Laughter echoes. I press my palms to my ears. The darkness throws gigantic shadows of the trees on the ground.

Mocking, howling laughter rings in the woods.

I sprint to get away from the sniggering, not knowing where I'm going but never slowing down.

I run until my feet hurt and my muscles scream in protest. My breath wheezes in and out of me, lower branches graze my skin, drawing blood. In the far distance, I catch glimpses of a highway. With more force, I dash towards it. But when I reach it, Alex, Everly, and Olivia are standing in a circle, pointing at me and laughing.

"Stop!" I cry out. No one hears me. Tears brim my eyes.

They snicker and sneer, pointing at me, doubling over with laughter. Tossing words like 'loser', 'nobody', 'worthless'.

"Everyone's better off without you," Everly sneers.

Alex drapes his arm around her. "We're so happy now that you're not here. You ruin anyone's life you get close to."

"You're a worthless failure left with nothing but misery. Obnoxious, self-serving pain in the ass," Olivia shouts.

"You even destroyed your brother's life," The three of them yell together.

I shake my head.

"You don't deserve anyone's love," Everly and Olivia say together as the trio begin walking around me. "You only ruin lives," the three of them say together. Mom, Dad, Mason join them out of nowhere.

"It's all your fault," they shout together.

I shake my head. "I'm sorry," I cry out searching for the familiar warm faces I've known, but glacial eyes stare me down.

"You ruined our lives," they roar.

My knees buckle and hit the uneven paved ground, gravel cuts into my skin.

Bright headlights cut through the darkness. Everyone disappears. A gigantic truck speeds down the lane.

Mason stands in the middle. "You ruined everything."

I push myself to my feet, shaking my head, tears streaming down my face. "No, no-no." I rush to him.

"Everyone hates you," Mason's monotonous voice echoes in the night. "It's your fault."

The truck screeches as it hits Mason a moment before I reach him.

I shriek, "No!"

"Gracie." Warm hands gently shake me.

I jolt awake, frantically taking in my unfamiliar surroundings, cowering away from the touch and voice, my bach hitting the headboard.

"Gracie, it was just a dream, it's over," the same well-known deep voice says. Panting, my eyes finally fall on Wright, our eyes locking.

He softly strokes the pad of his thumb over my cheek and that's when I realize I've been crying. "It was a nightmare, it's over," he murmurs. But I don't stop trembling.

Unfocused I nod, the events of the day crash down on me, quickening my heartbeat again.

I press my hand to my temple. The dream replays in my head. Just a nightmare. Not real.

Still, one hand holding my shoulder, Wright leans over and picks a glass of water, I feebly guide the glass as he holds up for me to take a sip.

Embarrassment tightens my chest as it settles at the pit of my stomach, churning it.

Wright puts the glass aside and tenderly brushes the hair sticking to my sweaty forehead aside, his eyes never leave my face.

"I'm sorry," I mumble looking away. The night lamp is the only source of illumination in the room. Fidgeting with the duvet, as heat rushes to my cheeks, I rub my brow. "I'm so sorry," I quaver.

"Stop," he sternly says.

I shake my head. It must be late. I quickly glance at the window on my left, the sky is still dark. I woke him up. "I'm so sorry."

"Gracie, I said stop." This he speaks firmer.

I cover my face with both my hands, shaking my head as I pull my knees to myself. "I'm so sorry," I keep repeating in a whisper.

Slender fingers wrap around my hand, pulling it aside. "It's all right, okay?" he leans closer to me. "It's fine." Holding the eye contact, he asks, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," I weakly answer.

"Do you want to be alone?"

"Yes."

His face falls but he nods anyway, backing away from me and his hands dropping away. With reluctance, he stands. "I'm in the living room. Come out if you..." his voice trails down. He clears his throat and shoves his hand into his hair. "Just know I'm there, okay?"

I nod and he leaves, closing the door behind himself.

I squeeze my eyes shut, pressing them to my knees as I hug my legs closer to myself, rocking back and forth. Ragged breaths tear out of me.

Mason's face in the nightmare flashes before my vision. Their words go round in circles. The voices echo in my head.

