SLEEPSONG (BoyxBoy)✔️

Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

He sat before me, pale skin glowing under the light of the moon streaking through his window, brown eyes gleaming with tears. His shirt was off, face far older than the day we'd first met but still so handsome. Shafts of pale luminescence illuminated his bearded face and skin.

"You lied to me. Everything we had was a complete lie."

His voice, those words, the hurt and ache in them crushed me.

I wanted to call out to him, wanted to move, but I was frozen in place, on the verge of tears, needing him to understand that it wasn't a lie, not for a single moment, that what he had was real and had always been real, that I loved him more than anyone in the world.

Tears were running down his face.

My mouth worked but no sound came out.

I wanted to reach my hand out to him but he walked past me, bumping my arm on the way out the door. I didn't follow him. I knew we were over. My heart broke as I stood there, trembling, but when he walked back in I turned to apologize for everything and his right fist came down on my hair. Before I could blink I was dragged off balance and he forcibly smashed my head into the corner of his dresser. I was so blinded with pain that I couldn't even scream.

Only, for whatever reason it didn't hurt.

I saw it from a place within myself, saw it in a light that didn't feel real, and I saw him standing over me, still crying, but there was something else in his eyes. Lost, angry, and frightening in every way... he looked as though he'd gone completely insane.

I could only look at him, hands shaking, face screwed up, already being blinded by tears.

Fifteen years of selfless devotion, gone in little more than a second.

My heart hurt far more than my head.

I couldn't move, I was frozen on the ground. 

His eyes changed for a second and he lifted a shaking hand to me, as if he were going to help me up... but just as I was about to lift my own hand, he dropped his arm. His eyes unexpectedly went blank of all feeling and he raised a sharp object I hadn't seen.

The moonlight winked off the blade, glinting metallic in the darkness.

"You're a vampire," he said softly, raising the knife and holding it out towards me. "You're not human, you're a monster. And a liar. For fifteen years, you lied to me, Aerin. You lied right to my face like it was nothing. I can't trust you, can't trust that I'm safe around you."

I opened my mouth, wanting to scream, but nothing came out.

"I'm sorry..." he croaked. "I'm sorry... this is what you've done, this is all your fault... you're a monster, you're not normal... that's why... I have to!"

Fear bloomed in my heart when I saw the lack of sheen in his eyes.

"William..." I finally croaked, bursting into tears. "William, stop! Please, don't—"

It was too late.

The knife came down and I raised my hands, trying to protect my face— 

I instantly bolted up in the dark and tried not to retch, nausea overtaking me at the memory of my dream, breathing hard and covered in sweat, every part of my body practically ringing with sensitivity. My throat was a desert, drier than ash, raspy and cracked, and my skin was on fire.