Alex woke with a start, covered in a cold sweat and shaking almost uncontrollably. He sat bolt upright and quickly whipped off his pyjama top, using it as a cloth to try and mop up some of his sweat, He buried his face in the top, attempting to steady his unusually heavy breathing. He knew he would calm down eventually. He always did.

Waking up from nightmares was a regular occurrence for Alex. Ever since he'd returned to the academy, his nights had been plagued with the same recurring dream over and over again. The bodiless voice that terrified him more than anything else in the world and the vivid visions of his Pokémon brutally killing all of his friends. Whilst it didn't quite have the same effect as when he first saw those terrible things, Alex was still scared out of his mind whenever he went to bed.

He sometimes wondered to himself what it all meant. It didn't exactly calm him down, but it distracted his mind enough to get the gruesome images out of his head. He wondered if the voice was real. And if it was real, just who was the voice? Did it have a body? Why was it so obsessed with him? He shook his head, realising that the answers would never come. Or perhaps he was just hoping they'd never come.

"Hey, Alex? Are you ok?" came an unexpected voice. Still slightly on the edge, Alex jumped and dropped the moist pyjama top. It was Bella.

"Yeah, yep, great, perfectly fine." Alex replied, just a bit too frantically as he forced the top back on, covering his shirtless torso.

"It's just you were screaming. In your sleep." Alex met her gaze properly and saw a look in her eyes that he didn't think he'd seen before. It wasn't just worry. It was sympathy. She looked genuinely sorry for him.

"Was I?" he replied, trying to sound surprised. He knew that he wasn't a quiet sleeper. After all, the lads in his dorm room had practically kicked him out because he kept waking them up in the middle of the night. Now he just slept in the common room on one of the sofas with his duvet clumsily flung over him. Now at least his friends could sleep in peace.

"A lot." Bella nodded as she moved across the room to him. She was wearing a light blue dressing gown and as far as Alex could tell, nothing else. He altered his position on the sofa, swivelling his feet round to allow room for Bella to sit next to him. "Talk to me Alex. What's going on?"

"I'm fine Bella, really. It was just a nightmare." Alex said trying to shake off her concerns. He didn't want anyone else to be involved with the things he'd seen. He didn't want anyone to find out what he was worrying about.

"The same one you always have?" she raised an eyebrow at him as she sat next to him. He didn't bother asking how she knew. He just gave a small nod. She shuffled slightly closer. She looked like she wanted to hug him but she also looked unsure. That was a first. She was never unsure of anything.

"Honestly, it's nothing."

"It's not though is it?" she asked. "Lenny and I were talking about you the other day. About how you just look miserable all the time. It's not you. It doesn't suit you. Something is happening and you won't even let us help you."

"You can't help me." he sighed, closing his eyes and hanging his head. Everything she said was true and he had no idea how to go about fixing any of his problems. He felt a warm hand wrap around his own. Alex opened his eyes to see Bella closer than she was before.

"Alex I just want you to know. I... I just... I..." her words faltered away as if she just couldn't quite get her thoughts out of her head. "I just want you to know that we're here for you Alex. Me, Lenny, Edward, Lucy and Megan. We all care about you Alex. We want to help you. So please, please tell me what is so bad about these dreams that you can't even tell your best friends what happens."

"Bella, I'm sorry but I can't say." Alex shook his head. "It's not that I don't care about you guys and it means a lot that you care about me but that's just the point. I can't say because I care. I don't want you guys to know." Bella gave a small sigh but nodded. She seemed to understand that she was never going to get anything out of him. She kissed him on the cheek and stood up.

"Ok." she said. "But if there's ever anything on your mind, just talk to me."

"I will." Alex replied. "Thanks."

"Goodnight."

Well, NMA is finally back after a 4 month hiatus. Sorry it's taken so long and sorry if the chapter's not up to scratch, I just knew that if I didn't upload it now, it may never go up. I've got some really busy times ahead of me but hopefully I can get back into this story and maybe my writer's block is gone. With that said, I hope that you guys reading are still here and still enjoying it. Make sure to hit that vote button and I'll see you next time.