TW: Nightmares, slight blood, mention of eating disorder

Laik Draven tripped his way through the front door of his grandpa’s house. His shoes thumped against the wall before falling to the hardwood of the entranceway. He pulled his hoodie off, almost taking his shirt with it and baring his too skinny warm terra-cotta torso and the faint freckles that could be seen in the brighter sunlight. Tugging his shirt back down, he hung the hoodie on a hook on the wall with the other coats. His fingers pushed dark brown chin-length hair back out of his face. The wooden stairs creaked as he climbed them, letting the whole house know he’s home and heading to bed. His aunt ran him into the ground just like he asked. Laik was hoping that he could finally get a whole night’s sleep since he was tired enough. During the last week, he was only getting snatches of sleep. He was at the point where he was afraid to fall asleep somewhere where the children played, in case he had a nightmare. He had to keep it together. Everyone was watching him.

Laik shuffled into his room and closed the door. The lock clicked into place with a twist of his hand. He shuffled out of his pants and tugged on sweatpants before flopping onto the bed. Reaching down, he grabbed a handmade woven blanket that had fallen off the bed. He pulled it up, wrapped the blanket around himself, made sure it was tight around his shoulders, and pressed his face against it. He could still faintly smell his birth home in the fibers. It wouldn’t be long before the next blanket shows up in the mail. He wasn’t ready to talk to his mom. It still hurt. He could tell her to stop, but she would still send them, knowing full well he would still use them.

His eyes closed as he let his fingers run through the strings on the edge of the blanket. ‘I’m sorry.’ Laik shivered at the memory and frowned before pulling his blanket up over his head. He jumped when hands grabbed his shoulders and yanked him up. His eyes snapped open to find a heavily shadowed man standing over him. When the man grew closer, he found himself face to face with a heavily scarred face from his past.

‘Scream’

He let out a wheeze and shoved his foot against the man’s chest. He scrambled away, crashing to the snowy ground. His legs were caught by large hands, and he struggled harder.

Laik shoved himself forward and felt his claws dig into the snow-covered ground as he pulled himself away from the scarred man.

“Laik. It’s okay.”

He shouldn’t be here.

“What’s going on?”

The man was dead.

“He kicked the blanket off.”

Why was he here?

Wasn’t he in his room!?

“We’ll talk later. Make sure Skye stays downstairs.”

A wheeze slipped out, and he managed to kick his feet free of the hands. He won’t scream. Where was Ryder? Where? His amber and blue eyes wildly looked around for his best friend. Where? His eyes landed on a vaguely human shape, blood seeping out around the body onto the cold, snowy ground, and he froze. 

“Laik!” He watched as the snow melted at the sound of his name. “Focus, Laik.” The cold chill left his body, and he blinked, finding himself in his room. That was right. He sagged against the ground. He was safe. Safe.

He closed his eyes and let out a long exhale. When he opened them, the human shape was a pile of dirty clothes. Lifting his head up, he found his grandpa kneeling next to him. Short graying russet hair was dripping water. “Laik?” A hand reached out to press against his shoulder. The hand was a pale golden tan and covered in faint pale brown freckles and so much different than his. He looked around his room. “Easy.”

Laik caught sight of his blanket on the floor, part of it still wrapped around his leg. He was most definitely on the ground. He remembered the dream and looked at his grandpa with wide eyes. “Who did I kick!?”

“Bryce, but he’s fine. The bruise should be gone by tonight.”

Laik let his head drop onto the ground, covering his sleep tangled hair with his arms. He just wanted to sleep. His grandpa patted his back and stood up.

Pale blue eyes watched his grandson curled on the floor. “It’s almost lunchtime. You should eat.”

Laik shook his head. “It’ll just come back up. I’ll eat at dinner.”

His grandpa squeezed his shoulder. “I’ll hold you to it.”

“Okay.”

Laik listened as his door clicked shut, and he squeezed at his elbows as he willed himself not to let any tears show. He wouldn’t  break. He could pull himself together. Laik had to keep moving. For Ryder. He pushed himself up and looked at the pile of clothes. “For Ryder. Breathe.”

Walking over to his bed, he sat down on it, letting his body sag. He needed to sleep. There had to be something to help him sleep. He flopped over and stared at the ceiling. The sounds of the house relaxed him more. He listened as small feet slowly moved towards his room. The soft, hesitant steps gave him a clue as to who it was. The sound of someone tapping at his door had him lifting his head. “It’s open.”

The door creaked open. Laik could make out a brown eye on a small face watching him.

“You can come in, Skye.”

The tall, lanky child shoved her way into his room and lept up onto his bed. She sat cross-legged on the corner of his bed, keeping space between them. Skye slowly fidgeted with her tan fingers. Reaching up, she tugged at a lock of her short golden brown mess of a bedhead. She kept glancing at him from the corner of her eyes. “Grandpa said you had a nightmare?”

Laik let his head drop back onto the bed. “Why are you not in school?”

“Um… I got sent home.”

Laik pushed himself up and looked at Skye with a concerned face. “What happened?”

“I…” At this point, she pointedly avoided looking at him. “May have…” Skye winced as she squeaked out, “punched a boy.”

Sitting up, Laik gave a loud sigh before rubbing at the bridge of his nose. “And why did this happen?”

“He kept trying to take something off my desk.”

His shoulders sagged, and he shook his head. “Skye, you can’t….”

Her body leaned forward as she shoved a finger at him. “I can, and I won’t say I’m sorry.”

“Skye.”

“No.” She crossed her arms and huffed before looking away again.

Laik reached out to ruffle her short hair. She swatted at his hand, “Don’t hit people out of anger. Violence only leads to more violence.”

Skye pulled at a small thread on Laik’s sheets. “Like what happened to you?”

Looking at his hands, he gave a sad sigh, “Yeah, something like that.” Laik jumped when Skye quickly hugged him, and then she jumped off his bed. “What was that for?”

Skye gave a large grin, “You smile when someone hugs you.” Then she was gone out the door. Laik reached up to touch his lips, and sure enough, he was. Skye poked her head in and yelled. “Don’t think I didn’t notice you dodged my question. Also, don’t touch the last slice of cake. It’s still mine!”

Laik bit back a laugh. “Well, you better stop getting in trouble, or someone will eat it before you.”

“Don’t touch my cake!” She disappeared from the doorway.

Laik yelled after her, “I’m going to eat it all!”

“No!” He let out a laugh when he heard her feet take off running, a whine in her shrill voice. “Grandpa! Hide the last slice of the cake! You said it’s mine!” Laik felt a grin pull at his face before he climbed off his bed to go fish his phone out of his pants. He sat down and unlocked his phone. Setting a timer for an hour, he dropped the phone on his side table. Flopping back, he stared at his window.

He needed to find a way to make himself sleep deeper. For everyone’s sake. And his.