Nightmares Plague his Sleep

Nightmare. A dream that he knew was a frightening one. The constant nightmare plagued the sleep of the boy Lucio Auriemma. Waking up in the middle of the night had become normal. He was used to it. The jolting of his body after coming out of a dream he could never remember. He was used to going through his day sleep deprived. What Lucio wasn't used to however, was the small room. The small room he shared with his given roommates, was filled with snores. The snores weren't a bother, but the room itself.

Whenever Lucio woke up, the room didn't look normal. The three beds were smashed in, the wooden bed frames were broken and scattered all over the room, the drawers were open with all of the clothes torn, the floor was scratched up with multiple of the boards pulled out and broken, the ceiling was on the verge of collapsing. To him, it looked like the place was ransacked by monsters. Monsters that he never had the guts to face.

Although, the broken furniture, ripped clothes, scratched up walls, the missing floor boards, the collapsing ceiling, and the broken pieces of glass weren't the worst part. The scratched up walls were covered in blood. Blood that had seemed to be there for as long as he was in the room. Blood that had stained the scratched up walls. Blood that belonged to the bodies of seven people that were laying dead on the floor. People he felt he knew but couldn't remember who they were. People he couldn't bare to even start remembering.

It was a terrifying sight. Even after witnessing it hundreds of times, Lucio could never get rid of it. The hallucination that came after the nightmares made the nightmare itself feel real even though it was something he could never remember. Just like the dead people burning his brain.

Lucio needed to get out of that room immediately, so he rushed out of bed and ran outside of the room, without taking the time to put on shoes or a jacket. He slammed the door shut and sat against the door with his head buried in his knees. Lucio whispered to himself. He whispered things that would make himself understand that what he saw was just a hallucination, something that couldn't hurt him. That those people, even though there was a small sense of familiarity, were strangers.

It was unsuccessful. Whispering to himself didn't help one bit. Closing his eyes and telling himself that none of it was real, didn't work. It never worked. When Lucio looked up, the walls were bloody and scratched up. The paintings that usually lined the walls were torn and the pain was barely visible through the splatters of blood. And right in front of him, were the seven dead bodies. It wasn't like in the room. This time they were closer. This time it felt like they could touch him. Like they would move at any moment and grab him. Like they would kill him too.

"Ah...ah..." He couldn't even bring himself to scream. He couldn't bring himself to ask for help. It was a struggle in itself to overcome the fear in his legs and get up. Even when he did, the fear was still in his body causing him to trip over his own feet and fall to the floor.

Lucio stayed on the floor for five minutes before daring to look up. Now, those people were standing over him, staring down at him with their dead eyes. It was impossible for the dead to move, to stand without anything supporting them. But, there they were, hanging over Lucio as if blaming him for not dying with them. As if they were getting ready to drag him to death with them.

He wanted to scream, but his fear was too overwhelming. Instead, Lucio crawled between the legs of the children and got onto his feet, all while shaking. Without looking back, he ran down the hall towards the dorm hall exit.

After what seemed like a long run, Lucio made it to the dorm exit. He opened the door and took a step outside the dorm. With the sudden sink in his step, Lucio fell forward again. With the fall, he had let go of the door handle, and the door swung shut.

It took Lucio a few seconds to have the courage to look up. He didn't want to see the sight he saw when he first looked up after a fall. He was too scared, but he looked up. Blood was no longer surrounding him, and he sat up with his back facing the dorms. It was when he looked at the ground that Lucio realized that the ground was covered in snow. Untainted snow was falling from the sky…

Untainted. There wasn't a single trace of the crimson red that followed him around. It was calming. It was pure white snow. He wanted to wrap himself in it hoping that its purities would protect him from the ghosts chasing after him. He wanted to hide and never come out. That was until the dorm door started creaking open.

Lucio looked back at the door and saw something terrifying. It was the teenage girl walking out of the dormitory. Her hair was a mess and covered in blood. Her arm almost detached from her body if not for that one piece holding on like string. The dead body walking towards him, her dead eyes trained on his face. Lucio was terrified once again.

The pureness of the snow couldn't protect him. No matter how much he shoveled into the ground. How much snow he tried to pile on top of him. Nothing was going to separate him from the ghost plaguing him. His only choice was to get up and make a run for it.

Lucio couldn't tell how long he had been running. All he knew was that there was a dead body following him. He wanted to get away from her as soon as possible. Her bloodied body that was tainting the pure white snow. Even though she seemed familiar, all Lucio wanted was to get away from her. He ran and ran until his body gave into the cold. His legs collided with the cold snow, and his eyes showed pure panic. There was nothing but snow in the path of the walking dead body.

"I-I have to..."

In a rush, Lucio grabbed as much snow as he could in his hands that were turning red and threw it at the body.

It was futile. The body kept walking towards Lucio. The snow had done nothing to stop the girl's body from getting closer to him, but Lucio kept throwing the snow. He ignored the needle like pain coming from his feet, and continued his pointless resistance.

The, so called, dead body was confused. The quiet kid in the dorm was throwing snow at them and they didn't understand why. They started calling out to Lucio multiple times but it didn't work. In fact, tears spilled out of the sunset eyes even more, and the closer they got, the more panic spread on his face. It was concerning to them because the "dead body" was in fact not a dead body, but a male who also lived in the dormitory. It was a living boy named Everard Moreau.

