𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝟏𝟖: 𝑵𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒆

Leo drifted into sleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow, the exhaustion of the night pulling him under swiftly. But the rest that he sought was elusive, slipping through his fingers as his mind became a theater of vivid, unsettling dreams.

In his dream, Leo found himself standing in a dimly lit room, one that seemed oddly familiar yet disorienting in its shadowy confines. The walls closed in around him, pressing in with a suffocating weight. The air was thick with tension, and his heart raced as if anticipating something terrible.

Adrian was there, standing just a few feet away, his expression hard and unreadable. There was a distance between them that felt insurmountable, a chasm that widened with each second that passed. Leo's chest tightened with an inexplicable fear, a dread that gnawed at him from the inside.

“Why won’t you tell me what’s really going on?” Leo’s voice was strained, almost pleading. He could hear the desperation in his own words, but it was as if Adrian couldn’t—or wouldn’t—hear him.

Adrian’s eyes, usually so warm, were cold, distant. “You wouldn’t understand, Leo. It’s better if you don’t know.”

The dismissiveness in Adrian’s tone cut through Leo like a knife, and he took a step forward, reaching out as if to bridge the gap between them. “How can you say that? After everything we’ve been through, you’re just going to shut me out?”

Adrian turned away, his back now to Leo, and began walking towards the door at the far end of the room. Panic flared in Leo’s chest, and he rushed forward, grabbing Adrian’s arm. “Don’t do this, Adrian! Don’t leave me!”

For a moment, Adrian hesitated, his body tensing under Leo’s grip. But then, with a slow, deliberate motion, he pulled his arm free, slipping out of Leo’s grasp as if it had never been there. “I have to, Leo. This is how it has to be.”

Leo’s world spun as Adrian opened the door and walked out, the sound of it closing behind him echoing like a gunshot in the stillness. Leo stood frozen, his mind reeling from the shock. The silence that followed was deafening, a void that swallowed everything, leaving only the ache of abandonment in its wake.

He tried to move, to chase after Adrian, but his legs felt like lead, refusing to obey. “Adrian!” he called out, his voice cracking with desperation. But there was no answer, only the oppressive darkness that seeped into every corner of the room.

Suddenly, the walls began to close in, the ceiling lowering as if to crush him. Leo gasped, his breath coming in short, ragged bursts as the space around him shrank. The darkness pressed in, suffocating him, stealing the air from his lungs. He clawed at the walls, trying to find a way out, but there was nothing—no escape, no relief.

The panic that had been simmering beneath the surface now exploded into full-blown terror. Leo felt as though he was drowning, his lungs burning for air that wouldn’t come. “Adrian!” he screamed, but his voice was swallowed by the dark, lost in the void.

In that moment, the dream shattered, and Leo woke with a start, his body jerking upright in bed. He was gasping for air, his chest heaving as if he had been running for miles. His heart pounded wildly, and for a disorienting second, he couldn’t remember where he was.

Tears welled up in his eyes, and before he could stop them, they spilled over, running down his cheeks. The dream had felt so real, the fear and the sense of abandonment so palpable that it clung to him even now, in the safety of Adrian’s room.

He looked around, the dark room slowly coming into focus. He was in Adrian’s bed, the familiar scent of him lingering in the sheets, the sound of the city faint in the background. But the terror from the dream was still lodged in his chest, a heavy, unshakable weight.

Leo wiped at his face with trembling hands, trying to calm his racing heart. The tears continued to flow, unchecked, as the fear and confusion from the dream refused to let go. He pulled his knees up to his chest, curling into a tight ball, seeking comfort in the smallness of the position.

It was just a dream, he told himself over and over. Just a nightmare. But the tears didn’t stop, and neither did the echo of Adrian’s cold words, the vision of him walking away without a second glance.

Leo squeezed his eyes shut, trying to banish the remnants of the nightmare. But the fear that it had stirred up was something deeper, something he couldn’t easily dismiss. It wasn’t just about the dream—it was about the reality he had been plunged into, the uncertainty of the world he had now found himself in.

And as he lay there, curled up in the dark, he couldn’t help but wonder if the dream was trying to tell him something—something he wasn’t ready to face.

𝘛𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘦𝘥...