Of Monsters and Men by freedomwriter
1. A Shining Blade by freedomwriter
He picked up the knife, its shining and clean blade ready to be used. He turned it in the soft light that shone from the cabin’s window, a wicked grin spreading across his face as he listened to the muffled cries coming from the table. He stared at the dagger a little longer, his thin, long fingers testing its sharpness. He hissed softly, admiringly as a small cut appeared on his finger instantly. Then he turned around slowly, still grinning as his blue eyes searched out those of the distressed woman on the table. Her long, blond hair was tangled up in knots and her face was pale and dirty. She looked nothing like the beauty she had been before.

He stepped closer to the bloodied table, his intense gaze never leaving the writhing woman. Without a word, he put the shining blade to her skin, applying just enough pressure to draw blood from the resulting cut just below the throat.

“Please,” the woman begged breathlessly and he watched her chest heave with the combination of fear and pain. “Please, don’t-”

He just smiled and pushed a little harder down on the knife. The young woman screamed in pain and he stared mesmerized by the blood that ran down her breasts now, leaving a dark red trail over her body as it headed towards her sides and pooled on the table beside her.

He laughed joyfully, and took the knife away from her skin, the smell of blood filling his nose. His laughing abruptly stopped as he turned around and saw the man looming over him, a murderous look on his face. The man stepped forward, causing the younger man to step back. Without a sound, the larger one lashed out, grabbing the smaller’s throat and crashing him down on the now empty table. The younger man gasped for breath and felt the world around him darkening.


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

When Brian woke up, he gasped for breath, his heart pounding in his chest and the blood rushing through his ears. He continued to gasp, unable to rid his mind of the terrifying images that roamed around in there. A disturbing urge to throw up was intensifying by the second and he cried out softly as he bounded to his feet, sprinting across the bedroom and making it just in time to the bathroom before his dinner made a reprise.

He was panting and shaking afterwards, the nightmare still fresh on his mind and the surroundings of his bathroom only just managing to get through to him. He heard the dog before he saw her, her tongue hanging out of her mouth as she watched him curiously, patiently lying down next to him as he continued to throw up. Bonnie didn’t seem bothered by the violent intensity of his retching, but kept a constant eye on him all the while, like she’d been trained to do.

“Brian?” Leighanne’s voice sounded uncertain and concerned and he groaned something unintelligible. He whimpered fearfully when she touched his back, but relented when she assured him she wasn’t going to hurt him.

“He’s okay, Bonnie,” Leighanne addressed the young Border Collie, “Off work.” The dog stretched and moved to sit next to them, watching calmly as Leighanne rubbed reassuring circled along her owner’s back. Brian leaned against his wife with an exhausted sigh, squeezing his eyes shut and willing the dark images that haunted his soul out of his mind. He felt his breathing slow down in time with Leighanne’s continuous calm strokes of his hair.

“That bad?” she whispered softly as he opened his eyes and stared up at her, not in the least ashamed that his head was in her lap like he was a little kid. He nodded slowly, taking a few moments before sitting up and leaning against the bathroom wall beside her.

She watched him apprehensively, a dozen questions on her mind, but not sure of how to ask them without upsetting him even more. He didn’t talk about the terrors he faced at night and she was more than a little curious, although another part of her scolded itself for any thought of forcing him to talk about it. Still, she couldn’t help but let some of her curiosity slip, “What happened, Brian?”

He shook his head and shrugged. “Nothing important,” he mumbled, “was just a dream.”

She nodded slowly, yet didn’t believe him as she noticed the way he was clearly avoiding her eyes. “You sure? You know you can talk to me, right?”

He gave her a humorless smile and in the second he looked at her she saw an unsettling arrangement of emotions there. It was almost like he was ashamed of something, like he felt guilty. “Brian? What happened in that dream?”

He scrambled upright and she felt her heart sink as he backed away from her and pushed himself against the shower wall, looking down at his bare feet, “you know, I don’t... I don’t...” he mumbled, his voice barely audible, “I can’t talk about that.”

Bonnie felt his distress and jumped upright, standing in front of him. She looked at Leighanne questioningly and Leighanne felt a stab of guilt, “I know,” she whispered, “I know baby, I’m so sorry, I didn’t... I’m sorry.”

He nodded silently, “Me too,” he mumbled.

“For what?” she wondered, slowly standing up.

“Waking you up. You shouldn’t have to go through this.”

“Oh honey,” she said, wanting nothing more than to pull him into a hug, but knowing that now that the initial shock of the nightmare was over, he wouldn’t appreciate being touched without his explicit consent, “neither should you; we were going to do this together, remember?”

“Still,” he said, scratching Bonnie behind her ears, “I would feel a lot better if you actually got some sleep at night There’s no need for the both of us to walk around like zombies during the day. And you have a job.”

“We’ve been over this,” she said patiently, “I’m not leaving you alone at night. What if you have a seizure?”

“I got Bonnie,” he smiled a little as the dog looked up at him expectantly. “That’s why we got her, right? Besides, I haven’t had a seizure in months.”

Leighanne sighed and turned around, “We’ll talk about this in the morning,” she muttered, walking into the bedroom. “Let’s try and get a bit more sleep.”

Brian’s shoulders slumped as he followed her. She was stubborn, he knew, but tonight’s nightmare had only been mild in comparison to some other nights. There were nights he lashed out at everything in his near surroundings, nights his fists connected with her or his dog. Nights he didn’t have any control over himself and his actions, and couldn’t be calmed down for hours. And Leighanne suffered because of it, he knew. She acted tough, but it was as hard on her as it was on him.

He stood still right in front of the bed, once again trying to blink the haunting images away from his dream. Watching his wife climb into the bed, he noticed her blond hair was tangled into knots.


This story archived at http://absolutechaos.net/viewstory.php?sid=11433