Waking up from a dream can be really disappointing at times, especially if the dream is a cut above reality. Sometimes, the memory of an individual's dream will fade from their mind, and then they are left with this lonely, depressing feeling of detachment, realizing that the only proof of the dream has vanished from them.

Sky had dealt with this many times before.

He'd always wanted to get back to sleep again to continue the ecstatic dream that he could cherish forever, but unfortunately, that never worked out for him.

He would sacrifice anything to go back to that dream.

He wanted to leave this hell so bad.

Sky gripped his head in pain as he sat up in his bed.

His skull was burning, and his chest felt painful as if it was pricked with shards of glass. All he knew was that he failed.

Again.

And he has to endure another worth of guilt.

He tried not to believe it, but it was true. He shuddered as the painful memories started to haunt him again.

The kid is going to RESET again.

And then they're going to start their killing spree all over again.

Everyone is going to be gone again.

. . .again.

He made a promise to himself, but now he broke it. As much as he tried to hold it in, the pain came out like an uproar from his throat in the form of a silent scream. The beads of water started falling one after another, without a sign of stopping. He punched his pillow and tried to scream, but his voice was melted by the sound of the place. The world turned into a blur, and so did all the sounds.

The taste.

The smell.

Everything was gone.

The last painful emotion slammed against him before he lost the feeling of being able to feel. Everything darkened into nothingness as he passed into the oblivion of unconsciousness. Brick by brick, his walls came tumbling down. As he stared down at the snow-white cover in his hospital bed, the tears in his eyesockets turned the cloth into a whirlwind of blurriness.

He continued to break down in guilt and despair. The sobs punched through, ripping through his injured body, but he did not care about the pain. He pressed his forehead against the rough palms of his hands and began to let his heart yank in and out of his chest. There were so many mixed emotions in him, but the only one that stood out to him was the feeling of being scared. He thought that he was going to die for real without the help of getting stabbed.

Was this a joke to them?

Were they just trying to play some game?

He sniffled.

Of course, they would love seeing him endure all the pain both physically and mentally. He could already feel his life starting to crumble in their fingertips all over again.

He didn't want to suffer another RESET.

Congratulations.

They had finally broken him.

Then, suddenly, it felt as if someone was there, sitting beside him, patting and rubbing his back. Sky couldn't see who the person was, but he quickly hugged them back as he choked out another sob. Whoever this person was, they had reached into his brink of hollowness and were slowly taking him back into the real world. He sobbed into the person's chest unceasingly, hands clutching at their clothing.

The anonymous figure held him in silence, rocking him slowly as his tears soaked his chest. A tiny lapse let him pull away, blinking eyesockets heavy with tears, before he collapsed again, his howls of guilt and misery worsening. The pain must have come in waves, minutes of sobbing broken apart by short pauses for recovering breaths, before hurling him back into the outstretched arms of his guilt. He started to release shaky breaths as the person's hand rubbed his back slowly in comfort.

____

Sky woke up in a cold sweat.

He was still laying in his bed.

Tears were still rolling down his bony cheeks.

...

"...what a weird dream."