Chapter Text
It was so dark. Why was it always so dark?
Mark wandered in the sea of darkness, fear and a numbing cold filling his veins. It was so cold; Mark was sure if he could see his hands that they would be frozen, ice chipping off while blue lines cracked and shattered. Wasn’t there another word for it? He was pretty sure he’s heard his mom say it once or twice before, but he couldn’t remember.
The young boy rubbed his arms with his hands in an attempt to warm up, teeth chattering loudly, being the only sound that could be heard in the deafening darkness. Each footstep was muffled to the point of being non existent. He wasn’t even sure if he was walking anymore it was so quiet.
That’s what terrified him the most; the fact that he couldn’t hear anything. Everything around him felt so dead, yet so alive at the same time. He wished he at least had a light to guide him like the heroes in the movies did.
Hissing from every corner of the darkness filled his ears. Mark’s heart sped up when he recognized the sound, the sound that filled the young boy’s nightmares every night.
Monsters.
Adrenaline kicking in, Mark forgot about his cold and numb feet and took off, running blindly into the darkness. He couldn’t let them catch up to him, he couldn’t let them torture him like they always did.
With each step Mark took, a shock of pain pulsed through his nerves, but he refused to slow down. The cold air filled his lungs with each breath, and with each gulp of air that filled him, drowsiness and and what felt like poison consumed his mind. Mark started coughing harshly at the sudden poison in the air, steps stuttering and body shaking harder.
The hissing around him grew even stronger, the sound mocking Mark. The young boy panicked, trying to pump his legs harder in order to get away from the monsters. With no warning, an arm wrapped around his legs, causing him to yelp and fall to the frozen, unforgiving ground. His hands screamed in pain, and they boy was almost positive they were about to fall of.
Mark struggled in the hold, wiggling so that he wasn’t facing the ground. “Let me go!” he yelled, kicking his legs to make the monster holding him release him. The hand only pinned his legs harshly to the ground, causing Mark to let out a noise of frustration.
He froze all movement when he saw those horrible, glowing red eyes.
It was the only light in the consuming darkness around them, just enough to illuminate the face of the monster he knew all too well. Attached to those red eyes was a body made out of pure shadows, even colder than the world around him. The clawed hands that grasped onto Mark burned his skin, undoubtedly drawing blood.
The monster smiled, showing off its sharp and jagged teeth. From all around them, more hissing filled the air, minions of the monster that took turns haunting his nightmares. Mark whimpered, using what little strength he had left to try and escape, only to have the monster grip his legs tighter. The talons dug into his soft flesh, more warm blood running down them.
The young boy cried out, tears burning behind his eyes.
“Go away! You’re not real! You’re not real!” he cried, closing his eyes. It was all just in his head. Right? He would wake up any second now, safe and sound in his warm bed, mom and dad there to comfort him and tell him it was just another nightmare, and the monsters would leave him alone for another day.
A single claw ran down his face, tracing his tears much more gently than a monster ever should be able to. Mark shivered, helpless with fear and pain. The acid in the air hadn’t disappeared, if anything it had grown stronger. The boy felt like he was suffocating, heart in his throat and nerves on fire, lungs protesting with each breath.
Tears poured from his eyes, sniffling and sobbing joining the chorus of hissing from the creatures.
The red eyed monster smiled wider at this, teeth taking up his entire face. Mark watched paralyzed as the monsters jaw unhinged, a long, black tongue slithering out as if it had a mind of its own.
At that moment, the creatures moved in. Some wrapped around his torso, making it impossible for the boy to move. Others went to his arms and neck, pinning them to his sides and revoking his ability to turn his head, forcing him to stare at the monster.
Mark cried harder, trying to thrash in the creatures hold to no avail. They had him tight.
The monster looked delighted at Mark’s defeat, eyes glowing brighter and claws reaching longer. They looked sharp enough to rip through his body, Mark thought in horror. Deadly enough to kill his soul in real life.
“Please,” he hiccuped, desperate for anything from these heartless beings, or at least, for someone to save him from them. “Help.”
The monsters looked amused at his begging, cold grip tightening on the boy. Mark choked, closing his eyes when he saw the red eyed monster raise both of his claws.
“I don’t wanna die,” he whispered with the last of his breath, going limp.
THUMP
THUMP
THUMP
With no warning, Mark was suddenly ripped from the creature’s hold, flying in the air and landing on his backside. The boy gasped, air flooding his deprived lungs and opening his eyes. He couldn’t see anything around him anymore, the light of the monsters eyes gone, but he could hear everything clear as day.
He could hear the sounds of gurgling, of snapping limbs, and of a sharp wind cutting through everything. Screams echoed through Mark’s skull, every sound making him flinch and cower. The boy curled into a ball, burying his face into his knees and covering his ears to try and block everything out. It didn’t work much, the lack of sight putting every other sense on hyperdrive.
