“Kaj.”
“Your son is sick and you’re not gonna do anything about it?” Tears crowded his eyes and his stomach spasmed.
“I said I’ll talk to him and set limits so this doesn’t happen again.”
“You should report him to the police! Protect me!” His entire body was shaking with rage and frustration at this point.
“Kaj.”
“I won’t repeat myself. You better not say another word about this again, ever. Not to your weird friends online or the ones you hang out with, let alone to the police. I don’t want you ruining Jesper’s reputation because you regret what you did.”
“I hope you both die in a horrible way. Fuck you!”
Katja slapped him across the face.
Kaj’s eyes snapped open, and his fist flew to the faceless entity leaning over him as he sat up straight.
“Fuck, Larsen. Wake up!” a man’s voice yelled.
Kaj’s pulse thudded against his eardrums and his breath caught as he blinked, trying to make sense of his surroundings. The room was dim, shadows dancing on unfamiliar walls. The air felt less oppressive than the stifling atmosphere of his childhood room. His fingers clutched at soft sheets over a plush mattress. It wasn’t as firm as his. This wasn’t his bed.
Slowly, the fog in his mind lifted, and details of the room came into sharper focus. A generic landscape painting. The flatscreen TV mounted opposite the bed. Heavy curtains opened, letting in soft light from outside. All things he didn’t recognize, but at the same time, he did.
I’m in a hotel room.
As his breathing steadied, more pieces fell into place. He was twenty-seven now, not sixteen. His gaze then narrowed on a battered duffel bag tucked in the corner. It was adorned with various pins and patches collected over years of touring.Tour. Right.Artificial Suicide. I’m their drummer and we’re on tour.
The realization was both comforting and disorienting.
It was then that Kaj became aware of the presence beside him. He turned his head, and when his eyes finally focused, he saw it; the concern etched across a familiar and gorgeous face he knew quite well.Noah. Of course it was Noah.
“Hey… You with me now?” he asked, a palm hovering over Kaj’s shoulder.
Kaj nodded, still not entirely trusting his voice. He ran a hand through his sweat-dampened hair, grimacing at how clammy his skin felt.
“You scared the shit out of me,” Noah said, perching carefully on the bed. “You were screaming, and I… was worried.” He tilted his head toward the door that connected their rooms. It was wide open. “I tried calling your name, but you wouldn’t wake up.”
Kaj swallowed, still feeling slightly disconnected from reality. “Sorry,” he croaked out. “Bad dream.”
Noah’s frown deepened. “Sounded like more than just a bad dream. You want to talk about it?”
Kaj shook his head, immediately regretting the motion as it made the room spin. “It’s nothing. Old stuff. Doesn’t matter.”
He couldn’t bring himself to tell Noah about how his mind played tricks on him constantly. He didn’t want to talk about Katja. That woman, who was supposed to have taken care of him after he lost his dad, not only neglected him and called him a liar, but forced him to keep his mouth shut about things he still couldn’t admit aloud outside his shrink’s office.
“If you say so…” Noah replied, studying Kaj’s face, clearly unconvinced. Then he stood up. “I know things are… weird between us. But I’m here if you need me, okay?”
Kaj simply nodded, unable to meet his eyes as Noah stood there, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.
Silence stretched in the space separating them, heavy with uncertainty. Noah’s hand twitched at his side, as if he wanted to reach out again, but thought better of it. With a sigh, Noah turned and headed for the door.
Kaj’s gaze followed him as he walked away, watching how the dim light silhouetted his frame in nothing but his boxer briefs. His chest tightened with every step Noah took. The penumbra in the room elongated menacingly as remnants of the nightmare clung to him like cobwebs, coiling around his rib cage and digging into his flesh. He was suffocating.
As Noah touched the doorknob, panic surged through Kaj. Logically, he knew there were no monsters hidden in the shadows, but his brain was keen on filling the holes loneliness carved in his heart by evoking a fear response.
“Wait.” Vulnerability severed Kaj’s pride as words tumbled from his lips. “C-can you... can you stay?”
Noah froze, his back still to the drummer. For a heartbeat that felt like an eternity, he didn’t move. Then, slowly, he turned around.
