Nightmare on Third Street - Chapter Seven

Dominic and I walked down to the park about thirty minutes after I got off of the phone with Jake. Neither of us felt comfortable in the house, and I wanted to get Dominic out of there. Or maybe that was just what I was telling myself, that I was trying to protect my brother. Maybe I was really trying to protect myself, as selfish as that sounded. I was scared shitless, there was no doubt about it. I mean, you heard about stuff like this happening in movies, but not in real life. You never heard about it happening to anyone around you, least of all you yourself. I had never believed those horror movies, though I had indeed found them quite enjoyable when I went to see them at the Movie Theater down on Long Street.

Now, though, it was just too real. Just too bloody real, and it was unbearable, at best. I couldn't fathom what was happening to me, I couldn't get a hold on what was going on. Dominic, I was sure, felt the same way, but to a lesser extent. He hadn't been the one to go through it, he wasn't the one the voice talked to, claiming to own him. It was me. But I didn't hold that against my little brother, oh no. I was happy that he was free of my nightmare.

Indeed, that was what it was turning out to be to me: a nightmare. It was a nightmare that people fear most, the ones that haunted you in your sleep, and were there in your wake. There was no escaping the terror it brought, whether asleep or awake, and it was beginning to make me feel rather cornered. I had always hated the mere thought of being cornered, let alone actually BEING cornered.

I kept to myself on the way to McAlby Park. Dominic gave me a few worried glances as we walked at a slow, steady pace, but didn't say anything. I figured he was dealing with his own demons, and I tried to see my nightmare from his eyes.

If he had suddenly frozen in the middle of a chuckle, what would I have done? Panicked, that was what I would have done. I would have freaked, knowing that there was something terribly wrong with my brother. Guilt gnawed at my heart as I learned the worry, the fear, I must have caused him. I didn't want him to worry, and especially not about me. He was going to be having enough problems of his own, going through life, and he didn't need his worry for me piling up on it.

I couldn't explain what I suddenly felt, what I suddenly could smell. There was an odor in the air, and it smelled faintly of rotten eggs and cat urine. I wasn't sure how I knew what cat urine smelled like, for we had never had a cat, but that was what popped into my head when the smell reached my nostrils.

I looked at Dominic out of the corner of my eye. I figued he would be making faces and complaining of the smell quickly enough, but he did nothing. He didn't smell it! It was only me...what was going on?

The area grew hot. Dreadfully hot, and my eyes burned once again. Sweat popped up on my forehead and slid down my face, and my breaths turned into pants, as if I had just run a marathon for hours. I couldn't breathe very well. Doubling over, I coughed out breaths and put my hands on my knees to hold me up. My legs were shaking, and I wasn't sure how much longer they would support me.

Damn it, not again. I couldn't take it, not yet. I didn't want to go through something else. This was different, true, but the result would be the same. The voice would enter my head, mess around, and make my headache all the worse. I knew what was going to happen.

"Bryan?" Dominic whispered, reaching out to put a hand on my shoulder. He winced, and I heard a sizzling sound as his hand came in contact with my skin. He pulled back with a yelp, gripping his hand tightly, staring at me with wide green eyes full of fear and horror. "Bryan!"

I tried to tell him that I was okay, only hot, but the panting wouldn't die down as it would if it had been caused from running. The tightness in my chest never cleared, never started to die down. "D...D...Dominic...." I coughed out, my eyes burning. "I...I'm o...okay..." I wasn't sure if he heard me or not, but I hadn't the strength to try it again.

"Bryan!" he cried, and the fear in his voice hit me like a wave, nearly knocking me over. "Please...what's going on?"

I didn't know. I was wondering the same thing myself. I wished I had an answer, but sadly, I didn't. I was just as confused as he was, probably more so.

"Bryan...brother, please," Dominic pleaded.

God, I wished I was frozen again. I didn't want to hear his pleas and know that I could do nothing to help ease his fears. I couldn't talk again, I hadn't the breath to do so. 'Please, brother,' I thought. 'Please don't worry. I'm okay. Just hot and winded.'

Dominic reached again to touch me. 'NO!' I screamed in my mind, for I knew what had happened the last time he had touched me. He gently prodded my shoulder, and his eyes widened as another sizzling souned was heard. He held his hand close to his chest, tears gleaming in his eyes.

"Bryan...please, snap out of it."

'I'm trying,' I wanted to scream. 'What does it look like I'm doing? Sitting, excuse me, standing here, doing nothing?'

"Bryan, please, brother...you're scaring me. Please!"

I went down on my knees as my legs gave out. Dominic let out a strangled little sound as he knelt down next to me in a heartbeat.

"You're mine," the voice rang in my head.

'No!' I thought. 'I'm not yours, so stop saying I am! Get out of my head and leave me alone!'

"Why do you keep fighting, child? Give into me already. Stop resisting. You're only causing yourself more pain, more suffering. Within time, the pain will destroy you. Give yourself to me, because you're already mine, and I can take the pain away."

Wow, I had never heard the voice say so much at once before, and it hardly had the words, or meanings, 'You're mine' in them. 'I'm impressed,' I thought. 'You can say more than one thing.'

There was a growl from the depths of my head, and the pain increased. I doubled forward a little more, gripping my stomach and sides tightly, my breaths becoming more rapid and uneven. 'Get out of my head!' I wanted to shout.

