Brandon had been staring at the TV for so long, he couldn’t even remember the last time he’d moved. His dad came in not long after he’d left, muttered something about Christian’s shenanigans, and disappeared into his room. It had been a while since that happened, but Brandon had lost all track of time recently. Ever since he broke up with Cassidy, his days and nights ran together. He hardly did anything. His friends invited him over, but he always declined. Sitting on the couch staring at the TV or his phone and trying not to feel anything at all was eating away at his life, but it was all he ever felt like doing.
A loud banging on his door tore him out of his daze. He glanced down the hall to see if his dad was coming but realized, whoever it was, they probably couldn’t hurt him. It wasn’t like Daunator had just shown up or anything. He got to his feet and pulled the door open, shocked when Cassidy came flying inside, her hair as wild as her eyes.
Immediately, she clamped her hands over her ears. “Make it stop!” she yelled, bending over but then flying back up again. “I don’t know how to make it stop!”
“Make what stop? Cass, what’s the matter?” He had his hands on her now, trying to get her to stand still long enough to tell him what was going on, but she kept flinging herself around so quickly, he couldn’t even get her to look him in the eyes.
His dad was there now, too, but he stayed in the hallway by the kitchen, his phone in his hand, like he’d been talking to someone, concern written all over his face. But he seemed content to let Brandon handle it for now, assuming anyone could do anything.
Cassidy was crying, stomping one foot. “He won’t stop laughing!”
“Who won’t stop laughing?” Brandon grabbed her shoulders, a little more forcefully than when he’d tried to contain her before, and made her look up at him. “Cassidy! Breathe! Tell me what’s going on.”
“It’s Daunator! He’s in my head, and he won’t get out. I was trying to... find them. The people. And I did. But now... he won’t get out of my head.”
Brandon could only imagine how crazy it must feel to have a monster in your mind, especially if he was laughing the way she’d mentioned before.
“Cassidy, it’s okay. Look at me. Stop listening to him for a second and look at me!” Brandon demanded.
Her hazel eyes locked onto his face, tears still streaming down her cheeks. He had no idea how he was supposed to help, but he felt like, if anyone could get someone out of her head, it was Cass. “Tell him to get out. Build a wall if you have to, throw a shield, but he can’t be in there without your permission. Order him to stop.”
“I am, Brandon, but it’s not working! He won’t go!”
“Yes, he will! He’s not stronger than you, Cass. No one is as strong as you are. Come on, now. Take a deep breath and push him out.”
Her breathing had been short and labored, but she began to draw in deeper draws of air, her eyes still glued to his. A determined expression took over her pretty face as she ground her teeth together, narrowed her eyes, and fisted her hands at her sides.
“That’s it, Cass. Come on, you’ve got this. Push him out. Tell him to go to hell. You’ve got it.” He could see she was regaining control, and even though it was hard, she seemed to be winning. He wished there was something he could do to make it easier, to help her, but he didn’t have the same superpowers as she did. If he could, he’d fly to Klet right now, find that son of a bitch, and kick his ass.
It took several minutes, but eventually, Cassidy’s breathing returned to normal, and the pained expression on her face faded. “Did you get him?”
She nodded, lifting her hands to cover her face. Instinctively, Brandon pulled her to his chest, wrapping his arms around her and taking his own advice, inhaling as deeply as he could to try to still his own pounding heart. Behind her, he saw his dad smile, give him a thumbs up, and then disappear down the hallway.
They stood like that for what seemed like an eternity, maybe as long as Brandon had been staring at nothing on the TV earlier. He didn’t want to speak because if he did, she might leave, and he didn’t want her to go. Her head was resting right over his heart, her arms around his waist, the top of her head nestled beneath his chin, and he just wanted to hold her, to inhale the scent of her vanilla perfume, for the rest of his life.
It didn’t last forever, though. Eventually, she began to stir. The feel of her arms unwinding themselves from him was a sharper sting than any wound he’d ever received in battle, and even when she was standing in front of him, looking him in the face again, he struggled to remove his arms from around her back.
“Thank you, Brandon. I’m sorry. I freaked out. I didn’t know what else to do.”
“It’s okay. I’m glad you came. I’m so sorry that happened to you.” He reached up and tucked a lock of brown hair behind her ear.
