Stay Awake

Chapter 8

~ TARA ~ 

Thankfully I slept fine without any other nightmares. When I awoke in the morning I expected to have Blaine's arms wrapped around me, but he wasn't there. I sat up, looking around as the sunlight tried to find its way through the windows that weren't boarded up. My back ached a little from sleeping on the floor.

I glanced over at Dylan and Lana who were still asleep. I smiled at them. They looked so adorable together with their foreheads touching each other. Reminds me of how Blaine and I sometimes sleep. I really hope Lana does like Dylan together. For some reason she doesn't trust guys so much.

I left them to sleep and went to look for Blaine. I called his name softly, but he never responded. He was nowhere inside the house. I walked outside to find him sitting on the steps. I sat down beside him. He didn't look at me. He was busy staring at something on the ground. He had bags under his eyes so I'm guess he hadn't slept all night.

"What's wrong, Blaine?" I asked him.

"He knows my secret," he answered me.

My stomach twisted into knots. "Did you get the text just now?"

He shook his head. "No, I got it last night." He turned to me. "You and Lana will be next."

I felt like I was going to be sick. "How does he even know our secrets? There is no way he would know them unless he was there and saw everything."

"I have been up all night trying to figure that out myself. I don't understand it. There were no witnesses."

I agreed with him. There were no witnesses. Unless there was a hidden camera somewhere that captured every moment of what we did. But I swear I was careful not to get caught. No one was meant to know. It felt like I had written all of my inner secrets into a diary and then someone found it, reading it and telling everyone about them.

"Do you think this guy will ever just give up and forget about our secrets?" I said.

Blaine shrugged his shoulders. "I doubt it."

"How come you know so much about Arachnid and I don't? I expect Lana to know, but not you."

"I heard stories about him. At times I thought they were just rumours but I can see now that it isn't a rumour."

We sat there in silence, our minds wandering. I just wish this whole thing about Arachnid wasn't true. I didn't want to worry that my life would be in danger because of him. I wanted to be able to live my life and not worry that someone will find out what I did. It was a stupid mistake and I prefer that no one knows about it.

"We're going to die, aren't we?" I heard myself say, not even realising I was saying it.

Blaine gripped my hand with his, squeezing it tightly. "Listen to me, Tara, I won't let you die. I will die for you if Arachnid tries and touches you." He out his arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer to him, pushing some of my hair out of my face. "Everything is going to be alright."

I smiled at him and leaned over to kiss him. As soon as my lips touched his, I could taste wine. I pulled away from him.

"Have you been drinking?" I asked him. Blaine knows I don't like him drinking. It just brings too many memories back to me when I was younger and Dad used to drink. I knew I couldn't control what Blaine does, but he knows I don't like him drinking. Dad has been sober for years now, but sometimes I'm scared of him getting into the habit of drinking again.

Blaine looked away from in shame. "Yeah, I was thirsty so I drank some of that wine I found in the kitchen." He turned to me. "Sorry. Please don't worry about me, okay?" He placed his hands on either side of my face. "I'm not going to become an alcoholic."