I was surrounded by an almost blinding white room that seemed to have no walls or ceiling but light was coming from somewhere. I wanted to shield my eyes but I couldn't, my hands wouldn't move to my face.

"Hello?" I called out, hoping someone could hear me. I didn't know where I was or how I got there.

After getting no response, and not wanting to stand and do nothing to find out where I was, I started to walk. There were no doors, no windows, no nothing. Up above me was identical. I wasn't even certain if I was walking on a floor because there was no shadow and when I thought about it, I couldn't feel the floor under my feet either.

I stopped walking suddenly when a faint cry resonated around me. I looked around. Nothing. I was ready to write that off as me just hearing things since I was in complete silence when I heard the sound again, louder, clearer.

I started to run, hopefully, in the direction it came from, the person sounded in pain.

Gradually, the cries occurred more frequently. After the final one, the whole room suddenly went black.

Was it a nightmare?

Everywhere was pitch black, except in the distance; there was a faint, flickering light, maybe a fire, so I went that way. I needed to get out of wherever it was that I was.

When I got nearer to what was a fire, I noticed someone sat beside it, hugging their knees up to their chest. Upon closer inspection, I saw it was a guy, maybe it was him making all the noise earlier.

Fists at the ready, I approached the boy at a steady pace. He could try to strike first so I had to be vigilant. He looked up to meet my stare when I was a few feet away.

I knew that face, those mesmerising purple eyes and pale pink lips.

Alexander.

I knelt to his level to inspect him closer, "are you ok? Was it you screaming earlier?" When I reached out to touch his cheek, I immediately flinched away. He was ice cold. He didn't respond to me either.

"Where is Austin? Is he here?" I asked.

Alexander's eyes seemed extremely unfocused and when he did look at me, he looked through me instead. Otherwise, his eyes were darting around the room we were in. Apart from that, he looked fine, I thought Austin would've hurt him to get answers or payback, but there wasn't a single mark on his face.

The second time I reached out for him, this time for his arm to stand him up, he stood up faster than I could blink and turned his back from me. He covered his face and lowered his head.

I furrowed my eyebrows. I wanted to know what had happened to him, where we were, what was happening, but he was so unresponsive. I'd never witnessed this side to him before. It was kind of scary in a sense.

Cautiously, I stood myself in front of Alex and eyed him closely, waiting for him to move, but he didn't.

Eventually, after some reassuring words from me, Alex gradually removed his hands from his face, nevertheless, his head remained down.

"Look at me. I'm here," I said softly.

And he did. I wished he didn't though. His face... It changed from just a moment ago. He wasn't fine at all. His face was bruised and bloody, his lips had cuts all over them, his whole nose was a hideous purple-black colour, both of his eyes were black and bloodshot.

Tears filled my eyes the longer I looked at his assaulted and damaged face. He was almost unrecognisable.

Suddenly, a blood-curdling scream filled my ears. One filled with pain and torture, and it was coming from Alex. I covered my ears.

"Stop screaming, it's OK! It's OK! I'm here for you, Alex! Please!" I begged and begged but he carried on. It got louder and louder until I eventually thought my head was going to explode, my chest felt constricted and I couldn't even feel my own heartbeat because of the vibrations of the scream.

This was a nightmare. It had to be. There was no way it was real... but it felt too real. I could feel it physically.

"Please, please, please..." I collapsed to the floor. Weak. I just wanted it to end. Whatever "it" was felt like torture.

My eyes opened and darted around the room as they filled with light. I sat up and threw the covers off of me, taking in deep breaths and familiarising myself with my environment, which was a lot hotter than I remembered it being. Something rolled down my cheek: sweat, tears maybe? I didn't know.

That nightmare felt way too real.

April and Kyra were on the edge of my bed beside me, just watching me with concerned expressions on their faces.

"A-are you OK? You were having a really bad nightmare there." Inquired April, the first of the two to actually say something.

Slowly, I nodded my head. I was still in shock, I was scared... distraught. What kind of nightmare was that? I had never had one so vivid in my life! Maybe I shouldn't have found out what happened to Alexander, so I wouldn't get nightmares.

Kyra hopped off my bed and started to head for the bathroom, "I'll get you a cold towel. You're really sweating."

I focused on slowing down my breathing and reassuring myself that it was just a dream. Maybe Austin wouldn't hurt Alexander the way I saw in my dream, but if he wanted to he could, there was nothing or no one to stop him.

Even after I calmed down, and Kyra had given me a cold towel to put on my forehead, I could still hear the screams from Alex: they sounded too real for a dream, but its setting didn't seem real at all.

Glancing over to my side, where my clock on my bedside table was, I saw that it was 5:30 am. I'd have to get up in a couple of hours for my lessons.

"You two can go back to sleep, I'll be fine. Thank you." I suggested. They looked as bad as I probably did, after probably been shocked out of sleep too, but because of my screaming.

They did as I suggested, although quite hesitantly. I didn't go back to sleep though, every time I closed my eyes the image of the bloodied and beaten Alexander seemed like it was etched into the back of my eyelids. As the room fell silent and I drifted between consciousness and unconsciousness, the awful screams from Alexander filled my ears. The thought of it made me physically sick. It seemed to be it was noticeable because, by the end of the day, all of my teachers had told me I looked ill, or tired or something along those lines. Both of which, were true. In class, even when I felt like I could finally sleep, the longer my eyes remained closed, the more of the Alexander in my dream I saw.

What was I supposed to do? Tell Charlotte and Leandra I knew what had happened back in Nox Atterima? No, they'd ask how I knew, then I'd be in a precarious situation, they'd know someone had told me, and then what? I couldn't admit that Lucas told me, however, I also couldn't blame someone else and get them in serious trouble.

Every night was the same for the whole week. On the third day, after having the same nightmare and screaming myself awake, I made Kyra and April promise not to tell Leandra, Charlotte or even the school nurse. I didn't want to have to explain my nightmares. I didn't want to have to forcefully remind myself of the images I'd see every night. It was bad enough I could see it constantly when I slept.

On the seventh day, Charlotte finally cornered me after an evening at a campfire while we were heading back to our dorms.

"You're sleep deprived," she stated blatantly. "You wanna know how I know?"

I shook my head. "No, not really. Kinda just wanna go back to my dorm. It's late."

"You've kind of been avoiding me, I've noticed. You're not usually like this. In class, my coffee doesn't keep you awake anymore. I've seen you jolt awake every time you do drift off in lessons. So what's going on?"

I looked past Charlotte and at the people going back to their dorms, wishing I was one of them. They'd probably sleep soundly tonight and wake up somewhat refreshed in the morning.

"Hey." A blurry hand appeared in front of my vision. "Alex told us to keep you safe while you're here. That means to protect you, and keep you healthy. Whatever is wrong with you now, is not normal. So I want you to tell me what's going on."

I folded my arms and finally focused my eyes on Charlotte, who did look concerned, considering her extremely firm tone.

"OK. Why don't we start with you telling me what's really happening with Alexander, since we're opening up," I suggested, with a light, sarcastic tone.

Charlotte's eyebrows raised, her eyes widened and her mouth fell into an 'O' shape. I kept my flat expression, but on this inside, I was dying. I didn't want to say that at all! I didn't want her to know I knew. I would've run if I hadn't frozen up, waiting for a response.