Page 83 of Blinded By Hate

“Almost done,” Eric yells loud enough for me to hear through the screaming.

I become limp against the wall and close my eyes while still screaming.

Eventually Eric stops and he releases me.

I choke on air and my eyes go down to my side.

There’s blood everywhere.

And the tattoo, the one I got for Hayden, it’s gone.

“Now, Night knows not to fuck with me in the future,” Eric says before walking towards the door and slamming it closed.

All you see is blood on the bed and on my ribs.

I cover my side with my shirt and cry as I put pressure on the wound.

“It’s okay. I’m going to be here. You’ll have me,” a little boy with brown hair and gray eyes says. I smile down at him and suddenly I’m at the beach as he stands in front of me. He grabs my hand and pulls me towards the water. “Just come with me and everything will be okay.”

Thirty-Four

Hayden

Present

Jaclyn wakes up with a jolt in my arms, breathing heavily. Sweat is running down the side of her face as she whimpers in my hold.

“Hayden-”

“I’m here,” I say instantly. I wrap my arms around her tighter and pull her closer to me. “I’m always going to be here.”

“He, he was out to get me, again. He’s always there.”

“Who?” I ask, rubbing her shoulder to calm her down.

Jaclyn leans into me and rests the side of her face against my chest as she calms down her breathing. I can feel how fast her heart is beating against my chest as she turns her body towards me.

“The man in the black hood.”

I furrow my eyebrows and look down at her. “Man in the black hood?” How long has she been having these nightmares? Did they start before everything happened or after? Jaclyn looks up at me, with tears in her eyes from the nightmare she woke up from. I look at the clock behind her and see that it’s 5:44am. “How long have you been having nightmares?” I ask after letting her calm down a little bit.

“About the black hood or that night in general?” she asks.

So, there are two different nightmares that she has?

I think she notices me tense up from her question because she runs her hand down my arm to hold my hand. She leans into my chest more and we both just lay back down against the headboard.

“I’ve had nightmares about the black hood ever since we started getting stalked by Eric.”

“Why did you never tell me about them?”

How did I not fucking notice?

“Because I knew you would worry about me.” Jaclyn looks up at me.

I wipe the dry tears from her face. “I’d rather worry about you than you just keeping everything in.” Jaclyn nips her bottom lip and nods her head. “What about the other nightmares?”

“The ones about that night, I got the day we last saw each other. That’s when they started and they stopped after a while. Every now and then they’ll come but it’s been a while since I’ve had a bad one. It’s just always the black hooded man.”