• Nightmares aren't so fake...


    Chapter 1:~The Present~


    Keep running! This voice, so distant, but so familiar. The strange thing was, he could not for the life of him, remember who this voice belonged to, and yet he followed its directions without a moment's hesitation. Aiden ran on and on. His feet pounding forward on the moss covered forest ground. Breath pumping in and out of his lungs felt as though he were scraping a dulled axe at the inside of his chest. His legs were heavier then two lead weights dragging along a bulldozer. And the only thing that was keeping him from dropping dead from exhaustion was the sound of his pursuers not far behind him.

    So, Aiden kept running, he kept scraping that axe, and kept dragging along that bulldozer, but it wasn't his life at all he was so worried about. It was the life of the girl who mattered more then anything to him. His kid sister, Amanda. Now, Aiden would've given up on fleeing for his life from whomever intended on taking it a long time ago. But that is if he didn't have Amanda to worry for. She was the only thing he had left to make him smile in this world, and he couldn't lose what he cherished most just because his muscles were soar. So he ran, as fast as he could. Realizing immediately, that this was his and Amanda's worst nightmare.


    XxX{xXx}XxX{xXx}XxX{xXx}XxX


    Chapter2:}The Past{


    Aiden was lying awake in his bed, staring vacantly at his dull and empty cieling while his thoughts flowed from place to place. At one point he realized how much he was alike the cieling he was staring at. They were both empty, just staying where they were because they both had one purpose to serve. The cieling to shield the inhabitants of the house, and Aiden, to shield Amanda from anything and everything. This was the one thought that would actually be remembered from this sleep deprived night.

    His eyes were blinking heavily, and his mind was beginning to drift further and further away. That is until a sharp cry pierced the dead silence in his apartment. Aiden sat up abruptly in bed, almost falling off as he scrambled out from under his comforter and bolted to his baby sister's room. As he swung open the door he saw Amanda sitting up in her little bed, outlined from the light of the moon seeping in through her window.

    "Amanda what's wrong?" He asked frantically wiping the tears from her flushed cheeks.

    The little 3 year old's eyes were still closed, and she was hicupping little sobs. "It-it was,"

    "What? What?" Aiden interuppted studying her face as her soft hazlenut colored eyes opened to see her big brother.

    "A scary man," Amanda took in a breath, "He hurt you, then-then he got me and-"

    "It's alright," He interuppted once more, cradling his precious sister in his arms. "It was a dream, and just a dream, he's gone. And nothing will happen." He looked at her with reasurring eyes. She wiped her eyes once more and asked, "Promise?" Amanda put his head between her small dimpled hands.

    "I promise." Aiden leaned forward giving her a kiss on her forhead. "Wanna sleep in my room tonight?" He asked walking for the door. When she didn't give a response he glanced down at her to notice that her nightmare was already forgotten and she was sleeping soundly like the angel she was. He smiled and walked back into his room placing Amanda on the inside of the bed and laid next to her. Wrapping an arm over her protectively her, he himself began to float off into his dreams. Or so he thought...


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


    Chapter 3:-Dream a Nightmare-


    Aiden fell asleep with a smile on his face, but it soon dissapeared, and what took its place was a tight line forming into a frown. His dream had turned into a nightmare. Not a nightmare where he was being chased by a murderous monkey with a loaded machine gun, because well, he hates monkies. Especially if they're compitent enough to use a gun. But this nightmare, caused him to break out into a cold sweat. His once steadied breaths of sleep were now ragged, labored pants. He was breathing as heavily as though he had been running for hours on end. Only to wake up with a startled yell, "Keep running!"

    He was clutching the side of his bed, like he was holding on for dear life. His breaths were still uneven pants, but were beginning to even out. Aiden was finally able to snap out of his scare when he felt a comfortably familiar touch on the side of his stomach. It was Amanda's little hand as she looked up at him with wary eyes.

    "Ai," She called him by his little nickname she came up with, "What's wrong?"

    He ran an unclenched hand through his hair then used the other to pat his baby sister's head of messy bed-hair. "Nothing, sorry if I scared 'ya." He apologized with a forced casual smile. He was definitely not all right, but he was grateful that his sister was still 3 and not able to tell when he lies. Using the back of his hand to wipe the sweat off his face he glanced around for a clock to see what time it was. He noticed his alarm clock was buzzing bright neon red, 8:23A.M.

    After Aiden let out a deep yawn, Amanda crawled over his lap. Stepping on a rather painful place, causing him to let out an, "Oof!" and cringe for a minute.He watched after her as she waddled/ran out of his room and down the hall, calling out, "Breakfast Ai!".

    "Come back here squirt!" He ordered playfully as he ran out after her. As he rounded the corner, his hands at the ready for tickling, but he stopped short, analyzing the situation in front of him. It was Amanda, with her crazy chestnut hair all tangled in knots, her back was to him but she was standing perfectly still. Like she had been frozen in place.