Everard kept stepping closer to the terrified Lucio wondering why the kid was scared. They had talked to each other when sitting next to each other during assemblies. Lucio didn't speak much, better yet, show any kind of emotion. Yet, right now, Lucio's face was stricken with fear. It was something no one had ever seen before.

Snow kept hitting Everard's face and he had started getting irritated. No matter what he did, Lucio continued throwing deformed balls of cold snow at him. He tried stepping closer, saying that they should get back to the dorm before they end up getting in trouble, but that didn't work. Even staying and place and saying nothing didn't work. Lucio kept throwing snow at him, "Get...GET AWAY FROM ME!"

A yell from him made Everard take a few steps back, and it made him take a closer look at Lucio. He wanted to know what was causing his quiet dorm mate to end up in such a state. A state that made it clear that Lucio wasn't looking at him, but something else.

Lucio's eyes that looked as if they held a suspended sunset inside were wide open and brimming with tears that were falling down his pale cheeks flushed because of the cold. His long eyelashes had small pieces of snow weighing them down. His light green pastel colored hair that was long enough to be spread across the white snow was a mess. His small figure shivering from the cold and fear.

The first thought that crossed through Everard's mind was of how pretty Lucio was. Until, he'd never taken a good look at the kid because he always disregarded him. Those thoughts were quickly shaken out when he remembered that Lucio was a sixteen year old male, not female.

"GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER!"

Everard was done dealing with Lucio's tantrum. He stomped closer and closer to the frightened teen. The falling snow seemed to get heavier the closer Everard got, and of course, Lucio's fear kept growing. His eyes widened more than Everard thought was possible.

Step after step, the snow got thicker. As if the snow was trying to protect the fragile figure. A growing snow storm made it hard for Everard to advance, but he kept walking.

Lucio's body couldn't hold out any longer. His body stopped shivering, showing that it had given up trying to produce heat or show fear. His hands were so numb that he could no longer feel the cold or move his fingers. He had been running in the snow with no shoes, so without a doubt, his feet were probably suffering from frostbite. Lucio felt a heavy force on his eyelids but kept his eyes wide open. He couldn't afford to let himself pass out while in danger, but there was nothing he could do. Lucio's body was giving out and there was nothing he could do about it.

His body fell back into the untainted snow. His legs losing the little strength they had, his arms laying on the snow, and his back hitting the snow. Lucio curled up into a ball as his consciousness slowly faded away. In a small whisper he said, "Help me…"

The last word of his whisper was too quiet to be heard over the growing snow storm.

Everard started moving closer in the growing snow storm. Steps away from being able to where Lucio's body was laying. The storm was getting worse, moving was becoming impossible. It was a miracle that he managed to get close enough to Lucio to pick him up. Everard reached out to grab Lucio's arm, but it was then pushed away by the storm causing him to fall. When Everard managed to look back, snow was blocking his sight. He couldn't see the green hair that complimented the white snow. He couldn't see a single thing.

When the snow storm lightened a bit, Everard saw a man. He could only see the parts of the man's clothing and a little of his face because of the storm. He may not have seen the man clearly, but Everard could hear his voice perfectly clear.

"Don't get near him."

Through the snow, Everard could see the vicious purple eyes belonging to the man, and they made him back away.

No, I can't let my instincts take over, he thought as he started again on his walk through the snow storm.

Closer and close he got, but the man didn't care. He didn't even look up from Lucio's body. From the moment he stopped talking, all of the man's attention turned to Lucio's cold, unmoving body. The man picked up Lucio which put Everard on edge.

"PUT HIM DOWN!"

The man looked at Everard again. He didn't speak, but it felt like the man could see into Everard's soul. The two made eye contact until snow blocked Everard's vision again, and when the snow sight block cleared, the man nor Lucio were no longer there. Everard looked around, but couldn't see a thing. Not a trace of where the two went or a building. The storm was too strong and white covered everything. His footprints from where he stood before were covered by a new blanket of snow. At the moment, there was no way Everard could go back to the dorms.

"What the hell…?"

He went through one hell of a night for a classmate he'd never even talked to before.

"So cold."

The purple eyed man gently placed his hand on Lucio's cheek. The man had placed Lucio on a bed and covered him with a thick blanket to warm the smaller body. The purple eyes kept trained on Lucio's face.

A sigh escaped the mouth of the man. He took his hand away from Lucio's cheek and leaned on the side of the bed frame.

"This is nice. It's been a while since I got to sit at your side like this."

The man sat there listening to Lucio's soft breaths.

Slowly, the temperature of the room started to drop from the snow storm outside. The man couldn't start a fire in the small cave because of its little ventilation. Before the cave would fill with warmth, smoke would fill the air and suffocate them. The man knew that if things continued how they are, the blanket wouldn't matter. Lucio's body temperature would drop to the point of death.

"There's no other choice."

The man took his shoes and coat off. He lifted the blanket, and Lucio shivered by the sudden cold. He slid under the sheet while the bed creaked by the new weight. The man wrapped his arms around Lucio, and pulled him in close.

"It won't be as helpful as direct skin contract, but it'll have to do."