Chapter Text
Jay woke up screaming.
That was pretty standard these days, but it still startled and confused his family. His mother rushed into the room, slamming the door open and flipping the light switch.
“Honey, what’s wrong?” She cooed, and knelt beside his bed. Jay groaned and covered his eyes to shield them from the light.
“Nothing. It’s nothing, mom.”
“Well, if you insist--” She was cut off by her husband huffing in.
“Not this again. Why can’t you just sleep like normal teens?” His dad groaned. He was sick and tired of missing sleep because of his son. He stormed back out of the room, heading downstairs rather than back to bed. Jay’s mom sighed.
“He means well, sweetie.” She gave him a kiss on the forehead before heading back down the hall and to her own room.
Jay laid back down from his sitting position and closed his eyes. Maybe he’d have normal dreams now.
The next day, Jay was walking to school with Alex. He was exhausted from the night before; he hadn’t been able to fall asleep after he woke up from the nightmare, and instead spent the rest of the night tossing and turning. Alex was energetic and Jay’s brain was lagging behind. Honestly, he wasn’t even paying attention, his mind just kept going back to the faceless man from his dreams.
They arrived at school soon enough, and parted their separate ways to go to class. Jay, unluckily for him, had trig first period. He took his seat next to Tim, who gave a curt nod.
“You look like shit,” Tim said, quiet enough that the teacher couldn’t hear from the front of class.
“I feel like it too. I didn’t get any sleep.”
“You’d think you’d be on time since you were awake, then.”
“Whatever.”
The two of them bickered lighthearted like this a lot. They quieted down to listen to the teacher, since class was already in session. Again, Jay couldn’t tear his mind from the blank-face of his dreams. It was suffocating, being trapped and lost and unable to do anything while he was being stalked and smothered by the tendrils. He had apparently been drifting off, because he woke with a jolt which startled Tim.
“You ok?” Tim asked, giving him a confused look. Jay nodded.
“Just dozing off.” He was just thankful that he hadn’t woken up screaming. God, he would’ve never been able to live that down. He rested his chin on his hand, and out of the corner of his eye-
No..
He stood up quickly, chair screeching against the tile floor. The teacher spun around and placed her hand on her hip.
“Jay, what are you doing?” She yelled. Jay was going to start about how the Man was standing in the corner, but when he looked over, it was empty.
“I, uh--need to go to the bathroom,” He choked out, and while the other students laughed at him, he quickly grabbed his stuff and began the walk of shame out of the room. Tim stared after him, concerned.
He didn’t have to use the bathroom, but he didn’t want to embarrass himself any further. He wandered the halls aimlessly, waiting for the bell to ring so he could head to his next class. He swung by his locker to drop off his trig book since he didn’t plan on returning to that class today. The hallways were eerily silent, setting him on edge. He could hear the tick-tick-tick of the clocks in the hallways, but he didn’t look at them because then he would just dread the amount of time left before the next bell rang.
He sat in the cafeteria, resting his head in his hands to distract himself from the spinning of the room. He really, really needed sleep, but he couldn’t get that at school.
But he stuck it through, and managed to make it through the day.
At the end of the school day, Alex and his girlfriend, Amy, were walking home with Jay. Since Jay’s parents were going to be out of the town for the weekend, he had invited Alex to hang out. But of course, Alex and Amy were a package deal, so the three of them headed home.
The door was unlocked when they got there, but Jay chalked it up to his sister forgetting to lock the door. He was right, since she was on the couch watching tv.
“Mom says you can’t have anyone over,” Jessica said, munching popcorn without looking at him. “But I won’t say anything if you don’t tell her about me going to Seth’s.”
“Deal,” Jay said, and plopped down at the table in the kitchen. Amy went over to chat with Jessica, and Alex took a seat next to him.
“I saw Tim earlier, he said you freaked out in class.” Alex started, but the look that was shot at him made him shut up.
“I don’t know what he was talking about,” Jay stood up and ran his hands down his face before going over to the radio and turning it on. The DJ announced something irrelevant before putting on a song; I Ran (So Far Away). He then opened the fridge, grabbing a bottle of soda for both him and Jay. Luckily, he could just pry them open with the edge of the counter. His parents hated when he did that, but he could really care less.
“I dunno man, Tim didn’t seem like he was lying. And you have been acting strange lately.” Alex accepted the soda and took a big swig from it. Jay sighed.
“It’s stupid. I’ve been having these dreams--”
“Oooh, scary.” Alex snickered. He rolled his eyes and continued.
“I’m being followed by this man, except-- he doesn’t have a face. And he has these like, octopus tentacles. But they don’t have the suckers on them.”
“Can’t believe you’re having dreams about another man. I’m going to have to tell Ti-”
“Shut up.”
“Alright, alright,” Alex put his hands up in mock surrender and Jay shook his head before chugging his soda. It was silent minus the gulping sounds for a few minutes, and then the glass bottle was set harshly on the table and Jay crossed his arms.
“Let’s just forget about it, I want to actually have fun tonight.” He got up again and headed to the living room to check on the girls, followed by Alex. Jessica managed to drag her eyes away from the tv to look at her brother as he entered the living room.
