Gaze - [h.s.]

❖ Chapter 4 ❖

I'm in my old school. Except, the walls are made out of mirrors. Even the exit doors. I'm running, pulling Kira by her arm behind me. She keeps getting distracted. Every now and then, she stops in front of a mirror. That then makes me stop, too, and I'm stuck with trying to snap her out of her glance.

"Candy," she says. "Come here, I need to find out if you see what I see in these mirrors."

"Shut up! We need to leave!" I try to pull her arm away from her reflection in the mirror, but it's like she's glued to the floor. When I finally pull her out of her stance, I blink and I'm in a different room. My old Drama class.

But this time, it's made into a community haunted house. Black paper substitutes for walls, and unidentifiable things are hanging from the ceiling on clear strings. I no longer have Kira's arm in my grip, she has vanished. I run. It's a maze, and I need to find my way out. I can't breathe.

I stop, against my will, and start to choke on the nonexistent air surrounding me. I fall to the floor, and even though the floor is made out of linoleum, I'm sinking into it. Like quicksand. I try to scream, but no noise comes out. I blink again.

This time, I'm in my room. I'm in front of my door. I look down and see my hands covering the door knob, signaling that I need to keep the door shut and blocked. Loud, quick footsteps sound through my ears, and I cringe in fear. I try to push my weight up against the door, but my feet slip backwards. I try again, and again, and again.

When I give up, my door starts rattling violently. I try to scream again, but just as before, I'm silent. Suddenly, I feel drained of my energy. I stop trying to keep the door closed, I stop trying to put effort into this. It's just a dream. It's not real. I can control it.

If I stop making a fuss about it, the terror will stop. The loud unbearable footsteps will stop completely, the violent rattling on my door will stop. The fear piling up in my chest will stop. It will all stop and I'll wake up. I close my eyes, and when I open them, I'm standing in front of a mirror.

You'd think I would see my reflection, but I don't. I only see a figure, with brown curly hair and glowing red eyes. He's wearing a devilish smile. I now see what Kira was talking about. She didn't see herself, she saw him. Just as I'm about to turn away, he says something in the most fear cringing, heart bursting demon-like voice.

"You're mine, now."
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I jolt awake, sweat beading my forehead and neck. I relax, and look around my room. No figures. No glowing red eyes, nothing. I pull my phone from under my pillow and check the time. 1:18 AM. I put my phone back as I slip out of bed, heart still racing from the night terror.

I open my door and step out into the dark hallway. I make my way down the stairs to get a glass of water from the kitchen. When I enter the doorway into the kitchen, I jump when I see a figure in front of the counter. Panic takes over as I hurry to the light switch and flick it on. A wave of relief rushes over me when I see Brandon.

He turns around, and makes eye contact with me.

"Hey, Sis, what's up? I'm just casually making a sandwich at one thirty in the morning, if you don't mind."

I still feel paralyzed and numb from the night terror. I feel like I can't speak.

"Candyce, what's wrong?" I look at him as my eyes start to tear up. I can feel my whole body trembling. Brandon notices and drops everything he has in his hands onto the counter before making his way over to me and engulfing me in a hug.

"Candy, you're shaking," he begins. "Night terror?"

I nod slowly as I break down into tears on his shoulder. I keep quiet though, since neither of us want to wake mom up. That's more terrifying than my night terrors.

"It's okay, Candyce. It was just a dream, I'm right here, it's okay, I promise I wouldn't let anything happen to you." He soothes. I nod into his shoulder as he rocks us both side to side.

"Let's get to bed, yeah?" He motions. I nod again as I break free from his grip and walk towards the stairs again. Brandon is hot on my heels as I walk to the door of my room and enter it. I crawl back into bed and curl into a ball, burying my head into my knees.

Brandon pulls the covers over me, before kissing my forehead.

"You're safe, Candy. Trust me, I'm as protective over you as I am my food. You know this. I love you and try to get some sleep, okay?"

His attempt at making a joke makes me smile slightly and I nod as he makes his way out of my room swiftly. I hear the soft thud of my door shutting and Brandon's footsteps trailing their way down the stairs.

You're safe, he said, I won't let anything happen to you.

I can control my dreams, and wake myself up, but these nightmares have to stop. I've had them since I was little, maybe because I watched scary movies a lot. They didn't scare me, but they might be why I've had night terrors every now and then my whole life. I drift back to sleep after what felt like an eternity of thinking, dreams and night terrors being free of the rest of my sleep.

A/N: thanks to my nightmare last night for giving me inspiration for this chapter ayyyye anyway happy Halloween guys! Sorry for this crappy filler chapter but ya anyway what are you guys being for Halloween if you're dressing up? Tell me in the comments below as well as what you thought of this chapter and don't forget to vote! Love you!