Secrets // Steve Harrington

Chapter One - Nightmares and Power Surges

Word Count: 2,832 words. 

Warnings: None.

I was being dragged. They had their hands locked around my arms as I was pulled backwards. My head faced away and my feet brushed against the ground harshly as I thrashed against them.

"No!" I could feel myself screaming. I could feel my throat move as the sound rippled, but I couldn't hear it. There was no noise. Only silence.

His distinct figure stood at the end of the hall, watching as they threw me into the cell. If the force at which I was tossed into the dark wasn't enough to kill me, then the solitary that followed surely would.

I hadn't done it. Whatever it was that had me locked up in that room. I hadn't done it. It had been someone else. They had told me what to do. Manipulated me.

The figure came into view as they began to close the door, but his face was never clear to me. The boy that stood behind him, however; that older boy whose face invaded my dreams. He was clear. He was always crystal clear, and he always smiled.

I woke with a shout, shooting upwards in my bed. Panting I turned from left to right, the darkness surrounding me before I could even protest. They had taken me back. Pulled me from my home and shoved me into that cell.

"Lia?" Eddie's voice rang out as the light in the room turned on. My brother stood in the doorway, squinting at the very light he had just turned on.

My breathing calmed slightly as I pressed a hand against the space of my chest underneath my neck. I was drenched in sweat. It was a dream. Just a dream. As it always was.

"I had the nightmare again," I told him, eyes meeting his.

Within seconds, he was sitting beside me, wrapping his arms around me. He held my head gently against his chest, stroking my hair gently.

"You're not there," he muttered. "You're here. With me. You're safe."

The panic had worn off and now the fear was settling in the pit of my stomach as I let out a sob. "Why do I never know who I'm scared of?"

I could feel Eddie shake his head against mine. "You don't need to remember. You don't need to be scared, because whatever asshole it was isn't going to get you. Not on my watch."

I laughed through the tears as he pulled away, gently placing his hands against my cheeks and turning me to look him in the eye. "Do you hear me?"

I sniffled. "Yeah," I replied half-heartedly. He noticed my tone.

"You're my little sister –"

"Adopted," I tried. "And barely. By a couple of months."

He reaffirmed his hold on my head. "You're my little sister," he repeated, stronger. "You're Thalia fucking Munson and I'm never going to let anything hurt you. Got it?"

"Yeah," I told him, voice firmer. "Yeah, I got it."

Eddie kissed my head gently, before wrapping his arms around me again in another hug. "I love you."

I smiled. "I love you too."

My nerves calmed. The fear that had encompassed me gone and I was suddenly completely free of anything I had been holding. My brother was the only person that had ever made me feel safe. Who had ever woken me from the nightmares that racked my mind. I don't know what I would do without him. 

The lights above us flickered harshly and my attention turned from my brother to the room around us. There must be something wrong with the generator out the front of the trailer.