My Child

Nightmares

"I SAID MOTHERFUCKIN KNEEL!" he bellows as he notches an arrow. "honk. HONK! honk. HONK! honk. HONK!" The wretched honking only rises in volume as the Highblood draws the string of the bow, stolen from the blue blood on the ground below, taught and takes aim. "KNEEL!" He screams one last time before letting the arrow loose.

The pain erupting in the blue blood's knee sends him to the ground screaming. The Juggalo's laughter grows exponentially louder in his approach towards the injured troll. The younger whimpers in pain and fear as his stolen bow is snapped by the elder, the string biting into the sensitive flesh of his throat.

The cord tightens.

I can't breathe.

I try to fight, to rip the bow string away from my throat, but Gamzee steps on my hand. He shifts his weight so that most of it is supported by that leg. He presses down on my hand with as much force as he can manage and-

CRACK

He crushes my hand and laughs even louder.

I try to scream but no sound is produced.

I CAN'T BREATHE!

My lungs burn and my eyes water.

I.

CAN'T.

BREATHE!

"Leave him alone!" someone shouts.

Whose voice is that?

I know that voice.

Aradia?

Aradia run!

Please just run.

There's a flash of red before everything goes black.

"Shoosh, child," a kind voice says. I'm screaming now. Actually screaming. Strong arms are around me. A gentle hand combs through my long hair. "It was just a bad dream, Equius."

I shake my head. "Where is she?" I gasp out.

"Who?" Signless asks as he tilts my head up to look him in the eye. "Where is who?"

"Aradia." My head whips around, looking for my friend. "Where is she?" I'm breathing fast and hard. Hyperventilating. I'm panicking. "He'll kill her. He's going to kill her. I need to find her!"

Signless holds me tighter, slowly rocking me and running his fingers through my hair. I don't know why, that just seems to calm me down. I've been having these panic attacks more and more often. My wounds are almost fully healed now. The scars left on my neck from the bow and on my knee from the arrow are constant reminders of what he did to me.

The nightmares only show me part of the memory. They refuse to show me what he did between breaking my hand and Aradia sending me hundreds of sweeps into the past, into the time of our Ancestors. The nightmares shield me from reliving Gamzee forcing himself onto, and into, me while I slowly suffocated.

But when I wake, I remember. I remember and I cry in Signless's arms. He never fails to be there for me when I need him. Every time I have a nightmare, he's there to hold me. Every single time. His Guardian, Dolorosa, has tried to help him take care of me, but he refuses. I wish he'd let her help too. He's losing sleep because of me. At least his dreams aren't plagued with memories of what should have been his death.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Thank you for reading the first chapter. Hopefully I'll be able to update this weekly, but I can't guarantee that seeing as I haven't written the next chapter yet. The picture is mine. This may be a bit obvious, but I'm legally required to provide the next statement. Andrew Hussie is the god and daddy of Homestuck, not me. *turns to Dirk Strider lurking in the dark corner of my room and says "Is that good enough?" he nods once like the cool dude he is and disapears* Please let me know if you liked this chapter and stay tuned for the next one. Until then, keep sparkling my diamonds.