Empty Promises | MC - sequel to The Promise

Chapter 4

Addie's POV

     "God why can I never sleep?" I grumble to myself, walking down the hall to reach the kitchen. I lightly jog down the stairs, creating a small tap, tap, tap sound until I am on the bottom floor. I take twists and turns until I find where I want to go.

      When I reach the kitchen, I look on the counter. There lay two options: a brownie and an apple. Without a doubt, I devour the brownie in one bite. Some crumbs fall, so I quickly dust them up before jogging back upstairs.

     As I am heading back to my room, I hear a decisive noise, Brynn sobbing. Although I haven't heard it many times, it's a noise you can pick out of a crowd. I tip toe over to her room before slowly opening the door, revealing Brynn sobbing with her eyes wide open. She is thrashing around. My eyes widen before I shut the door. I try to walk over to her.

     "Stop!" she sobs, kicking her legs. She looks in so much pain and horror it scares me,

      "Brynn," I say, letting her know I am here. She doesn't stop. In fact, she doesn't even acknowledge that I'm here.

       "D-don't hurt him!" she cries even louder, confusing me. I would never hurt her.

     "I'm not hurting anyone," I convince her, but she still keeps going. Suddenly, she lets out an ear shattering screech, making me cover my ears.

     "Don't blame him!" she yells, and I look down at her. Something is up. She won't notice I'm here.

      "Brynn...," I start to talk before her mom walks into the room.

     "Not again," she sighs, looking at her daughter with a pained face.

     "W-what's happening," I ask, looking at my best friend in hysterics.

     "It happens around once every month. The same thing happens every time," she frowns.

     "What happens?" I question.

     "She has night terrors. When she wakes up, she always asks the same thing before falling asleep again. When I ask her about it in the morning, she doesn't remember a thing that happened," Veronica tells me.

     "What does she ask?" I ask her.

     "You'll see," she reassures me. Brynn trashes around some more, screaming multiple more times before bolting up. She is covered in sweat. Her breath is heavy as I can hear it from over here.

     "Mom," she breathes, sobbing. She looks broken. It's as if she is petrified.

     "What's wrong sweetie?" she asks Brynn empathetically. Brynn snuggles into the big orange sweatshirt that is usually in her closet that she is wearing. She pulls her arms into the sleeves.

     "Is he okay?" she cries, sniffling.

     "Who okay?" her mom asks back without skipping a beat like it's a routine.

     "Michael. They hurt him mom, right in front of me," she cries senselessly, rocking back and forth. Just by that one sentence, so much pain is expressed.

     "Who?" she grabs onto Brynn's hand soothingly.

     "Megan, Bill, and Bill's wife. They shoved a knife right through him," Brynn looks into Veronica's eyes. The color is drained from her face, leaving a pasty color.

     "Who is Michael?" Veronica asks, wrapping an arm around Brynn. She snuggles into her mother's side.

     "Well, he's one of the sweetest guys out there. Some people might not think that at first, but he's a lover not a fighter," she answers vaguely. I bet you Veronica thinks that if she finds out what is causing these, she can get Brynn to stop having them. You can tell by the looking she is giving, paying attention to every word that she speaks.