a chained heart

15 | sleep

Adam watched Lawrence sleep in his chair at the airport. Lines of stressed creased his forehead and Adam wondered what he was dreaming about. Reaching over, he ran his hand through Lawrence's blonde locks and planted a light kiss on his forehead. As he did so, he heard the shutter of a camera and saw the reminisce of a flash in the corner of his eye.

Adam stood up and spotted a group of older teenage boys snickering on the other end of the room. He marched over angrily to the boy holding the camera. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Taking pictures that are gonna get me a lottt of money," the boy laughed.

Adam tried to put up an intimidating front but the brat wasn't scared.

"What? You gonna kill me?" he laughed. "If I were your homo-fag boyfriend over there, I'd break up with you while I still can."

Adam went to punch the kid in the face, but the young boy tsked and looked over the right, signaling at a security guard standing nearby. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," he smiled smugly.

Adam knew he couldn't afford to get kicked out of the airport, or even worse, go to jail for assault. Instead, he leaned in to the kid and whispered viciously. "You're lucky I can't put my hands on you right now." Staring him down as he walked away, Adam ran to the nearest bathroom.

He needed to be alone.

The fact that it had only been a few hours since the show and he was already recognized made him sick.

He prayed that he wouldn't be noticed again.

Once he pushed the bathroom door open, he ran towards the nearest stall and let all of that day's food fall into the toilet. Once Adam was done gagging, he stood up and walked towards the sink.

He didn't even make it a few feet until he found himself gripping at the wall for support as black clouds swarmed the edges of his eyes. Adam realized that although he'd been used to being in his bathroom at home, this was his first time using a public restroom.

This was different.

It was too similar to bathroom in the game.

The plain tiles along with urinals lining the wall sent his heart into a frenzy. He didn't know what to do.

Suddenly the door was opened and a burly man stepped in. He froze when he saw Adam holding onto the wall for dear life, struggling to breath. "Uhhh...you alright, man?"

Adam wanted to say that he was fine just so the man would leave, but he couldn't quite make his mouth work. The stranger got weirded out and backed himself out through the door.

Adam was beginning to lose control of his body. His head grew dizzy as the once clean tiles surrounding him now appeared grime covered, putting him back into his most feared prison. Broken glass and dirt lined the floor along with pools of blood.

Adam stumbled over to the nearest sink and clutched desperately at the edges. He could feel the chain around his ankle as he struggled to hold himself up.

"Help!" Adam screamed. He knew no one would hear him.

No one heard him last time.

He looked up into the mirror and saw someone standing behind him.

Amanda.

Her reflection stared at him sadly through the glass.

Adam's jaw dropped. His head froze, unable to check behind him in fear she would really be there. He tried to speak but couldn't