C/W but not explicit: trauma, reference to parental death and amputation-takes place in a nightmare

Sequoia twisted and turned in her sleep, her memories of that day still fresh in her mind. They jumped from one memory to another so fast that it seemed that those moments happened all at once. It was like every noise, every image tore straight through her entire being, she flinched at the sight of the harpy lunging at her, she whimpered and shivered at the sight of her parents bodies. She clawed at her arms, remembering her guilt towards her unbothered reactions. She tried everything to hide away from those scenes but no matter what everything revealed itself eventually. Soon enough the memories ceased and changed into older memories. Those of her family, friends and acquaintances. These memories were happy, ones that brought joy, ones of her helping her parents bake, ones of her playing in the nearby stream with her friends and brother, ones of visiting the nearby toy shop. However, flashes of that day sprang into her mind and the longer these sweet dreams went on the more distorted they started to become. At first the people seemed slightly bigger but it quickly delved into nightmares, their faces seemed to swirl and different body parts would seem to melt, they would be covered in blood but they would still act as if nothing was different, as if everything was normal. Sequoia tried to talk, tried to interact more than what her memory would allow but she wasn’t able to. She was stuck watching this distortion. Stuck saying and doing things she didn’t want to. She tried to reach out and call someone, tried to hug her parents, tried to walk, she tried but it was futile. She resigned herself to watch the scenes but once she did it was back to seeing the vivid images of that night flash between the originally sweet memories. 

“Sequoia!” A soft, panicked yet barely audible voice started to ring into Sequoia’s dream “Sequoia! Please get up!” The voice was starting to get louder, interrupting the horrors Sequoia had been reliving. “Sequoia! Please! You’re scaring me!” The voice screamed out once again, but this time it was accompanied by a strong shake. Sequoia slowly opened her eyes, squinting at the sudden brightness. Her heartbeat was unnaturally fast but a few deep breaths soon calmed her heart down. It took only mere seconds for Sequoia to feel fragile arms flung around her. “You’re finally awake!” Acanthus clung onto his dear sister almost as if he witnessed her come back to life. Sequoia patted Acanthus’s head “What’s going on? You’re acting as if I was dead.” Her shoulder started to feel damp where Acanthus pressed his head. “You were crying and screaming... You were scaring me.” His hands trembled as he squeezed her tighter. Sequoia patted her brothers back, letting his tears run freely. “I just had a bad dream. It’s nothing to worry about.” Acanthus pushed himself away from his sister “How can I not worry?!” His voice raised above the quiet whispers he was speaking into a louder and harsher tone. Sequoia smiled at him “I don’t even remember it so why worry?” She stared at her brother, taking a second to see his face and his slightly swollen eyes. “Look, I’m ok, I’m not scared and I’m not crying, in fact it’s like you’re the one who had a nightmare.” She reached for her ankle, subconsciously placing her hand on her stump. Acanthus stared into the familiar green eyes that reflected him, looking down to where she placed her hands. “If you say so.” He placed a hand on top of hers “I know you went through a lot and have a lot of worries since you feel responsible for me and the baby but we’re twins, you’re not that much older than me so I hope you will rely on me more.” He stood up, walking over to the baby that was still sleeping peacefully. He cradled the baby in his arms, passing him to Sequoia. “I’ll take the first cleaning shift, you just look after the baby and yourself.” He walked out of the door, not looking back at his sorrowful sister. As she watched her brother leave, she felt that something in their dynamic had changed, where he would ordinarily look back at her and wave with a big grin on his face, his back was the only thing that acknowledged her. Although she knew she would see him later, Sequoia felt as if something would permanently change if she let him go now, but her thoughts blocked her from speaking, afterall, what did she ever do that was so wrong, they didn’t have a fight, nothing had actually changed, he even said she could rely on him so why the dreaded feeling. She stayed in her bed, clenching onto the baby, letting her mind wander into areas that she never thought about before. She let out a sigh, wishing she could go back in time to before this whole mess before that day.