Sugarcane Chronicles Volume I: One and Lonely (ryden)

Hypnosis

*Brendon's POV*

I was in the middle of a dream about it raining French fries when I was awoken by Ryan. He was whimpering and crying in his sleep.

I sat up and began trying to shake him awake, figuring he was just having a really bad dream. After a while of softly shaking him and whispering his name and him still not waking up, I grabbed his shoulder and his side and shook him as hard as I could.

Ryan pushed my hands away and abruptly sitting up, panting.

"Ryan," I said to his silhouette.

"No," Ryan said, curling into a ball and pulling the covers over his head.

"It's me, Brendon," I said

He pulled the covers down slightly. "Really?" he asked. "I can't see you."

I leaned toward his bed stand and turned his lamp on. Ryan squinted until his eyes closed (I had to hold back an 'aw') and pulled the covers back over his head.

"Ryan, are you alright?" I asked, placing a hand on his shoulder. Ryan flinched away from me and started hyperventilating. "Ryan. Ryan, seriously," I said. I pulled the covers off him and gasped slightly. "Your nose is bleeding."

"Shit," he breathed and sat up. "Stay here. I'll be right back." He stood up and quickly put his pajama pants on before walking out of the room.

I lay back down and waited. I didn't realize it, but I almost dozed off waiting, but I was pulled from that when I heard crashes and bangs from the bathroom. I quickly stood up and pulled on my pants before rushing through the hallway to the bathroom.

I heard Ryan scream and I ran in only to be stopped and pulled back by Patrick.

"What?" I asked. "I need to be in there with him." I heard him scream again and I pushed Patrick aside and knelt next to Ryan. Spencer was sitting in front of him and trying to calm him down, but it wasn't working.

Spencer and I looked at each other and he stood up and walked away.

I scooted over to sit in front of Ryan. I placed my hands on the sides of his face and he screamed, which made me jump a little. He was shaking and whimpering and he was looking everywhere but me with his eyes unfocused, like he was still living his nightmare.

"Ryan, look at me," I said, only to be replied to by him screaming. "Ryan, can you look at me?" I leaned closer to him and said softly, "Ryan."

He finally looked up at me and instantly relaxed. He didn't look away, didn't even blink.

"Let's get him downstairs," Patrick said before he and Spencer helped me pick Ryan up from the floor and lead him to the living room.

Pete was walking in through the back door when we got there and he ran up to Ryan and hugged him.

"Ryan!" he exclaimed, throwing his arms around him. Ryan made a confused face and Pete pulled away and looked at him. "Ryan?" Pete let go of him completely and said, "Let's get him to the couch."

We helped Ryan over to the couch and sat him down.

Pete sat next him on the couch and I stood awkwardly with Spencer and Patrick in the corner of the room.

"Ryan, can you speak?" Pete asked.

Ryan opened his mouth but nothing came out.

"Ryan?" Spencer asked. "Are you alright?"

Ryan remained silent and Patrick nudged Spencer in a 'he can't speak what makes you think he can answer that' kind of way.

"Can you look at me, Ryan?" Pete asked.