Those of Us Alone

Chapter 54: Memory or Nightmare? Maybe, Both?

Midori's POV

Dreaming wasn't something new to me.

I could always tell when I am in a dream. I mean, it helps when you're camping out in a forest and the scenes you're seeing are within a dark, enclosed room. So, as you may have guessed, I have found myself within a dream. . . though, I think it may be a memory.

And from the dreary-ness of it, I have a feeling it'll be a bad one.

As I turn around to assess the area, I catch sight of myself. Not like a reflection, per say, but more like . . . I'm an outside viewer of this . . . memory. . .

So, I found myself tied down to a chair. 

This was obviously recent because I looked about the same age as I was now. One second, I'm staring at the walls, my eyes blanker than an empty piece of parchment, and the next, I'm soaked. My captors seemed familiar, but one in particular registered in my mind - Yan Kumuji. He was sat in front of me, saying things that I couldn't quite hear.

But it was no secret what he would want from me. He wanted information about the Pirates of Awa. He always did.

Torture soon commenced - like I thought it would. I refuse to submit to Kumuji, so it was no surprise for me to see the route he was taking. Rather than touch me himself, he had his goons trying to beat it out of me. 

Punching and slapping, the whole nine yards. 

But other than that . . . nothing got worse. . .

At least, until someone else arrived. 

Dante Kumuji isn't the most terrifying looking of men. As long as he and you were on good terms - meaning you're doing as he says. Unfortunately for me, I seem to be defiant, and that doesn't make for a very good relationship with Kumuji's heir.

That's when everything began to get more and more dark.

The elder Kumuji and the goons that were with them left the two of us alone. By now, as a viewer, I began to shake. The air got colder as Dante's face began to twist into a sadistic grin.

I feared for my life - and it seemed for good reason.

Unlike the others, Dante began his questioning with a knife. That . . . that was when I knew that I could not come out of this unscathed. But . . . he didn't go to pierce my skin first; no, he decided to go down the mental torture first by revealing the only thing that I could never make myself become proud of.

For the first time since the dream started, I could hear words, "Aw, is the little whore not proud of her body? Oh, the irony!" 

I - the viewer - began to shake, I fell to my knees as I was forced to watch every. Single. Thing. There was many scars that I was going to be left with, many physical - like the few choice words that were lining my waistline - but there was one in particular that was mentally scarring.

As a woman, it really hurt to be called a whore . . . but there never used to be anything that would have people I cared about call me that.

Tears poured from my face as I realized . . . those I loved . . . they had a reason now. I wasn't consenting - no - but that didn't matter in this day and age. People are quick to judge. I shut my eyes - to shut out as much of the dream I had left.

~~~~~~~~~~

"-dori! Midori!" Someone was shaking me. Quicker than I thought possible for waking up, I shot up from the ground and tried to put as much space between me and whoever was shaking me. For a split-second, I feared I was still stuck in that room. "Midori," I had yet to recognize the voice, but it was softer and kinder than any single one I heard within that . . . that nightmare of a memory.

My vision was blurry, and while I could assume that because of the fact that I was still crying (I was practically bawling), I still hastily moved away from the person - who I guess was trying to comfort me.

~~~~~~~~~~

Soo-won's POV

A few hours ago, General Joo-doh woke me so that I could take over watch while he got some sleep.

It had been a pretty peaceful night. The sky was clear, and the forest in which we slept was silent. At least, it was for the first few hours of my shift. At about the two-and-a-half hour mark, I began to hear some whimpering. Of course, I hadn't really been expecting that the noise would be coming from Midori, so I had been shocked when I made my way around camp to see some tears rolling down her face.

It didn't take a genius to see that she was having a nightmare.

I sighed before sitting down next to Midori's head, running my hand through her hair - that she uncharacteristically had untied as she slept. I had been hoping that I was comforting her, and it seemed to have worked for a little while. . . at least, until she began to shake more violently.

At this point, I knew that it would just be better if I woke her up. She may be unhappy that I disturbed her sleep, but seeing her suffer through such a tremendous nightmare . . . 

"Midori?" Her whimpering got louder, and she was shaking whilst crying. This had to stop. I began to shake her shoulders, hoping to get her to wake, "Midori!" My voice was a hushed whisper, "Midori!"

She shot up, quickly moving away from me, and practically hyperventilating. She must have still been lost within her dream. I spoke softly, hoping I'd be able to calm her, "Midori." As she looked up to my face, I could see she wasn't completely out of her nightmare, but as I gazed sadly at her tear-stained face, I couldn't help but feel a bit of pity for her.

Whatever she was experiencing, she wasn't happy about it in the slightest.

We sat in silence as tears continuously poured out of her eyes. As she began to wipe her eyes, I realized she became more aware of her surroundings. 

This had been further supported as she spoke, her voice cracking from all the crying, "S . . . Soo-won?"

I slowly scooted over towards her, softly speaking to her as I went, "Midori. Are . . . Is . . . is everything alright?"

She began to shake again. It was only a matter of time before she ended up crying again, as she hadn't had much time to recover from her nightmare. There wasn't much I could do in that moment.

Though it was slightly embarrassing for me to ask her, I spoke softly, offering what little comfort I thought I could bring her, "Come over here, Midori." She slowly began to crawl over to me, as if she too realized she needed comfort. When she was close enough, I wrapped my arms around her, allowing her head to rest in the crook of my neck, "It's okay, Midori . . . you can cry if you want . . . you don't need to hold back."

It took her a few minutes, but she didn't push me away, and she allowed herself to let her emotions free - rather than bottle them up.

I slowly rubbed circles into her back as the sounds of her muffled cries traveled through our group's campsite.

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Hello, everyone!!

This chapter is quite sad - in my opinion. In the sense that it is actually sad - not that I don't like my writing, I do like it. I think maybe I nailed the feeling of sadness throughout this chapter.

I couldn't just allow Midori to remember the good things - without the bad.

Also, as I was reaching the 800-900 word mark, I had the sudden idea that Soo-won should help her out. I wouldn't know how to write Joo-doh's perspective on this . . . I feel pretty good about how I wrote his POV . . . kind of hard to go wrong when you're trying to comfort someone. . .

Anyway, I hope y'all like this chapter,

~Ashley