Touch Me

Night terrors

"..Kevin?" my voice trembled  as I stared frightfully into his empty eyes

He leaned closer to me, his breath like fire on my neck.

"You're going to Hell, Connor" he whispered hoarsely into my ear, before locking his lips down on my flesh once again. The burning was overbearing, blistering and melting my skin

I woke up in a full body sweat, tears streaming down my cheeks.

I wiped my eyes and collected myself only slightly before laying back down. It was so dark out that I couldn't see my own hand in front of me. I closed my eyes, just trying my hardest to stop my crying.
It took everything I had to keep myself from falling back asleep that night, out of fear of having another one of those dreams.
I stayed awake, staring at the once pitch black room around me which had slowly filled with light as the morning progressed.

With a heavy sigh as morning took its place, I got out of bed, still shaking slightly. I dressed myself and brushed my teeth, rushing out the door before my family could see how clearly unsettled I was and bombard me with an interrogation. I walked down the sidewalk for only a minute before hearing a familiar voice call out "Morning, Sunshine!" Great. The last person I wanted to see after that nightmare.
I looked up at him, without a word.

"You rushed home last night, I didn't see you... Why's that?"

"I dunno.." I mumbled, clearly distressed, and continued my stride

"..Hey, what's wrong?" He questioned seriously as he caught up to me and saw how pale I had become

"I-It's nothing.. I'm fine."

"You don't look fine.. What's got you down?

I shrugged and kept walking

"Come on, Man, you can talk to me." He said, dropping all of his strategic charm and confidence in the face of my clear discomfort.

"No- no, I can't.."

"Why not?"

"I can't, I'm not- ...it's bad, okay, I did something bad! And we don't- I don't even know you like that, and-"

"Hey, slow down!" He placed both hands firmly on my arms and stopped me in place, with a chuckle to diffuse the tension "it's okay, man.. what's bugging you? It can't be that bad.."

"..it's bad.."

"Talk to me.."

"...Kevin, I think I'm gonna go to hell" I admitted, eyes welling with tears

"..What do you mean? You're not going to hell." He assured with a confused scoff, drawing closer to me.

I dried my eyes and took a jump away with every step he took.

"It's hard to explain.."

I tried to speed up and begin walking, but I felt a large hand softly pull me backward.

"You're not going to hell, McKinley. I don't know what's making ya' think like that, but it's not gonna happen." He spoke in a reassuring voice that made me almost want to give in. Almost.

"...Yes I am" I shook my head and started off again, not responding to anything he said for the rest of the walk .

I went through all of my classes that day, though I was unable to think about anything but that morning. The dream. The fear. The way my heart stopped when he put his hand on my shoulder to soothe me. He didn't strike me as the empathetic type when I met him, but I was proven wrong very quickly, in the face of distress. He cared. He cared a lot.