“It’s a dream, Rome”, she’s told by the Head Doctor, that which is looking over the patient today. She speaks of a foul creature who claws at her dreams and haunts her waking days. She isn’t a permanent patient at the hospital just yet, but she could become one — and Billy would like that very much, if only to attempt understanding what she sees, what keeps her afraid, and maybe become the one she’s afraid of instead. He’s heard this story before: Abaddon is relentless in his sleep, but he doesn’t feel a connection to this woman like he did Kumari. They are not the same… and yet, it could be a key to understanding the inter-dimensional creature inside him and what makes it tick.
He sighs, scribbling a few notes on his pad. She sits across from him, red haired and pretty and broken. “Can you tell me in detail how you function during your day after a nightmare like this?”
[ for Rome! Hope this is okay! If you’d rather something else or for someone else, lemme know! <333 ]
“ A dream, you say…? „ Can a dream torment one in their wake? Follow steps as a shadow, cling to their skin with the sharpest claws? Rome nodded, fidgeting with her own fingers, fragile hopes shattered as glass. Perhaps, she was losing her mind. But what if she wasn’t? Nonetheless, the place was fitting. “ Curious. „
And curious she is, eyes following the motion of the pen as words about herself are written down. A diagnosis? The cause of her illness? Rome, in vain, tried to ignore this crescent anxiety, deep breathes measuring the pace of her heart as she collected herself to answer.
“ As normally as I can, „ ignoring, always ignoring. Pretending that everytime she would look above her shoulder, someone… something wouldn’t be there, waiting. But for what? A little lamb is the easiest and softest of preys… but fear hardens the flesh, or so she was told. “ Doesn’t affect me much under sunlight. It’s… weaker, but present. Gets worse during the night, when there’s more shadows to hide under. „
Hearing those words leave her own lips felt like the trap of a fever-dream. It was reasonable her father had sent her here of all places… this must be a madness. Had to.
“ Doctor… how long until it’s gone? Until I’m cured? „