TW: Body Horror! Beware the italicized section

***********************

The earth is cold.

Cold at Her center. Not molten, but freezing. At least in Phlegethon there is light, but in Cocytus all is dark.

Dark and heavy, ever sinking, plummeting, falling through the void, landing never.

Never piercing the other side. Buried alive is drowning, the medium of solid earth instead of water.

Water would fill my lungs and end this agony, but the earth does not move within me. I move through Her, though the pressure is so great I never move at all.

All is silent until my own voice rends the blackness, and I scream and scream. How, I do not know, for there is no air to form words, and yet I scream.

I scream as eyes open in my skin blinking in terrified wonder each blink like two hands pulling on either side of a wound and they keep appearing erupting out of my arms and legs and the side of my face each a working eyeball staring around me in all directions a dizzying flood of stimuli even though there’s nothing to see nothing but the deep black press of earth on all sides and I try to force these eyes closed but my skin just tears and more eyes form in the gashes so all I can do is scream and scream and suffocate and scream until my own voice is echoing back at me W A K E U P W A K E U P W A K E U P W A K E

“--Up, Seth!” Evan shook me, his hands on my wrists. “Wake up, buddy, I’ve got you.”

I was sobbing, tears coursing down my cheeks in sleep, and I had to suck in a harsh breath to stutter, “...Evan?”

“That’s it.” His tone is so soothing I sag against him, not even caring about anything as his arms wrap around me. “That’s it, it’s okay. Just a nightmare.”

Wait, what was he doing here? As the immediacy of the dream faded, I was able to to peer around with a little more coherence. Beni was standing beside the bed, eyes wide, hand over mouth. (She didn’t sleep in the nude after all, just a cami and boy shorts.) We were still in her room, our room.

“Josh,” I breathed, mortified. “M’so sorry.”

She sat next to us. “Are you okay?”

I needed to disentangle from Evan, but I just wasn’t up to it yet. So I nodded. He wasn’t wearing a t-shirt, I guess he didn’t when he was alone, so I was directly against his skin. But I was too pale and shaky to blush.

“What happened?” he asked, still gentle. “Did something trigger it?”

“Dunno,” I mumbled to his skin. “Just have ‘em sometimes.”

“Must be some nightmare,” said Beni. “You were kicking, thrashing...screaming.”

“That’s why I bolted in here,” Evan said. “It sounded like someone was killing you.”

I squeezed my eyes shut. “Sorry.”

“Hey, nothing to be sorry for,” he said.

“Wanna talk about it?” Beni asked. “Sometimes it makes it easier to deal with.”

There was no way to put the terror of the airless crush of the earth into words, exactly, but I could try. I sat up, drawing away from Evan.

“I’m claustrophobic,” I said, speaking more to my lap than either of my friends. “You guys know that. Ever since I was a kid I’ve had this recurring dream. I’m...trapped in the earth, and it’s dark and cold and pressing down on me--” I broke off, shuddering. No words would even form to describe the eyes splitting open my body. That particular horror would have to stay mine.

“Josh…” whispered Beni.

“Guess I would scream if I was being buried alive, too,” said Evan, rubbing my back.

“Sorry,” I said again. “Guess I picked the wrong day to switch rooms, Ben.”

She sighed. “I mean, that was intense, I won’t lie. But I’m glad it was just a dream.”

“Me too,” I said softly, hating the way dreams always felt so real while they were happening.

All of us jumped as Beni’s phone chimed, illuminating the room with a ghastly glow. With the screen lit up I could see the time.

“Jee,” I groaned. “Is that what time it is?”

“It’s Auntie.” Beni’s thumbs slid across the screen. “She just wants to know if you’re okay.”

This time I did blush, dropping my forehead to palm. “Didn’t mean to wake the whole house.”

“None of us mind,” Evan said.

“I mind,” Beni smirked. “What would my father say to you being in here half naked?”

Evan looked down at his boxer briefs, and did seem a little embarrassed, but he played it off. “Next time I hear screaming, I’ll throw on a full three-piece. Happy?”

“I mean, I’m fine with the view, actually,” she purred.

“Okay, and I’m out.” He stood up, and even in the dark I could tell he was blushing.

“Thank you,” I said. “For coming to check on me.”

“It’s what partners do,” he said. “Good night. Hope you sleep better.”

“Night,” I said as he shut the door behind him.

“Thought he’d never leave,” joked Beni as she flopped backwards. “Come here, boo boo.” I laid down and she wrapped her arms around me, resting her chin on my head. “This okay?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Reminds me of when we were kids, always passed out hard on top of each other.”

She laughed. “The good old days, eh?”

“Yeah,” I said.

It didn’t take long for her to drift off again, but I didn’t begrudge her the sleep. I knew it would be a while before I joined her. The chthonic nightmare was nothing new. In a strange way I was almost used to it, like an old friend you got used to hating.

But the eyes…

I’d never dreamed about the eyes before.