I had never heard the voice growl like that before. This was getting stranger and stranger. It was like...like the the voice was...somehow alive, within me. It gave me shivers, but all I could do was gasp for more air.

"Bryan! Bryan, please!" Dominic was still shouting. He was going to draw attention to us if he kept that up. Maybe that was what he was hoping, I wasn't sure. But I wasn't ready to go to a doctor and say:

"Yeah, so doc, I have this voice in my head that keeps saying 'You're mine', and I froze once and nearly fried once, and I keep getting these phone calls from the voice. What can ya do for me?"

He would look at me as if I were crazy, and then send me to the nut house. I wasn't ready for that yet, I wasn't ready to talk to anyone about it. I would just seem crazy.

"You're mine, Bryan Randall," the voice hissed in my head. "You're mine. Don't you dare forget it."

'How can I forget it if you won't stop reminding me?' I thought.

More pain. Damn it, when would I learn to keep my big mouth shut? Ugh! It hurt. I couldn't breathe anymore, only hold my breath and wait for the pain the retreat, if only in the slightest. It hurt too much to breathe.

"Bryan!" Dominic's voice was terrified. "Bryan, please! I love you!"

Wow, had he actually said that? Yelled that out loud? God, I must have been quite a sight for him to do something like that, and sound so sincere while doing it. 'I love you too, kid,' I thought, wishing he could hear me.

Slowly, the pain began to retreat. I could breathe again. The pain continued to ebb away, fading into that nothingness that I was becoming slightly used to, though I was greatly disturbed by it. Once I got enough breath to speak, I surprised myself.

A sob escaped my lips as I took shaky, deep breaths. I bent forward and put my hands on the ground to hold me up as a tear trailed down my cheek. God, that pain had been so intense, so terribly real...so much worse than the other pain I had gotten because of the voice.

"Bryan...are you with me?" I could hear his worried tone.

I couldn't answer, at least not yet. The pain was still there, but fading away slowly. I tried to focus on anything but the pain, but it was still too intense.

It was another two minutes before I could speak, before I had enough breath to talk to my brother. "I...I'm...okay...." I uttered quietly.

Dominic dove toward me the instant I spoke, and wrapped his arms around me. "Oh, God...you scared me...you s-scared me so m-much..." he whimpered, burying his head into my shoulder.

I weakly wrapped one arm around him, pulling him closer as I sat up and sat on my butt. "I'm sorry I scared you," I whispered into his ear, brushing a few of his bangs back. "I didn't meant to. It scared me too."

"You...you were in pain," he mumbled softly. "I...you were...you were whimpering..."

I blinked. "I...I was?" I questioned, for I hadn't noticed any whimpering, except for maybe at the very end, when the pain retreated enough for me to catch my breath.

"Y-Yes," he whispered. "You...you...you were in p-pain...it was h-hurting you."

"I...yeah," I said slowly, wanting to be as honest as I could to him. "But I'm okay now, I promise. I'm okay."

He said nothing, clinging to me as if I would leave if he let go.

"C'mon," I said, "we still have a soccer game to get to."

He raised his head and looked at me. "What?" he whispered. "No." he re-buried his head into my shoulder. "No, you can't."

"Dom-"

"You can't," he said again. "Something might happen. Please...you can't."

"I have to, bro," I said. 'If I want to make them think that everything is fine, I have to play,' I silently added. 'Otherwise they'll think something's up, and they don't need to be involved. I'm sorry you're involved, Dom.'

"No!" his voice rose as he buried his head further into my shoulder, clutching at me. "No, Bryan, please. You can't. Please, let's just go home. Something might happen...please."

"Dom-"

"It's just a game!" he said, and I could hear the fear in his voice. "It's just a game, Bryan. Please...don't do it...let's go home."

"D-"

"Please!" he cut in. "Please...something might happen. You're in no condition to do it. Please, I...I...I don't want to lose you!"

I froze for a moment, and then pushed Dominic away and held him at arm's length. "Dom?" I whispered quietly. "Why would you ever think...?"

"Because of what's happening," he whispered tearfully. "Because...you were in pain...it just keeps happening..."

I pulled him back in for a hug and held him for all I was worth.

"Please...let's go home. It's just a game....it...it's not worth it. Please," he murmured to me.

"I...I..." I couldn't just go home, I had told Jake that I would be there, he was counting on me. I couldn't turn back now. "I can't...I'm sorry, I told Jake I would play. I can't back out."

Dominic held on tighter. "Please..." he whimpered. "Please, Bryan, it's just a game. It's not worht it. Please."

"I'll just make one goal, okay? And then we'll leave. I'll complain of an upset stomach or something. I promise. But I have to at least play a little, otherwise I'm going back on my word, and I can't do that. I'm sorry."

Dominic shook his head against my shoulder. "I know...you can't go back on your word, but tell me....is...is it worth your life?"

"My life?" I asked quietly. "Dominic, I'm fine. The moment's passed, I'm okay." I pushed him away gently and got to my feet. "C'mon, we don't wanna be late." I started walking.

He followed slowly, wiping at his eyes. I could hear him sniffling. "Promise you'll be careful," he mumbled so softly that I had to strain to hear.

"I promise," I said sincerely.

"...I...I love you..."

I smiled to myself. "I love you, too."