Tangled In Strings

Chapter 12: The Nightmare Tree

The mansion was quiet.

Snatcher floated a few inches above the faded rug, his form softly flickering like candlelight. Moonjumper had fallen asleep against the chaise, his cracked mask catching slivers of moonlight. Everything should’ve felt safe.

But the shadows were too still.

And when Snatcher closed his eyes, he fell—not into sleep, but into a nightmare.

---

✦ The Dream Begins ✦

He was standing in the swamp.

But it wasn’t his swamp.

The trees were warped. Their branches curled like claws. The water below was black glass. The moon hung high—but wrong, cracked down the middle like an egg, bleeding silver into the sky.

“Hello?” Snatcher called, but his voice came out young.

Too young.

His hands weren’t claws—they were human again. Small. Familiar. Before.

Then the forest laughed.

---

He turned—and Vanessa stood before him.

Not glowing. Not royal. Just cold.

Her eyes full of honeyed venom. Her dress stained with frost and regret.

“You always leave me,” she whispered.

Snatcher stumbled back, shaking his head. “I—I didn’t—”

“You promised. And you broke it. You broke me.”

Her hands reached forward, clawing through his chest, and pulled out a burning red string. It glowed like a heartbeat.

“You gave this to someone else,” she hissed. “To him.”

The world cracked.

---

✦ The Nightmare Tree ✦

Suddenly, he stood beneath the Dreaming Tree—its bark bleeding ink, its roots writhing like snakes. Tied to the base was Moonjumper.

His mask was shattered.

His cloak torn.

Eyes wide.

“Snatcher—don’t let it take me—!”

Snatcher rushed forward—but every step pulled him further away.

“You’ll break him too,” the forest whispered. “You always do.”

A thousand ghosts rose from the swamp—his old contracts, souls he'd taken, promises he’d never kept. All of them pointing at him.

“You were never worthy of love,” they chanted. “You only know how to ruin it.”

Moonjumper looked at him then, eyes not filled with fear—but disappointment.

“You lied.”

“I didn’t mean to!” Snatcher screamed.

The shadows closed in.

---

✦ Waking Up ✦

Snatcher jolted awake.

He was tangled in his own cloak, flickering between forms, gasping like someone who hadn't breathed in centuries.

Moonjumper was already sitting up, eyes wide with worry.

“Snatcher?”

Snatcher backed away instinctively, pressing himself against the cracked wall.

“Don’t—don’t look at me right now.”

“You had a nightmare.”

“It wasn’t just a nightmare,” he snapped, voice cracking. “It was a prophecy. Or a warning. Or—some cosmic punishment.”

Moonjumper knelt beside him. “Snatcher—"

“I saw Vanessa. I saw you. I saw what happens when I love someone again. You die. Or worse.”

Moonjumper reached for his hand. “That’s not true.”

“I break things, Moonpie. It’s what I do.”

Moonjumper held his hand tighter.

“Then maybe it’s time you let someone help you hold something, instead of always letting it go.”

Snatcher stared at him, trembling.

And then—slowly—he curled in, letting Moonjumper wrap his arms around him. No sarcasm. No masks. Just silence and closeness.

“I’m still here,” Moonjumper whispered. “Nightmare or not.”

“You shouldn’t be.”

“Too bad. I’ve already moved in.”

Snatcher huffed a weak laugh.

And rested his forehead against Moonjumper’s.

---

✦ End Scene ✦

Somewhere outside the broken window, the moon shifted. The crack across its center pulsed—but didn’t widen.

It just held.

Like them.