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Cecil was in a dark room.
There was black, thick liquid dripping from the walls.
In the corner of the room was a creature.
It was made purely of shadow, except for its eyes and mouth.
Its mouth was large. Lined with rows of teeth, dripping with what looked to be blood.
And it's eyes…
Its eyes were human-like. yet so horridly abnormal. It stared at Cecil, pupils small, thin like slits. Thin veins popped on its whites, which looked to be a bit more yellowish than white.
Cecil felt his breath quicken, as he crept farther away from the creature. Yet the creature was not stationary.
The creature flickered closer and closer to Cecil, its movements jerky and inhuman.
Its face slowly tilted as it drew closer, mouth slowly gaping open.
Cecil wanted to scream, but was too stricken with fear to do anything.
All of his joints were locked up, and he was completely immobile as he watched the creature draw near.
But the fear he felt was nothing compared to the sheer horror that struck through him when he heard a blood curdling scream.
Carlos's scream.
Cecil sprang awake in a cold sweat.
Heart still beating out of his chest, breath ragged, Cecil whipped his head around the darkened room.
Thankfully, a very familiar room.
Cecil, eyes still scanning around the room frantically, shakily reached next to him to place his hand on Carlos, who would be sleeping next to him.
But Cecil felt his heart catch in his throat when his hand fell onto the cold wrinkled sheet instead.
Cecil's gaze dropped next to him, where normally his scientist would be peacefully lying next him. Yet instead, he was met with the dreadful sight of an empty spot in his bed next to him.
Suddenly, Cecil jumped as he jerked his head to look behind him. He could have sworn he saw something in the corner of his eye. Something that was still so wretchedly familiar, fresh in his memory.
Cecil's heart was thundering in his chest as his breath quickened once more. He whipped his head back and forth as he snatched his blanket to curl it around himself in a desperate attempt at comfort.
He kept seeing eerie glowing eyes, and blood stained teeth in the corners of his vision, phantom hands crawling his skin.
Where is Carlos?
Where is Carlos where is Carlos where is Carlos where is Carlos.
Thoughts running a hundred miles per second, Cecil finally gathered the strength to shakily open his mouth.
"Carlos?"
He whispered.
Yet when silence answered him, Cecil couldn't hold himself back anymore.
"Carlos. Carlos? Carlos? Carlos!?"
His ragged voice got louder and more frantic each time he repeated the scientist's name.
Was he okay? Where did he go? What if the creature got him?
Cecil's thoughts spiraled as he shouted Carlos's name.
Cecil thought he was about to lose his mind when the bedroom door swung open.
Cecil nearly shrieked as he jerked violently, head whipping towards the door.
Yet to his extreme relief, the familiar and comforting sight of his Carlos met him.
"Cecil! What's wrong?"
Flicking the light on, before instantly rushing to the radio host's side, Carlos blinked in surprise as Cecil quickly drew him into a tight hug, sobbing with relief as he clutched him.
"Cecil, honey what's wrong? Hey, look at me." Pulling away a bit to cup Cecil's cheek, Carlos gently asked him, "what happened?"
Cecil instantly drew him back into the tight embrace, before whispering 'nightmare' under his breath.
"Oh, Ceec.."
Cooing softly, Carlos gently rubbed his hand up and down Cecil's back comfortingly.
Still shaking quite violently, Cecil took a couple shuddering breaths.
"I- can you lay down with me? I need you to just, hug me. Really tightly," Cecil whispered.
"Of course," Carlos replied immediately, gently climbing onto the bed, and then scooting into the middle with Cecil. As soon as he lied down, Carlos pulled Cecil in so that the radio host's head was tucked beneath his chin, arms both wrapped around each other, and legs tangled together tightly.
They both lied there like that for a while, Carlos speaking softly, and comfortingly to Cecil, who was hanging onto every word as he tried to even his breaths.
Eventually, Cecil's breath evened out, and he stopped shivering. Without pulling away, Carlos gently asked,
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah." Cecil took a deep breath, exhaling slowly, "Yeah, I'm okay now."
"Do you think you wanna try and go back to sleep, or would you rather just stay awake now?"
Carlos asked gently, toying with strands of Cecil's silky hair.
"I don't think I want to go back to sleep." Cecil said slowly, before adding, "But I'd like to just stay like this for a while longer."
"Of course,"
Carlos replied softly, smiling gently.
After a few moments of silence, Cecil's voice, barely audible, broke it.
"I'm sorry…"
Carlos instantly drew back a bit to look Cecil straight into his beautiful eyes.
"Don't be. At all." Carlos gently traced stars into Cecil's cheeks as he continued, "I'm so sorry that I wasn't in bed, I had to go get some water. I hope you didn't freak out too much because I was gone.” Carlos stared into Cecil’s eyes as he firmly added, “And never apologize for being scared. Especially after nightmares, you have every right to be completely scared out of your mind."
Cecil stared at him, eyes wide and unreadable. After a while, he opened his mouth as if he were going to answer, before gently closing it, and surging forward instead.
Carlos smiled as he met Cecil's lips, both of them sighing softly into the kiss.
Cecil couldn't deny that his dreams scared him. The dreams were like the night sky, its shadows creating dark creatures that twisted and turned, leaving him blinded, scared and confused. But just like when the sun rose, and revealed that all the dark creatures were simply branches and mounds of clothes piled on a chair, Cecil knew that Carlos would always be there to help him through.
It seemed that in this town of eternal darkness, two beings were able to become each other’s light.