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She was accustomed to the nightmares, I mean, after all this time how could she not be?
Kate had always been accustomed to the nightmares, having to be comforted by her older sister on nights when she would wake up terrified of what was under her bed or in their closet. It was always in her head, rapid and elegant expansive day dreams during the hours when the sun shined threw her window seemed to lead to endless sleepless nights of terror. Her mother would say the result of which was a wild side to her imagination, seeming to be too creative for her own good. Kate on the other hand always thought the nightmares were caused by monsters. In ap way she was right. But soon she grew too old, and her father would huff and tell her to grow up and get back to bed. And so the thought of run to Chloe's room or Oliver's for that matter seemed less and less appealing as the years went on, so she would act fine. No longer scared of the night in their eyes, but they themselves never stopped, she just hid it and stopped caring. Or pretending to not care.
Kate wasn't the only ex-tiger with chronic nightmares though. She recalled a conversation with Annleigh some years ago now, where she was talking about how when up late praying or studying for tomorrow's test, sometimes if she listened hard enough she could hear Farrah gasp awake in the room over, when the house was quiet and no bottles could be heard clanking together on a dresser. Sometimes Kate thought they may have been more alike then they seemed. Or if they could have gotten along better if she had just made the effort once to talk to her like she was more then a drunken child, too foolish to be sober and too careless to be polite. Like she was a person worth time and feelings, who wasn't just ruthlessly attacking her best friend over something that was an accident. Kate wished she had talked to her more, but it was too late now. Now she was gone. In her head they all were gone from their former selves, and the nightmares continued like always. Kate just wasn't one of two to have them anymore. It was somthing that now plagued most of their sleeping minds.
She use to call Chess, on those nights, the nights when they were particularly bad before they got unimaginably worse. Her voice was always groggy and clouded with tiredness from being awoken to a ring tone but she was always kind and calm. Never angry for being woken up, usually able to lull Kate back to sleep or at least reassure her everything was alright before hanging up and going back to bed several minutes later. Even when she didn't answer her, the voicemail would calm her down enough to rest her eyes or breathe calmly again.
Chess never picked up anymore. Kate new better then to trust her calm voice on the other end of the prerecorded voicemail, telling her that she would talk to her later and they'd be okay. It only lied to her now, her sweet voice the sound of honey and lavender was gone now. In Kate's mind it was forever replaced with calming lies that made Kates stomach churn.
Thats what lead us to nights like tonight. With Kate standing hopelessly in the bathroom of her off campus apartment, half way across the country in a college she was barely even paying attention to. Sometimes she convinced herself that she was her because she wanted to go to school here. Or that she had come here simply to be closer to Eva, her girlfriend who had left to go to collage her senior year of highschool. But the reality of it was obvious, Kate left home to get away. If she had stayed another day even Kate felt as though she might explode or bash her skull into a wall untill it shattered open, knowing she couldn't stand that small town full of bad memories and bad people in it any longer, so they left. Kate refused sing to look back, fearing that their mom knew this was the real reason, but she was kind and never pressed the issue, simply telling her to call home frequently so they could keep in touch. Kate didn't bother telling her father. It wasn't as if he would pick up anyway.
The buzzing of the overhead light was getting to be to much as Kate gripped the sides of the sink and attempted to breathe. It had been a bad night, not nessicarily that much worse then normal but she felt as if her world was crashing down again. She couldn't handle this tonight. Kate reached into her hoodie pocket pulling out her phone and opening the contacts clicking on the icon her phone, and dialing the sad number again.
Kate could feel her eyes welled up with tears as the call went hopelessly to voicemail and Chess began to speak. Kate knew it word for word, though only half listen now to her message twisted with sickly sweet sorrows and broken promises. The words always felt like poison to Kates deafening ears. And yet knowing such it was one of those things she would not stop listening to. Kate felt as if her head was under water as she stared intently down at nothing. They could still hear that damn light buzzing softly in the background.
It had been happening for year now. Chess died when she was a in highschool. And yet Kate was still unsure if it was better or worse to sit alone in the dark, or in this damn bright bathroom when she would wake up from her nightmares. Though at this point neither were ever helpful, it does nothing when even after you open your eyes you can still see what was there when they were closed.
The cold dead and hallow figure of her best friend always seemed to loom in Kate's mind. Fear prominent in her twisted gruesome face, her grey vibrant eyes, now empty and glossed over. Never blinking. She just layed there on the bench, Kate would do anything to wake her up. But nights like these she just wished her eyes were closed so she could pretend Chess was asleep. Her sticky warm red blood seeping out of her stomach and spilling out of her mouth. It got on everything, the ground, the bench, the outside walls of the house, Kates flannel and hands.
Chess was already dead.
Sometimes she saw Farrah or Clark's bodies too, or just the one on those nights when her mind liked to pretend Reese hadn't gotten there in time, somtimes Kate thought it would have been better if she didn't. Kate would remember the way Annleigh clung to her little sister desprately trying to her her to respond that night just like she had with Chess. Her cold stature much similar to the latters except Farrah was sitting up and her eyes were closed. Kate was happy that Annleigh never had to meet them again, same with Clark's. But it sure didn't make anything better. Nothing ever made it better.
Kate turned on the faucet, splashing the cool water up onto her face and letting it drip down off her forehead and chin. Her face still fixtured down, not darling to look up at the mirror. Realistically knowing that nothing would be there but herself, yet still not looking up fearing the additional people staring back at her.
They did that sometimes. Appeared without warning, showing up in random places. In mirrors, around corners, somtimes in plane view where everyone should have seen them. No one else ever saw them. Sometimes Kate wondered if Annleigh did, but that wasn't somthing she was going to bring up to her ever. They weren't close anymore. They weren't to begin with but they all drifted away after realizing who had killed their friends and family.
That was to be expected after all, they were only kids, they were all kids. Just like the others who weren't here anymore.
So Kate stayed in the bathroom, bags under her eyes, water from her tears and the tap dripped off of her chin and back into the sink she was slumped over before a pair of arms wrapped around her torso and pulled her close. Kate leaned into their touch assuming it to be Eva. Gently calming Kate as her tears began to fall harder, she shut off the light and carried Kate to bed. Laying them down and comforting them back to sleep once again.
If Kate was aware enough, she would have realized there were no footsteps echoing around the apartment as she got placed into bed and the hands that held her were too cold to be alive. Or even most importantly that Eva was sound asleep already laying down next to her when her eyes shut that night.
But Kate did not realize, and Chess simply smiled looking down at her friend she helped back to sleep.