight, unwavering stare on Ori. 

Ih god, oh god, is he mad? He must be mad. 

He sighs. 

“Let's sit down and get you calmed. Tell me what happened. You know I’ll always listen.” 

Aniol grabs Ori’s arm bringing him over to the couch in the living room, it feels like Ori is a guest in his own house.

“Yeah,” Ori sits down next to Aniol taking a deep breath 

“Thank you again for coming all the way down here- I” 

Don't think about it. Don't. Think about it. 

Ori’s voice quivers, Aniol doesn't change his expression.

“Same dream?”

“…Ye-Yeah, same dream it” Ori breathes in 

“It always shows up around this time of year. I, I don't know what to do.” Staring at the floor Ori tries to calm himself. 

Please don't cry around him, he already deals with so much- If you do it's okay, it’s okay to cry. He's here to help. Right?

“It's just, it's just… so vivid, and feels so real. It's so scary, and you-” Ori starts to choke up, it's hard to think about it. Aniol is silent, staring. 

“You always know what to do, so I- I just, I'm scared.” Ori grabs his pant leg, trying to ground himself. 

It's so scary. It's so scary. Breathe, breathe. Breathe. you're okay it's just a dream. 

After a bit of nerve-wracking silence Aniol speaks up. 

“It’s good you called me. It's normal for children to have bad dreams. I’m so glad you trust me enough to talk about it.” 

Children? does he see me as a child- ? No no of course not… He just… he does act like a parent sometimes. I think it's just that, he doesn't mean it literally. Right, right, right, stupid, always overthinking. 

Aniol puts a hand on Ori’s shoulder. A spike of panic shoots through him, he doesn't think about it.

“I know you always love exploring things unknown to you. why don't we talk all about it, I can help you.” Aniol looks at him expectantly. I- you have told him about it before, did he forget? No- no he wouldn't would he?

“I, I thought I've told you about it before?” Ori mumbles, avoiding eye contact. You swear you've told him before. there's no way you haven't right? Aniol hums, tilting his head.

“You haven't, all you have mentioned is a bad dream of yours. I’ve asked before and you never elaborated.” Aniol pauses, then hums again. “I don't know what you are talking about, are you feeling alright Ori?” What, what, what what. You swear you’ve- you must have told him it before- but he. he wouldn't lie to you would he? no no of course not I guess you just misremembered. stupid stupid stupid.

“oh- no no I'm okay I guess I just misremembered- I'm sorry” Ori looks up at Aniol quickly looking away, he can't stand his stare. Breathe. Aniol hums again. Why does he keep doing that? It, it doesn't matter. your being rude not explaining it.

“Well, go on then. Since you've come to your senses. Go on, tell me about it.” Aniol keeps his stare, silence follows after. Ori has to speak.

“Yeah, okay, yeah. It’s um hard to talk about so ill- ill do my best.”

“Of course. I expect no less.”

“Its” Ori pauses. you need to collect yourself, breathe. “It's always the same. It's me I think- when when I'm younger. Around 9 maybe? yeah, yeah that seems right.” Breathe. “…and I’m walking somewhere, holding someone's hand.” Breathe, deep breath you're okay. Ori reaches his arm up to grab his left shoulder, reminding himself there is nothing past that.

“Holding someone's hand… with my left, hand. I- I don't know where we are going but all I know is after a bit. There's just.” His voice starts to quiver again, eyes blurring from tears. Aniol has no response, Ori needs to keep going.

“just- suddenly I'm alone and there's searing pain in my… in- where my arm would be. its I cant see anything, but I can feel it. I can feel my arm being gone and the pain from it… even, even though I'm dreaming it- it feels so, so real.” your okay your okay your okay- No matter what Ori tried to do to calm himself, it didn't work. The tears still came, and so did the panic. breathe. breathe. breathe. 

“Well, it's just a dream isn't it? you're alright, calm down.” Aniol had no reaction to Ori’s distress, He never does. He's right. you're being stupid, it's just a dream. Why are you like this? Thankfully he’s here to make sure you stay in touch with reality.

“Besides, you can't feel pain in dreams, that's impossible. It’s very obviously just your brain trying to fill in the blanks, and you're prone to more gruesome imagination.” Aniol states flatly, he’s not impressed. It- it feels so real though- don't. Don’t be stupid he’s right. Obviously you can't feel pain in dreams, you're just overreacting.

“You don't know how you lost your arm and the unknown is scary, but just remind yourself it's ridiculous and obviously not what happened. You are so creative.” Aniol laughs. it stings. He doesn't take it seriously. ridiculous? ridiculous… yeah it- it is he’s right.

“So stop being ridiculous, you're fine. I'm so glad you told me though, maybe we can work on your more imaginative ideas” He laughs again.

Why is he laughing? Is it really that stupid? it must be, you're just overreacting again. Stupid Stupid Stupid. Why must you bother him with such stupid things?

“Yeah- yeah you're right I'm sorry, I just am being stupid. Thank you.” Aniol’s still laughing quietly, Ori’s tears have reduced to eyes watering. You feel so stupid, you- you don't know what you'd do without him. why does he stay around when you're so… so childish.

“Of course, I'm always here for you. Clearly the only one if you're still stuck on such childish things.” Aniol isn't laughing, he’s staring again. Letting the silence speak for him. He's right. he’s… he’s always right.

Ori takes a deep breath, wiping his tears away

“Thank you. I- I don't know what I’d do without you. Thank you” Aniol smiles, it's genuine but, something is off. Ori doesn't notice. You're lucky to have him.

He’s the only one who will listen to you…

(i wish i could beat my own oc to death everyone hates this fucker {Aniol})