I wish I could melt and go underground and never come out again.

Even Wright saw how screwed up I am. Never in my life have I experienced this level of embarrassment and humiliation. First the panic attack in his car and now this.

I peer over my arm and watch the full-length glass window. The rain is still pouring down. Could this night get any longer?

For a few minutes, that's all I do, stare out of the window.

With a sharp inhale, I gather the minimal strength left in me and get to my feet. I trudge to the bathroom and splash ice-cold water on my face and dry it as I study my reflection. My hair is a mess, dark circles are smeared under my eyes and my skin is too pale to be considered normal.

I scan the place for my scrunchie, but it's no use, it's nowhere to be found. Eventually, I give up and head out of the bathroom and stop before the closed door of the bedroom.

I shut my eyes and inhale and exhale deeply a few times before straightening myself and stepping out.

True to his words, Wright is in the living room, sitting on one of the sofas. Our gaze locks as though all this while he was waiting for me to come.

With hesitant steps, I cross the distance and sit on the black loveseat placed on Wright's left.

I fidget with my fingers, feeling his intense eyes boring into me. From my fingers to the coffee table, I slowly move my focus. Countless papers, filled with his scribbling, are scattered over it.

"Are you better?" he asks after a while.

I nod, struggling to look up at him. I start, "I'm sorry, I-"

He interrupts me, "I told you to stop apologizing."

"You were working?" I weakly question, daring to glance up at him.

He nods, leaning into the sofa. "Anyway, do you want me to bring someth-"

"No," I mumble.

He sighs and slides to the edge of his seat. "You were in that accident with your brother, weren't you?"

My head snaps to him, my eyes slightly widening. Is it that obvious?

"It wasn't hard to tell," he adds a beat later. Wright drives his hand through his hair. "The ride triggered it..." he speculates, furrowing his brows. "Right? Or is it frequent?"

I lift a shoulder, still refusing to meet his eyes directly.

He rises to his feet and plants himself next to me in one fluid motion. "You need professional help."

"I'm fine," I snap.

"There's nothing wrong wi-"

"I said I'm fine," I mutter through gritted teeth and turn to glare at him. His hair is disheveled, so unlike his usual self. Soft curls rest on his brow, his dark blue eyes are tired but observant.

He huffs, holding a palm up. "Whatever you say." 

"I'm sorry," I mumble and look away.

He sighs. "Does anyone know?"

I shake my head. "No one except my roommate... and now you."

"Have you tried... telling someone or I don't know... perhaps opening up?"

"I don't need that, I'm doing fine."

"Adjectives are usually comparative, and for each person the point considered to be the standard normal is different. I don't know where yours stands, but overall speaking, I highly doubt this can be considered as fine."

I roll my eyes and continue fidgeting with my fingers.

He inhales sharply. "Okay, how about you tell me?"

A breathy laugh tumbles out of me as I eye him with disbelief.

"What?"

"Honestly, I'd rather not."

"You offend me. Why not? I'm a great-"

"No, you're not." I draw my eyebrows together and shake my head.

"Actually, patting is quite an effective way of comforting." He arches a brow as if to emphasize his point, as the side of his mouth tugs upwards.

I weakly giggle and he smiles. His tense muscles relax, and his eyes drift between my eyes and lips as he readjusts his position, shifting to face me, his back pressing to the armrest.

"One bad thing. I want you to tell me just one, nothing more... and you can stop whenever you want or continue if it worked, there's no pressure, but I want you to try," he softly says, tilting his head to one side. His deep voice sends tingling sensations down my spine.

I take a deep breath, feeling his gaze on me. Maybe it's today's exhaustion, the number of things that went wrong leading me to actually consider sharing with him.

Now that I have the opportunity, it's sinking in me how tired I am. So I decide to tell him. The one thing I've never done before, opening up, is going to get off my bucket list tonight. With every single fiber in my body, I hope I don't end up regretting it. The last thing I want is for Wright to look at me with pity in his eyes.

This night cannot get wilder than this.

∞ ∞ ∞

Well, next chapter is going to be... revealing a lot about her past =)

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Stay safe, lots of love, happy reading <33