He could smell the metallic rot that drifted to his nose.
He could feel every shift of the shadows around him, freezing air whipping through his thin cloths.
He could practically taste the dust that thickened the air, making it even harder for him to breath.
And most noticeably, he could hear everything. The sound of something slicing through the air never stopped, the roar of someone yelling in rage never ceased. Mark didn’t want to know where or what the sounds came from. He wanted to feel safe again, go somewhere far away from here.
The boy continued to shiver and shake as the last of the noises faded out. The world became deadly silent again, the only sounds the be heard was someone breathing heavily. Mark still refused to show his face, afraid of what kind of creature he would find in front of him.
Please go away, he begged in his mind. Please leave me alone and let me wake up.
What Mark thought was clicking shoes pierced through the silence. His breath hitched, panic clutching at his heart. Despite him not wanting to see the creature that did all of this, the boy removed his face from his knees, scrambling back in fear.
“No no no,” he breathed, breath quickening as the clicking shoes grew closer. “G-go aw-away!” he started crying again, the pain in his legs and face flaring at the sudden strain.
The clicking stopped just as abrupt as it had started, and Mark held his breath. He had an undeniable feeling that the creature was right in front of him, towering in the shadows that he couldn’t see.
So gentle and soft that he almost didn’t feel it, what Mark thought was a hand caressed his face, right below the cut the monster had made. The boy flinched slightly, quivering at the touch, not sure what to think of it. It didn’t seem to have malicious intent like the monsters did, in fact it reminded him of his mom when she comforted him.
The caress continued, trailing down his face and arms in a soothing way. Mark slowly relax into it, drinking in the nice feeling that the hands held. They were cool, but not in the way the world was. This cool made him think of Winter’s first snow, light and blanketing at the same time.
When the cool got to his cut up legs, Mark hissed. It didn’t hurt, but it was still an uncomfortable feeling. The cool from the creatures hands released an odd tingling feeling, like a burn when you rub aloe plant gel on it.
The creatures hands remained gentle as it ran its hands down the cuts, the cool tingling following. Mark could feel his skin reforming at the touch, healing slowly but surely. The boy couldn’t see it, but he was in awe at the magic happening right in front of him. Maybe be the creature wasn’t like the monsters that hurt him in his nightmares. But if it wasn’t, what was it?
Mark looked up to where he believed the creature was. He didn’t notice it before, but now it looked like blue and red lights were bending in the air, barely bright enough to see. And it seemed the bending lights were emitting a humming sound, calming Mark’s tense muscles and threading through his thoughts. It was much better than the silence that plagued the air a few minutes ago.
Mark watched as the blue and red lights grew, surrounding him with their gentle humming. It surprised him when he didn’t feel threatened or endangered, in fact he welcomed their presence. They wove around him, carefully lifting him up and off the hard ground. They moved him towards where the creature was, Mark only able to see the outline of what he thought was a man. Once the boy was close, the man sat down, bringing Mark with him.
Like a mother cat would to her kits, the lights placed him into what he could only assume was the creatures lap. That cool feeling that came from their hands was now all around him, the burning cold fading away and the lights hugging him close. Mark allowed himself to sigh and sink into the creatures comforting hold, no longer afraid of him. Arms wrapped around him protectively, blocking out the horrible darkness around them and replacing it with security. Even the poisonous air disappeared, the boy’s mind and body shaking the drowsy and aching feeling that it created.
Mark curled around the creature, molding so that his face was buried in the others chest. He smelled like dark chocolate and raspberries, something Mark would never expect from the things in his nightmares.
But was this creature really apart of his nightmare?
It didn’t seem like it, seeing that this creature never hurt him or tried to scare him. Than what was it?
The creature began humming along with the lights, voice deep and smooth. Within a few moments, the creature started singing, rocking the boy back and forth as he did.
“When your tucked away in bed,
Eyes shut tight in the darkness
When the visions inside your head
Become haunting and lifeless
Just call my name
And I’ll appear by your side
I’ll give you sweet dreams
That they always try to hide
I’m your beautiful nightmare
Trapped within your soul
The lullaby of the Dark
Shall forever be there, always know.”
Mark’s eyes became heavy, body sated in peace. The rocking, the softly humming lights, and the creature's voice was steadily putting him to sleep. He burrowed deeper into the creatures arms, wanting to be as close as possible. It didn’t seem to mind, chuckling as it used one of its hands to card through Mark’s hair.
“Don’t worry,” it whispered by his ear. “The nightmares can’t find you with me.”
The boy believed him. He knew at that moment that he trusted this creature with his life.
With the last of his consciousness leaving him, the last thing Mark saw was deep, black eyes, as dark as the nightmare around him.