Fantasy Forest (Yandere boys x reader)

5. Nightmares

Nightmares. For days now my nights had been plagued by endless nightmares of flesh eating monsters. I was constantly being awoken by my own screams and my family was starting to take notice of my pain as my brother Christian hovered protectively over me during the day and kept on insistently questioned me on what was wrong. The thing is I didn't know what was wrong. All I knew was that ever since I had met those two mermaid friends of Rays I had been having nothing but nightmares. Now it was one week later and I was due to enter the forest again but my brother wouldn't let me.
"Let me come with you." He said as I struggled to gather my things that morning. The lack of sleep had left me tired and ragged almost to the point where I had trouble walking. Still that was no reason to endanger Christian by bringing him into the forest with me.
"No way!" I stated firmly. "You are not allowed."
"But you can barely walk!" He argued.
"I'll be fine." I stated defiantly as I headed out the door. Christian followed me as I walked towards the nearby forest. Today was very important since I was delivering an offering, a small wrapped bundle of what I assumed were various luxury items. I held it tightly in my bag as I approached the forest entrance.
"You need to stop following me now." I said to Christian.
"You sure you'll be okay?" He asked, concern evident in his voice.
"I'll be fine." I said, trying to sound stronger than I felt. It didn't appear that Christian believed me but he let me go regardless as he waved me off and headed back to the house.

Ten minutes. I didnt last longer than ten minutes in that damn forest before fatigue wore me down and I was forced to sit down on the side of the trail. The grass and dirt stained my pants but I didnt much care as I felt as though my head was swimming in a fog of my own deteriorating mental state. I heard footsteps approaching me but I didnt much care as I closed my eyes and leaned my back against the nearest tree trunk.

"Are you okay?" A gruff voice asked me, a tad of annoyance in their tone. I peeked one eye open and stared into the leafy green eyes of Theo as the elf hovered over me with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Leave me alone." I growled at him which caught the elf y surprise as he backed up a step before leaning down to squat on the ground next to me.

"What's with the attitude?" He asked as he looked me over. "You look like shit."

He raised a hand to feel my forehead but I swatted it away. Theo growled and grabbed my arm tightly so I couldn't push him back again as he pressed his palm firmly to my forehead.

"You dont have a fever." He noted, sounding somewhat relieved.

"I'm not sick, I'm just tired." I told him.

"Have you not been sleeping?"

"Cant sleep. Too many nightmares." I groaned. Theo huffed in response as he looked back at the forest trail before returning his gaze to me.

"Give me your bag." He ordered as he tried to take my stuff from me. "I'll bring it to the shrine."

"No!" I protested. "I have to do that myself. I cant have others do my work for me."

"You're so stubborn!" Theo growled and I nodded in agreement. I held my bag tightly as I closed my eyes and tried my best to forget about the annoying elf sitting next to me. That didn't last long though as I shrieked as I felt my body being lifted from the ground. My eyes snapped open and the first thing I saw was Theo holding me in his arms, our faces mere inches apart.

"If you can't walk then I'll carry you." He stated normally as if this was the most natural thing in the world. He started walking and I squirmed in his arms as I yelled at him to put me down.

"Stop screaming or I'll drop you!" He hissed which made me go still as he continued to carry me down the forest path. I was surprised by how strong he was since he lacked muscle definition and he wasn't much bigger than me in size. Eventually I came to find the gentle rocking of his movements comforting and I leaned against his chest, completely oblivious to the tension in Theos shoulders and the deep red blush that marked his pale face.

Theo carried me all the way to the shrine and once we got there he put me down so I could set out the offering. All the while I placed down my things, Theo stood several feet behind me watching my movements and waiting for me to finish.

"Are you almost done?" He asked impatiently after several minutes of standing in silence.

"You don't have to wait for me." I told him to which he huffed.

"I dont want you fainting on the walk back." he stated. Did he plan on carrying me the whole way back as well? I quickly finished what I was doing but instead of getting up to go back to Theo I instead leaned against the nearest tree and closed my eyes.

"I'm going to take a nap." I stated calmly. "You are free to leave."

"Like hell I will. You seem to forget that these woods arent a safe place for humans like you."

"You say that but this is my third week and I am yet to meet anything unsightly." I remarked.

"What about me?"

I popped one eye open and glanced up at Theo as he stood over me.

"You're not a bad person." I yawned.

"You don't know that. I could be pure evil. I could be leading you on, pretending to be nice just so you could lower your guard and once you start to feel comfortable then I attack."

"I don't believe that." I muttered as I closed my eyes again. "You may be cross but I know you are a good person on the inside."

There was a long moment of silence and then I felt movement on my right side as Theo leaned down to sit next to me.

"You're too good for this world." I heard him mutter quietly as he leaned his head down on my shoulder. I tried to ignore his comment as I leaned further back against the tree and focused on the rise and fall of my own breath which was slowly synchronizing with Theo as he sat next to me. As I slowly fell asleep I had the feeling that as long as Theo was with me the nightmares would stay away.