Chapter Text
Hannah Foster knew the dreams would come for her. She’d been having them every night for weeks now. Ever since Ethan and Lex had disappeared. She would play her ukulele all night long, singing the songs Webby had taught her. When she played the songs that Webby had shown her, she liked to imagine that Lex and Ethan could hear her from far away, that it brought them some comfort in the darkness.
But when her mother would barge in and snap at her to stop playing, or take it away so Hannah couldn’t play anymore, then the nightmares would come crashing in, forcing her to watch the horrible scenes of the witch over and over and over again. Force her to watch Lex and Ethan suffer with no knowledge of how to save them.
Tonight was no exception.
Hannah stood outside the ramshackle witch’s hut deep within her own mind. The wind whipped her hair and bit at her thin pajamas, and lightning whipped through the sky overhead, thunder crackling too loudly.
Hannah hugged her favorite stuffed animal as she stood there, with no ukulele to comfort her. It was a little stuffed cat that Ethan had won for her at Pizza Pete’s. She’d named it Chip, because Ethan had accidentally torn its ear when he was ripping the tag out for her, so it reminded her of Chip the cup from Beauty and the Beast. Usually, it made her nightmares easier. Now, though, it just made her sad.
She knew better than to call to Webby. Webby was trapped, just like Lex and Ethan. Webby couldn’t help her here.
Hannah just steeled her nerves and walked forward, into the cabin once again, to see what horrors awaited her only family.
The wind continued to howl within the cabin, as if it had a weather system all its own. Hannah knew that the wind and awful weather came from the witch. All of it, all of the bad things in Nightmare Time were her fault.
Hannah recoiled at the sight of the witch looming over Lex and Ethan. A misshapen thing with a spine bent out of shape, scraping the low ceiling of the hut. Haggard, gray features with skin half-burned away. A nightmarish shadow of the woman she was, that reflected the monster she’d become. True, her form could change sometimes, but behind the thin veil of disguise, the monster always lurked.
She was in her true form now, leering down at them. Lex and Ethan were huddled in a corner, Ethan positioned in front of Lex protectively, shielding her from the witch. Lex was behind him, watching the scene play out with wide eyes.
“You just had to try to run away again, didn’t you,” the witch chided, her forked tongue running over her teeth like a snake. “I keep trying to tell you there’s nowhere to go.”
“We-we’re not gonna let you hurt Hannah!” Ethan snapped. He was trying to be brave, to put on a show of strength. The slight tremor in his voice gave him away even as he stood defiantly. “No matter what you try to do!”
“Oh, isn’t he brave ,” the witch snickered. She nonchalantly flicked her hand and Ethan flew backward, slamming into the wall six inches above the ground. His head made a sickening cracking noise as it hit the wall, and Hannah involuntarily flinched, clutching the stuffed cat tightly. There was nothing she wanted more than to run to Lex and Ethan, protect them from the witch, but her feet were stuck in place. Ethan moaned softly in pain as Lex tried in vain to get off the floor and run to him, but the wind was keeping her in place.
The witch stalked over to Ethan, still pinned to the wall with magic. He shirked away from her, but there was only so far he could go. The witch smiled and ran a bony finger down his cheek. Ethan cringed.
“Leave him alone!” Lex cried.
“I think once the little brat’s dead, I’ll have some fun with you before I end you too,” the witch purred. “It’d be a pity to break a new plaything so quickly.”
“Fuck you,” Ethan managed to spit out.
The witch rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers, dropping Ethan to the floor. The witch began to hobble away on her mismatched legs, but then abruptly stopped in front of Lex, who looked away from Ethan to meet her eyes.
A smile spread over the witch’s face as she took in Lex, as if she were a very interesting science experiment she couldn’t wait to blow to smithereens. Slowly, deliberately, she turned right towards where Hannah stood and gave her a wink. Hannah shrank back, lowering her head and clutching Chip even more tightly. The witch turned back to her prisoners.
“You’re very lucky I still need you alive for a little bit longer. But…” The witch pointed first at Lex, then at Ethan. “Don’t try escaping again, either of you,” she warned. “You’ll regret it.”
She waved her hand, and suddenly she was gone, leaving Ethan and Lex alone in the ramshackle cottage. The wind died down, leaving the cottage deathly silent.
Immediately, Lex began to tremble. She seemed to lose control of her motion as she tried to move towards Ethan. Ethan sat up, holding the back of his head.
“Lex?” He asked softly. He crawled over to Lex, wrapping his arms around her and holding her tightly.
“E-Ethan,” Lex managed to stammer out his name. “I-I…”
“I-It’s gonna be okay,” Ethan said. His voice still held the same tremor as it had when he was facing the witch. “H-hey, hey, It’ll be okay. I’m right here.” He pulled her close and kissed the top of her head as she buried her face in his chest. “Lexie, you’re shaking, baby. You’re shaking...”
Hannah screamed out as she woke up. The pent up emotion that had built in her chest during the nightmare coming out in one wall of sound. All it did was rattle the pictures on the wall.
Hannah clutched Chip close, whimpering as she buried her face in the cat’s soft fur. The cat held a lot of Hannah’s tears and worst memories. That was what Ethan told her it was for, to keep her memories safe and protect her from the nightmares.
“Nanners!” Hannah’s mother, Pamela’s, snappy voice came from what passed for the living room of their tiny house. “Pipe down and get on out here!”
Hannah hesitated by the door, looking at the spot where her ukulele used to be in the corner. She didn’t know where Lex and Ethan were or what had happened to them, but she did know that they were in danger. But she didn’t know how to help them. She was all alone, and even Webby couldn’t help her.
How do you save the people you love when you’re a lonely little fourteen-year-old girl who no one believes?