(Madison's POV)

I find myself lying in bed, seeing the room, but my eyes are still closed. This has happened on a few other occasions, so I’m used to it. Even more so, I’m used to the eerie feeling that settles over me as I can feel the evil around me. This evil in particular though, is not one I’m familiar with.

“Close your eyes, Darling. I can’t protect you here, so just close your eyes." Peter whispers in my ear next to me, and I turn my sight to him on my left side where he crouches down next to me.

But, they are closed.

Still, I try my best to do as he said, but no matter how hard I squeeze my eyes shut, the room is still there in the dark, and the figures around me too stay standing there. I can only make out two, yet they aren’t the ones that feel most threatening. It’s as if there is this heavy presence here, everywhere, but one I can’t make out visually. What I can make out though, is that it hates my presence here. I find myself doing the only thing I know to do when I’m aware enough to.

Jesus.

I can’t say anything, so the only thing I’m able to do is think about it, and that’s all I do on a loop. Being more fervent with each desperate plea. 

“You don’t know what you're doing, Darling. You’re only going to anger her.” Peter tries to act as if he’s helping me, but I’m aware enough to see his deception.

Jesus!

I seem to be angering it more with each cry.

“I’m begging you. Pleeease, stop before she hurts you.”

He almost sounds sincere with his whispers as if he actually cares if I get hurt or not.

Jesus!!

A scream rings in my ears as I feel a slap almost in my head more so than across my face.

JESUS! SAVE ME!

I can’t remember anything more than right now.

It’s pretty outside today, which is probably why everyone is playing at the park today. I look up at the sky, and something seems off with it for a moment. The clouds look slower than the rest of everything as I wave my head back and forth, watching them almost buffer, before I hear a cry that pulls my attention back to the ground. Several yards in front of me, I see a little boy, maybe around four, with brown curly hair on the gravel crying next to a bike.

Is he okay?!

He must have fallen off.

I head straight for him as all I want to do right now is help him feel better. But, when I am only a few feet away, someone grabs my hand from behind me, and stops me from going any further.

What?

I try to jerk away so that I can still help the little boy, but the hand just grips tighter. Not enough to hurt, but enough to make it clear they don’t want me going any further. I turn around now, frustrated, and I don’t even think when I use my other hand to push them back. My anger is far more extreme than it has been in a long while.

“Let, Me, GO!” I start to shout as my anger just boils more.

“Hey, hey, calm down, Mads.”

The man who grabbed me leans his head down low enough to meet my face, and something about his eyes seems to calm me down. They're a soft, warm, chocolate brown that have this kindness to them that feels familiar.

“Jeeze, since when are you so violent?” He grins in a way that almost looks like he wants to laugh.

I feel like I know him, but I can’t place him more than, that he just… feels familiar. As if we are friends, and have been for a long time.

“I’m sorry, I just… The boy needs help. He’s hurt. So, please let me go?” I speak to him kindly this time, regretting that I was so mean to him in the first place.

It seemed so obvious that I was trying to help the boy, but, maybe he just didn’t know.

Something about that seems to make him more sympathetic, yet he still doesn’t let go. His smile now is almost loving and sad at the same time.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you help him. I promise though,that somebody does. Look.” He gestures with his head back to the boy.

I see another boy, a little older, running to the younger one. They have the same color hair.

Something shifts in the dream as I see the older boy come help me as I’m sitting on the gravel. He’s my older brother, and he was supposed to still be holding onto the bike.

“You said you wouldn’t let go, but you let go!”

I cry louder now. I'm more sad about him leaving me than the cut on my knee.

“I know, I’m sorry, you were just doing sooooo good. I’m so sorry, Jackson.”

Andrew kneels down in front of me and I notice how sad his brown eyes seem as they look at my knee. Even though we aren’t twins, Mommy says that we look a lot alike.

“Oh, I’m really sorry, we'll make it better.”

I sniffle and wipe my eyes feeling a little better now that he’s here.

“Please don’t ever leave me again.” I say to him through hitched breaths.

He smiles up at me, and it looks similar to the weighted smile from my friend.

“I promise that I’ll never leave you.”

I watch as the older boy helps Jackson up, before picking the bike up. I look up at my friend, confused at how he knew someone else would come to help him.

“How did you know that would happen?”

He looks away from the boys and to me as he seemed lost in the scene too.

“Becuase I was there.” He smiles the same, but this time with a little more weight than happy.

“It was a memory with my brother…”

Something puzzled seems to come across his face before he shakes it away and continues.

“Andrew... Uh, he died, but he was a good brother. It just took me a little too long to realize that. Everyone’s dealing with something, and we… can forget that at times. I only wish I would have figured that out a little sooner...”

His eyes are no longer on mine as he seems to be fighting with something. He finally releases his grip on me, and I instantly get closer to him as I grab his face so that he looks at me. I know that he must miss his brother so much, and I don’t want him to hold the guilt that he is when I’m sure his brother wouldn't either.

“Hey, your brother loved you, and I’m sure he knew how much you loved him too. Like you said, everyone’s dealing with something, so I’m sure he knew you were too, and just wanted to be there for you even if he didn’t always know how to at times. He knows that you wish you could have been there for him, and I’m sure that’s enough for him. Would he want you tormenting yourself for what you can’t change?”

There’s no way he would.

Not the same brother I saw.

He gives me a faint half grin while his eyes seem to say so much that I can’t make out. They always do. It’s like they tell things he can’t express in words.

“No, you're right.”

He seems to brighten with each next second as he’s back to his usual fun self.

“You really surprise me sometimes, Princess.”

His words confuse me because even though I’m used to people underestimating me, he is someone that I feel like isn’t supposed to.

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know, I can’t explain it, but it’s like every time we meet, you're someone different, yet, somehow, still you.”

“Thanks?” I say through a partly confused and partly laughing tone.

“Don't worry, it’s a complement.  It just also makes it hard to let you go.”

I don’t know why he would want to because I can’t imagine ever letting him go.

“Then don’t.”

I smile almost seeing myself from his eyes for a second before I’m back in mine. I don’t want to admit the admiration I felt through him because it feels like it was probably only  my projection of how I feel for him.

He’s the one grinning, and for a second this feeling of betrayal flashes through me. That I’m doing something wrong.

This is wrong!

There’s a glimpse of someone that I can’t make out. Someone in the back of my mind that I feel like I’m forgetting is deeply important to me.

Nnnnoooo…

This, this isn’t right.

I try to make out what is wrong with this moment.

“Hey, what is it?” He’s the one cupping my face now as he gets me to focus on him.

“I… I think I’m forgetting something….”

I try to dig out what I’m forgetting, but the longer I’m here, right now, the more distant what I’m forgetting gets.

“How about for tonight, it’s only us. You, me, and no one else exists.”

I feel like I’m about to place what it is I’m forgetting before all I can think of is Liam as he helps me forget anything but him. His touch floods my mind before he pulls away, and everything besides him is out of my mind. Any mental fight is subdued.