Like every other time, she could see the vision as clear as day, even though she was asleep. Astrid always thought that maybe sleeping on a comfortable bed would prevent these nightmares. Astrid had gone a few days at S.P.D. without a single nightmare. She thought that her theory might be working for once. Until now.
She could see the vision of someone running away in fear. In their hands was a baby. Astrid knew all too well who that baby was and who the stranger was, but she couldn't see their face. Only thing she didn't know was why they were running. Were they being chased? Or were they secretly just trying to find away to get rid of that baby without being noticed.
The person ran and ran. They ran straight into a dark alleyway until they reached a dead end. They looked around before placing the baby inside the dumpster. Astrid was only wrapped in a blanket and a tiny beanie around her head.
The person jumped over the brick wall and continued to run away. For the next hour, Astrid was left crying while looking up at the sky. She could see shadows flying past her. Weird animals would hop onto the dumpster.
Astrid was beginning to breath heavily in her sleep. Her heartbeat was racing more than it should have been. It was causing her pain. She began to sweat and breath heavier than before.
Two heads looked into the dumpster, looking rather confused. They were clearly shocked to see the baby. The couple looked at each other before turning back to the baby with an evil smirk.
Her chest was hurting more and more as their hands were getting closer and closer. The evil faces of her takers frightened her.
The pain in her chest was too much, and she finally awoke. She quickly sat up, still sweaty and breathing heavily.
~
Z kept moving around in her bed. Her body refused to let her sleep. She felt like something was trying to warn her. But warn her about what.
Annoyed from all the moving around, Syd sat up and took off her eye mask. She grabbed the clock and looked at the time. "It's three in the morning. What has you up this late?" She asked angrily.
Z didn't answer. Instead, she stood up and walked out their shared bedroom. Syd scoffed when being ignored by Z. She stood up and followed her. "Don't ignore me. That's rude." Syd said as she followed. Z still didn't see anything.
"Hello, earth to Z." Syd tried getting Z's attention. An annoyed tone was heard from her. And it was quite loud as they passed Bridge and Sky's room.
The two boys woke to the sound of Syd's voice. They got out of bed and looked out their room. "What's going on?" Sky asked, an annoyed tone in his voice.
"Maybe they had a fight." Bridge assumed.
"Then it's best to just leave it alone. I'm going back to bed." Sky turned around to walk back in his room, but Bridge stopped him. "What is it?"
"They're outside Jack's room." Bridge said.
Sky looked out the room and back to the girls. Z knocked on Jack's door calling out for him. Syd stood with her arms crossed over her chest, still clearly annoyed with Z.
The two boys walked out the room and over to the girls. "What's going on?" Bridge asked.
"I don't know. She kept moving around while I was trying to sleep. It annoyed me so I asked what was wrong. She didn't even say anything. She won't even look at me.
"Jack, open the door please." Z begged.
"Z, is everything alright?" Bridge asked. She didn't say anything. "Z?" Bridge questioned.
Jack's door finally opened up. He rubbed his eyes awake and looked at all four of his friends. "What's going on?" Jack asked in a tired voice.
"Jack, something's wrong. I'm not sure what it is and it's killing me. Help me out here please." She begged.
"That's it, all you had was a bad feeling?" Sky asked.
"Maybe it was that burger you had earlier. Let's go to the bathroom and vomit it all out for you." Syd said.
"This has nothing to do with my stomach. It's a feeling. I just can't pinpoint it." Z explained.
"Have you talked to Astrid about this?" Jack asked.
"No, I don't want to bother her while she's sleeping." Z said.
It finally hit both their heads on what might have been wrong when they both whipped their heads up to each other. "Astrid!"
Jack grabbed Z's arm and quickly ran down the hallway. The three friends looked at each other confused. Instead of questioning it, they decided to follow the two.
Jack and Z didn't even bother knocking. They barged straight inside and ran to Astrid's room and found her on the floor clenching her chest. Jack pulled her into a hug. Astrid let her two friends hug and protect her.
The other three reached to door and looked inside. Not long later, Cruger and Kat joined them. They were greeted with the sight of Astrid in Jack's arms. She leaned her head against his chest while Jack rested his chin on top of her head. Z slowly rubbed circles on her back, and Jack caressed her hair.
"You're fine, Astrid. We're here now." Jack assured.
Astrid was still breathing heavily. And the pain in her chest wouldn't go away. But her heartbeat was definitely slowing down. "Slow breathing, Astrid. You got this." Z spoke calmly. Astrid always loved how calm her voice was.
Bridge noticed Astrid's hand clenching her shirt. But for what. All he could tell was that she was in a lot of pain.
Jack turned to the others and waved them away. They simply nodded and left. They walked out and let the doors close behind them. "Go back to your living spaces." Cruger said.
"But what about-"
"Leave the situation to them. When they're ready, they'll explain it to you. As for now, go back to bed, you all need the rest."