“I’ve never had anything like that happen before.”
“It seemed really scary.”
She nodded. “It was.”
He wanted to kiss her so badly, his lips felt like they were trembling. But he wasn’t allowed to do that anymore, not since he’d made the idiotic mistake of breaking up with her. His teeth came down on his bottom lip hard as he tried to think of something constructive to say, but all of his words had left him.
“I should go.” She looked down at the floor between them.
“You don’t have to.” Her eyes flickered up again, met his, dropped. “I mean... if you don’t want to be alone. If you’re still scared.”
“I don’t want to intrude any more than I have.”
“I wasn’t doing anything.”
She turned around and looked at the TV. An old black and white comedy he didn’t recognize was playing. He wondered if that was the show he’d been watching earlier or if a new one had started. “I guess I could stay for a while. If you’re sure you don’t mind.”
“I’m sure.”
Cassidy walked over to the couch and sat in her usual spot, the place Brandon had been sitting in for the past few days. His phone was on the floor; he figured it had fallen when he got up to open the door. He picked it up and then took the spot he usually sat in when she was over, though not quite as close to her as he would’ve if she was still his girl.
The show was strange. Something about a horse that could talk only to one guy or something. Brandon was pretty sure he’d never seen it before, and he didn’t understand what was funny about most of it. Not that he was really paying any attention to what was happening on the screen. He was far too preoccupied with the fact that Cassidy was actually in his apartment again.
She started to yawn a few minutes after she sat down. He was afraid she’d say she wanted to go to bed and leave. Glancing at the clock on the wall, he saw that it was almost 2:00 in the morning and couldn’t blame her. She needed a lot more sleep than he did.
Cassidy didn’t leave, though. Instead, she leaned her head back against the couch, and in a few minutes, she was asleep. Tempted as he was to pull her over against him, he let her rest the way she was. He missed the feel of her in his arms, the way she used to cozy up against him. A few times, she’d fallen asleep that way, her head on his chest. He’d hold her, run his fingers through her hair, listen to her breathe. While she wasn’t in his arms at the moment, she was in his apartment, and that was something.
A small noise escaped her lips. He hoped she wasn’t having a bad dream or that Daunator wasn’t trying to get back into her mind. She stirred again, opened her eyes for a moment, though he couldn’t tell if she was completely awake. Then, she pulled a throw pillow out from behind her and flung it onto his lap before collapsing on top of him, bringing her legs up and curling into a ball.
He wanted to touch her, to smooth back her hair, run his hand down her arm, but he also didn’t want to disturb her, so he stayed perfectly still, only moving enough to turn the volume down on the TV so the obnoxious laugh track wouldn’t wake her up.
With the television turned down, he could hear his dad’s playing down the hallway. “Dad, Cassidy is asleep out here, so if you come out, try not to wake her up, okay?”
“All right. She okay?”
“I think so. That was scary, though.”
“Yeah, it was. But you handled it like a champ.”
“Thanks.” Brandon wasn’t sure what else to say. He didn’t really feel like he’d done anything. Cass had done all of the hard work.
“You need anything?”
Brandon had thought Cassidy might get cold, but he wasn’t about to get up to do anything about it. “A blanket maybe?”
Elliott crept out of his room so quietly, Brandon could hardly hear him coming, which was saying something for someone who usually sounded like a wild beast in a room full of glass. He brought the requested blanket and spread it out over Cassidy, who didn’t even stir at all.
“She’s cute when she’s sleeping. Sort of like a little baby—all quiet and content and calm. But then... as soon as she wakes up, holy hell, you better watch out!”
Brandon snickered, knowing his dad was kidding. Sort of. “Just try not to get on her bad side.”
“You got that right.” Elliott smiled at him and then turned to go. “Maybe you’re back on her good side now, if you want to be.”
“Maybe. I guess we’ll find out when she wakes up. Thanks, Dad.”
“No problemo. Let me know if you need anything else.” He disappeared back into his room, leaving Brandon to wonder what would happen when Cassidy woke up. Would she finally want to talk? If not, should he let it go? Or would she just end up hating him all over again?
Whatever happened later, she was here now, and that was far better than staring at pictures of her on his phone, even if the only reason she’d come was because she’d been chased by a monster.
