Loose ｡ Henry Mills [2]

8 - TWENTY DEGREES FAHRENHEIT

viii. twenty degrees fahrenheit

━ ❝ her best dreams and worst nightmares have the same people in them. ❞

━━━━━ ✦ ✧ ━━━━━

TERESA SHOT UP in her bed with a loud gasp that practially echoed off the walls. Immediately, her hand flew up to hold her chest, where she felt her heart beating rapidly, almost too fast for a heartbeat. But the pain wasn't there. It no longer felt like someone was ripping her soul to shreds. She looked down upon herself, expecting to see the same forest green dress she was wearing on her first date, yet she found pajamas. She wasn't dressed up at all. Henry wasn't even with her. She looked around and seen that she was in her bedroom. Not only that, but her room was cold as ice, not like she noticed given her compatibility. In fact, her window was sparkling with frosty ice and it appeared to be snowing outside. Yet it was autumn and not yet winter.

"It was just a dream," she spoke shakily, sounding relieved. "It was just a dream."

No matter how many times she repeated the same five words to herself, her body continued to tremble. Then, suddenly, her door burst open and David fell to the floor. It was obvious he had been trying to break into her room for several minutes, yet her powers had forbid him from doing so. The lock had been frozen.

Snow gasped and bent down to assist her husband, whom held his shoulder in pain as she helped him up from the floor. When she looked upon Teresa, she found the teenage girl trembling on her bed. Her skin was layered in a thin layer of sweat that made her skin shine and her hair to stick to her neck and face. Her eyes, both red and glossy, were spilling tears down her cheeks. And her breathing was heavy, scared. Pained? The image of Henry's pained expression was playing on an endless loop in Teresa's mind, frightening her to her very core.

The sight caused Snow's heart to clench, as she had never seen her friend like this. Ever. "Oh Teri," she frowned. She began to approach Teresa and knelt down on the bed beside her. Her teeth chattered as she enveloped the teenager into her arms; Teresa's entire body was the same temperature as the room and her skin only made Snow more cold. But in that moment she didn't seem to care, as she soothed the trembling archer in a motherly way, whispering soothing things into her ear.

David stood by, watching in silence and shivering slightly.

Eventually, Teresa's trembling ceased. Snow pulled back and cupped her face, wiping away every tear visible. "What happened?"

"It was just a dream," Teresa repeated, as if those were the only words she knew right now. She can't seem to recall how many times she had uttered them in such a short period of time. It could have been dozens for all she knew. She was too haunted by the pain she felt and the expression of pure agony that was plastered on her boyfriends face to remember.