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The wind blew wildly around Noah, picking up leaves that swirled around him, a few landing in his hair. Ignoring them, he looked around realizing where he was. In the woods. At the ruins. His breathing picked up and he suddenly heard a light giggle behind him. He closed his eyes trying to regain control of his breathin when he heard it again.
“You have leaves in your hair, silly.”
Noah would recognize that voice anywhere, no matter how long it had been since he truly heard it. Slowly turning around, he saw her, Jane. Standing there laughing at him, wearing that blue dress she loved so much, the one she was wearing when she died. She walked towards him and he instincitvely took a step back.
“I’m just going to get the leaves out of your hair.”
Seeing how earnest she looked, Noah was unable to resist. He bent down as she approached him, so she could reach the leaves. He was so much taller than her now. Once she had thrown the leaves on the ground, she grabbed his hand, leading him towards the ruins.
“Come on, Noah, let’s go play!”
Planting his feet firmly on the ground, Noah responded, “Wait, Jane, no, we can’t go in there.”
“But Raven’s waiting for us!” Using a strength that was entirely impossible for an eight-year-old child to possess, Jane dragged Noah into the ruins.
“Jane, stop! It isn’t safe!” Noah tried to pull away, but Jane’s grip on him tightened, causing him to cry out.
She managed to get him into the ruins dragging him down the stairs. The chairs were all set up just like they had been the night of homecoming. There were bodies in each seat, but as Noah approached, he realized they weren’t his friends, but mangled mannequins dressed in their clothes. Well, all except one. Jane skipped over to the one person who was, well, a person.
“Raven! Noah’s here!”
Raven rose up from her seat, smiling in her homecoming dress. She ran over to Noah, hugging him. “Finally! We can play the game!”
“The game?” Noah asked, his heart in his throat.
“Yeah!” Jane answered. “Why Noah? Are you scared?”
“Yes! Yes, I’m scared and you should be too! The last two times we played that game here, you both died!” Noah tried to turn around, to run up the stairs, but found he couldn’t move.
“Do you not think you can protect us, Noah?” Jane asked.
“I–” Noah was cut off by Raven appearing right in front of him.
“Noah, why?” Raven stumbled back clutching her stomach.
Noah looked down, seeing blood pool around her fingers. As he continued looking down, he saw a bloodied knife in his hand. “Wait, no, no this isn’t what was supposed to happen!”
“Noah, you killed her!” Jane shouted as Raven’s body crumpled to the ground.
“No, no, no, Raven!” Noah fell to his knees in front of Raven’s body. Jane joined him, tears in her eyes.
“Noah, how could you kill her? How could you kill us ?”
Confused, Noah looked up at Jane and saw bruises on her neck getting darker and darker until her body collapsed on the ground as well.
“No, no, Jane!” Noah shifted his attention to his sister. He saw as her chest stopped moving, the breath no longer coming. “No, no, no, no, no.” His hands moved of their own volition, starting CPR. As his hands pressed into Jane’s chest, he felt his own chest tighten with fear. He just kept going and going and going, but Jane’s body remained still. Cold. Lifeless. Dead.
Gasping for breath, Noah woke up in his bed in the cabin. Despite no longer being in the nightmare, his chest still felt tight with anxiety. He sat up with tears in his eyes. Looking at the clock, he saw it was a little past two in the morning.
He laid back down, closing his eyes, but as soon as he did, his mind was flooded with images of Raven and Jane’s dead bodies. His eyes snapped open as he sat up again. As much as he hated to admit it, he just really couldn’t handle being alone right now.
He got out of bed and slowly made his way down the hall, pausing outside Connor’s room. The door was cracked open, a silent invitation. Noah quietly opened the door, tiptoeing to the bed. Despite his attempt to be quiet, Connor woke up, sitting up in his bed.
“Noah? What’s going on?” Connor asked sleepily.
“I, um, I just didn’t really want to be alone, if that’s okay?”
“Of course it is.” Connor made room for Noah on the bed and Noah took the invitation to sit down, keeping some space between himself and Connor. “Do you want to talk about it?”
Noah curled in on himself, hugging his knees to his chest. “I… I don’t know.”
“You don’t have to, but if you think it’d help, I’ll listen.”
“I… I should be used to it by now, but I’ve been having nightmares about Jane and Raven for the past four years. Well, I’ve been having nightmares about Jane for, like, four teen years and Raven just kind of… joined… after… after homecoming.”
“What happens in these nightmares?” Connor inched towards Noah.
“We’re in the ruins…” Tears started falling silently from Noah’s eyes, “And I… I can’t save them. I can never save them.” Noah started sobbing, unable to contain his emotions.
Connor reached out, pulling Noah onto his lap. Noah collapsed against his chest, balling Connor’s shirt in his fists, tears falling. Connor wrapped his arms around Noah, hugging him tightly.
“What if Raven never forgives me? What if… we go through all of this and bring her back and she doesn’t forgive me?”
“I think she’s already forgiven you.”
“She… she’s not really in her right mind right now. What if we bring her back and she decides I’m not worth her forgiveness? I don’t think I could live with myself if she… if she…”
“Hey, Noah, no.” Connor cupped one of Noah’s tear stained cheeks with his hand. “She’s going to forgive you.”
“You can’t know that.”
“I know Raven. She acts tough, but she’s a forgiving person.”
“I really hope you’re right.” Tears continued to fall from Noah’s eyes.
Connor placed a kiss on Noah's forehead before Noah laid back down against Connor’s chest. The two laid like that, with Noah wrapped up in Connor’s arms, until Noah cried himself to sleep. Connor repositioned himself slightly so he was laying down, but still holding Noah against him, and continued hugging him until he fell asleep as well.