“I’m leaving in a few minutes, after this episode is over. I’m taking the car,” She stated. Jay groaned. At least he wouldn’t be heading anywhere this weekend. Jessica and him shared their parents’ extra car, even though technically it belonged to Jay since he was a year older.
When the show was over and she got up to grab her bags from her room, Alex sat down and pulled Amy close to start smooching her neck. She giggled and pushed at his chest playfully, and Jay groaned. They were so lovey-dovey that it made him sick.
“So, Alex said there would be beer? And terrible movies too, of course,” Amy giggled some more, making eye contact with Jay. He nodded.
“Yes, of course. I’m going to wait until you-know-who leaves first, though. Don’t need her ratting me out,” He let out the first smile of the day, even though it was brief. Amy was cute, he had to admit, but not really his type. She went well with Alex, and they seemed to be happy together.
Eventually, Jessica returned downstairs and snagged the car keys from the mantle by the door. She waved herself off, and everyone could hear the squeal of the tires as she tore off down the road. Jay went to the VHS player, but before he could find a movie to put on, Alex interjected.
“Play ‘Freaks’!” He shouted. Amy groaned.
“Ew, no. Can’t we watch something else? That’s all you ever want to watch.”
“It’s a classic, babe,” It really wasn’t. Jay wasn’t too fond of the movie either but Alex had left it the last time he was over. He was convinced it got left on purpose. “Scarface? The Shining? We have options,” Alex leaned back and crossed his arms behind his head while Amy scoffed.
“Why not something I want to watch? Or, you know, Jay. Since we are at his house.”
They both turned to look at Jay, who looked away and to the movies. Honestly, nothing was really piqued his interest. They could watch Dracula for the thousandth time, that was a favorite. Finally deciding, Jay ended up choosing Dracula. After making popcorn, he took a seat next to his friends.
The movie seemingly took forever, and the group watched random tv when it was over. There wasn’t much on, but that was ok, because they were having fun messing around. Jay’s parents had called, but Alex and Amy had stayed quiet while he talked to them (because they were making out). Jay wondered when Tim would show up, but then-
There was rustling outside.
It sent a quick bolt of panic through Jay, all the memories of his dreams suddenly flooding back to him. He grabbed a pocket knife before creeping into the kitchen, Alex following him since he had also heard the noise. He had told Amy to stay behind and she only shrugged nonchalantly.
As he opened the door, a tall figure jumped out at him and both of the boys shrieked.
“Fucking Hell,” Alex blurted, clutching his chest. Standing there was Brian. He was in a semi-crouching position, leaves in his hair and holding a stick. Tim was standing behind him a few feet, pinching his temple as if he was embarrassed.
Jay punched Brian in the shoulder.
“Jerk.”
“Whatever,” Brian stuck his tongue out at him and pushed past him into the kitchen. Tim mouthed the word ‘sorry’ as he followed. Alex was frowning, but Jay was at least glad to see Tim. Alex could suck it up for one night. Alex and Brian were friends, to an extent, but Alex wasn’t fond of Tim and only talked to him when needed (“he’s a faerie, man” was Alex’s reasoning).
The other three men made their way after Brian, Jay stopping in the kitchen to make a few more bags of popcorn. He could hear Amy and Brian talking from the other room, and the sounds of some fake tv-show laughter. When the popcorn was done, the group settled down to watch some more movies.
Alex and Amy had taken the guest room while Jay, Tim, and Brian sandwiched themselves onto Jay’s small bed. It seemed as if Alex and Amy had, uh, finished up, and Jay was staring up at the ceiling.
“Tim, Brian, you guys awake?” He asked quietly. Brian groaned softly and Tim responded.
“Yeah, what’s up?”
“So like, I have these nightmares sometimes, and uh… They’ve been worse lately.” Jay stopped talking, but neither of the others said anything. “Um. Just sorry in advance if I wake you guys up.”
“Hey, it’s all good, man,” Brain said, briefly looking at Jay, then over him at Tim. Tim was staring intently at Jay from the corners of his eyes, his arms crossed over his own stomach. Brian snickered. “I’m sure it’ll be no problem.”
Screaming. Screaming and screaming and screaming was what woke Jay up. Except, they weren’t coming from him. He was dazed, groggy, but immediately snapped out of it when he realized he was alone and that the screaming was real . He sprung out of bed, no time to wonder where his friends were. He opened his door, and to his right, Brian exited the bathroom, followed by Tim.
“What’s going on?” Brian asked frantically.
“I don’t know-”
“There’’s screaming-”
They pushed their way into the guest room, Jay first.
Blood-
Blood was everywhere-
Amy was laying on the bed, eviscerated, blood on the walls and ceiling and furniture. Alex was kneeling on the bed next to her, holding her head in his arms, sobbing loudly.
“What the fuck, oh my god, I’m calling 911.” Jay grabbed the bloody phone on the table near the bed and dialed the police.
Brian was next to Alex, trying to calm him down, asking what had happened. Tim was in the doorway just staring worriedly and biting his nails. Jay was having a hard time explaining, but he got the message across that it was urgent and they needed an ambulance.
“Oh god, oh fuck, they’re going to think I did it. I have to get out of here, man,” Alex shot up and looked around. “There. I have to go I have to go,” He unlocked the window and hopped out, down the trellis, Brian trying to stop him the whole time.