    "Mandy?" He called walking around to see the expression on his sibling's face. "Mandy?" He tried one more time before kneeling down to be at eye level with her. And when his dark eyes met hers, what he saw, he did not like.


    *><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*><*


    Chapter 4:Wake up! Wake up! Wake me up!


    Aiden was yelling his little sister's name as he shook her little body repeatedly. He snapped his fingers, clapped his hands, spritzed her face with water! He didn't slap her though, so he just patted her cheeks a few times. She was in this sort of, trance. Her eyes were distant, cold, and empty. Like her precious little soul had just fled from her body. And this just scared him more then anything, and at one point he just gave up all together on shaking and yelling and just followed her lifeless gaze out the kitchen window.

    But nothing was there, besides the sun hidden behind a gray veil of clouds. He looked back to Amanda's still motionless body to find her blinking the haze out of her eyes, trying to regain her focus probably. After another blinked she moved her head to look all around her then to finally land on her brother's panicked face. But the panic fell from his face to show the relief as he pulled her into an air-tight hug.

    "Amanda! What happened? Are you alright?" He asked frantically as he pulled out of the hug, still keeping his hands on her small shoulders.

    She just looked back at him with another vacant look, which sent his heart fluttering. Then it started to return to a normal rhythm when an actual emotion began to show on her innocent face. It was a mixture actually, of confusion, loneliness, and fright. And her eyes began to well over in tears, and she threw her short arms around Aiden's thin neck sobbing.

    He only heard bits and pieces of her crying sentences, like, "It was him,", "Chasing you," and, "Grabbed me." He stood up, still holding her in his arms. As he rocked back and forth, he tried soothing her and calming her down saying, "It's all right, nothing bad will happen to you or me." Her crying stopped for a moment and she pulled back to look at his face through her reddened eyes, and he immediately heard her question without her saying a word. "I promise." He pulled her into another comforting hug as he felt her sniffle and wipe away at her face.

    As Aiden was pulling away for them both to look at each other he heard his thoughts ringing loud and clear at the very front of his worried mind. Something's wrong! You saw it! She did too! Keep her hidden!

    "Now," He began, "How about some-" But he didn't get to finish. Because he was interuppted by a sudden, heavy pounding coming from the front door. It was insistent and rushed. There were voices muffled outside the door, but he was already darting down the hall to his room. There was another thud. Louder, and much harder. Once in his room he locked the door behind him and ran to his bathroom and set Amanda in the bathtub, heading back for the door.


    --------------------------------------------


    Chapter 5: ||Watch your back||


    "Brother!" She called to him, beginning to crawl out of the tub.

    Aiden immediately rushed over and gently pushed her back in. As they looked each other over for what felt like hours, it was only seconds, and there came another thud. And it sounded like they were beginning to break through the wooden frame of the door. He kissed her head once more and said as quickly as his mouth moved, "I'll be right back. Love you."

    Then he darted out of the bathroom, locking the door shut, but before he completely closed it he heard a pained, "Love you brother." from Amanda. He choked down his tears and immediately began piling whatever he could shove in front of the door, to prevent the intruders from getting in.

    Another thud, a thundering crash. He heard loud crashes of wood and glass. Then came heavy footsteps, and grunting breaths, and for a minute Aiden had the strangest sense of deja v`u, but he didn't really give a rat's furry a** about the familiarity of those sounds because he was trying to save his sister's and his own life. His door was covered with his desk chair, his desk, and he was going for his mattress at this point when there was a knock at his bedroom door. But something about this knock was different. It wasn't as fierce, it was more patient, and quieter.

    "Come out, come out little pigs. Or I'll blow your house down." But that voice, that wasn't familiar at all. It was however so unlike the knock that just sounded, the voice was so threatening, and violent. Especially when it was spoken with one of the most kind voices a burly seeming man could muster. Which made it all the more menacing.

    Not a chance a*****e! Aiden thought angrily at the two intruders in his home. He dropped the mattress on the other things barricading the door, took in a few deep breaths then started towards the bathroom. As he was unlocking the door he heard the one he just covered in massively heavy objects break in. He also heard Amanda call out his name from the bathroom so he locked the door again, and turned around to face the a-holes for scaring his little sister, and for destroying his home.

    What he saw made his jaw drop open, his eyes practically bulged out of his head. He looked like a fish craving for water. And what he was staring at were two men, both in business suits that were shredded to pieces from the waist up and the ankle down. And what showed through were the patches of fur that covered their entire bodies from head to toe, and tail. They had elongated snouts with sharp canines and drool seeping between their teeth. The pupils of their yellow eyes were blood red, and that's what Aiden guessed they were craving at this moment.

    "What-"He never finished. Those, "Big Bad Wolves" moved too fast and got him on the back of the head. Sending his mind and body swirling into a black pit where he could feel nothing. But hear everything. And he heard what he didn't want to hear the most. The sound of Amanda's shrieks for her brother to come and recue her being muffled by the fuzz in his head that was becoming louder and taking over, then he heard nothing. Aiden could do nothing.