Bridge looked back to the door. He wanted to make sure she was alright. "Okay." They all said, then turned around and started walking way.
They three saluted him before walking way. "Can you send someone to check on her later tonight? I don't want her feeling troubled again." He asked.
Kat nodded her head. "Already on it."
Before Bridge could walk back to his room, Sky grabbed his shirt and pulled him to the common room. "But we're supposed to go to bed." Bridge said.
"Yeah, but I'm not waiting a few more hours for some answers. I want them now."Sky said.
"Same here." Syd agreed.
~
Sky sat at the counter drinking a water bottle. Syd sat at the couch reading a book. Meanwhile Bridge paced back and forth around the room.
It had been about ten minutes already. Everyone else had gone back to sleep. But the three were still tired and worried. "I can't take it anymore. What are we doing here? What happened? Did she have some silly nightmare or something?" Syd asked annoyed.
"Calm down, Syd. Who knows, it could be more than that." Sky scolded.
"I'm sorry. I'm just so tired. I want to go back to bed. But I'm really worried at the same time." She sat back on the chair and brought her knees up to her chest. "Where are they?"
"What do you think, Bridge?" Sky asked.
Bridge didn't respond. He continued to just pace around the room worriedly. "Are you okay, Bridge?" Syd asked.
"Huh, yeah. I'm fine. Just worried and confused." He said.
"We all are."
The doors opened up. Jack and Z entered the room, both were clearly tired. The three quickly ran to them. "What happened?"
"What's going on?"
"Is Astrid alright?"
"Calm down, guys. Why are you still awake?" Z asked.
"We're worried." Syd said.
"Is Astrid alright." Bridge asked.
Jack let out a tired cough. "Astrid is fine. Z and I were able to put her back to sleep. She'll be fine till tomorrow morning." Jack assured.
Bridge let out a sigh of relief. But confusion struck. "Wait, did you say till tomorrow morning? As in, she won't be fine when she wakes up?" He asked.
Jack looked at him confused. He turned to Z for an answer. Z rolled her eyes and sighed. "Yes, but we'll explain that in a bit."
"So are you going to explain what that was all bout?" Sky asked.
Jack turned to Z for assurance. She just shrugged at him. Jack dropped his head and sighed. He then lifted it back up and looked to everyone. "We can't explain much, because it's not our place, but we'll explain as much as we can."
Z stepped forward. "Astrid didn't have the best life growing up. She was surrounded by the worst people in the first half, and it still wasn't even great once they left." Everyone looked at Z confused, wondering what she meant. "She didn't grow up fortunate enough the have a family. We didn't enter her life until years later."
"Astrid often has nightmares about her life before she met us. Specifically this one memory. And it never seems to go away. She'll wake up with chest pain. And it's hard for us to calm her back down afterwards."
"Chest pain?" Sky asked.
"Astrid is like us. She also has special powers, which is her speed. But unfortunately for her, it has some negative affects on her. Such as her heartbeat."
"Her heartbeat?" Syd questioned.
"Astrid said something about that. It's not the same as any normal person. It faster, right?" Bridge said.
"Exactly. Astrid's heartbeat is basically eight times faster than the average heartbeat. Which obviously isn't normal." Z explained.
"So that would basically make it around five hundred beats per minute?" Bridge asked.
Jack nodded his head. "Yeah, you're right."
"Five hundred? Is that even possible?" Sky questioned.
"Only for Astrid, unfortunately." Z said.
"That's just how it is. Because of these nightmares, they often cause her heart rate to rise. And though she's not normal, Astrid is still human. Her body can't handle how fast her heart is. If it were to rise, she would start having chest pain." Jack explained.
"That's horrible." Syd pouted. "It hurts just thinking about it."
"I can't even think of what she's going through." Sky said.
"Astrid will tell you more about it when she feels comfortable. But promise us one thing."
"Anything." Bridge said.
"Don't ask her about anything. It's hard enough just thinking about it. And these nightmares don't help. If you guys bomb her with questions, it'll just make her feel worse. Let her come to you."
"Promise us you won't bother her about any of this?" Jack begged.
"We promise."
Jack nodded his head. "Thanks. I think its time we get to bed now."
"Agreed." Z said.
The four walked ahead of Bridge as they left the common room. They all gave a simple glance to her door as they walked past it. Bridge stopped outside her door. He could hear muffled crying from inside. He wanted to go inside and check on her, but he had already made a promise to Z and Jack. Yet it was so tempting.
Astrid cried into her pillow to hide the sounds. But it was heard either way. She felt embarrassed. She knew that they'd be asking questions once she woke up.
Bridge began to take off his glove to see her energy, but he stopped himself. He felt it would still be invading her space.
"Bridge, you coming?" Sky called out.
Bridge nodded his head. "Yeah, I'm coming."
He took one last glance at her door. He would just have to hope that she'd be okay.
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