Chapter Five

I shot up, entirely covered in sweat, when i realized it was just a dream. I had been with the parks for about a month when the nightmares started. After a few nights of me waking up screaming, Cyrus had taken to sleeping on the floor in my room. When i tried to argue that he didn't need to, he would say that we have each other’s back. Whenever i woke up screaming, Cyrus would jump up, more frightened than i was. He came to the edge of my bed and sat down. “Avalon, these nightmares have been going on for the past couple of weeks, please tell me what’s going on” he begged, his concern for me hung in the air. I took a deep breath, telling Cyrus i was completely terrified would break every rule that had been laid out for me, but i didn't have to follow those rules. I told him, I told him every detail of my dream. When I finished explaining, I realized Cyrus was holding my hand, gently stroking the back with his thumb, his eyes never leaving mine. He didn’t say anything, but his silence was surprisingly comforting. Placing a hand on my cheek, he began to draw closer and closer, until our noses were all but touching. “Avalon… I think… I…” his breath was heavy as paused in between words. My heart was beating rapidly and i could barely think straight, “you think you might what?”

His movements were slow and gentle as he pressed his lips against mine.

I didnt want to go back to sleep for fear of the nightmares and Cyrus seemed to sense that. He stayed at the edge of my bed until light began to peek through the window. Looking up at the calendar, I had hung up, I asked Cyrus what day it was. “Saturday, saturday” I muttered, trying to remember what we had to do that day. Cyrus, picking up on my distress began to explain the day ahead. “Oh, and if you want a friend of my dad’s is having a small party?”

“This is what you call a small party” I gaped at the large room crowded with people. Cyrus chuckled and started introducing my to people. Through the large crowd, I caught a glimpse of his face, Sean. I broke through the crowd, running towards him. “Sean!” I called after him. Sean turned around, pain etched across his face. “I’m sorry” he mouthed. Then i saw him, John Cruz, his smirk as awful as ever. a tall boy my age was standing beside him. Despite that fact that he was five years older, I knew who he was. It was Caden. Looking closer i saw his hands were bound. I froze, my body unwilling to go any further. My head buzzed with new information. My brother was alive, John had him, and Sean was helping John. I began to feel lightheaded and the noise of the party began to fade in and out, but one voice stood above the rest. “Caden!, are you okay, Caden? Come on, say something” I opened my mouth but no words came out. I saw the floor reach up to me but it stopped as a pair of strong arms wrapped around me.