One month later...

I wake up with another piercing scream, sweat covering every part of my body. My breath heaves dramatically as my heart pounds spastically against my rib cage.

Another nightmare.

This time, Slyder didn't actually die, only his hallucination did. He found me, raped me, then he stabbed knives into both of my eyes. I was tied up in a dark musty smelling place. He then poured a bucket of vicious rats onto my body. They ate me alive.

My mom bursts through the door in a panic. Once she sees me sitting in my bed, she seems to relax. "Another nightmare about Slyder?" Mom asked, it was the 48th one in the past month...yes, I've had one every single night, sometimes multiple. I nod my head, wiping the tears I hadn't realized were there.

Mom let's out a soft sigh and sits down next to me in bed, sliding her arm around my shoulder. "Oh honey" mom whispers, resting her head on my shoulder.

I let out a shaky breath. "When are they going to end?" I cry, wary of the seemingly never ending nightmares.

Mom doesn't respond for a long time, a silence hung between us for what felt like hours. "It might never" mom admits quietly, her voice croaking.

A small weep escapes my lips. I knew the answer, but it hurt to hear.

All month I've barely had any sleep. I'm constantly scared that it was all just a dream that I killed him. I thought when he died I could stop looking over my shoulder. I thought I would be able to start living my once normal life again, but Slyder has the ability to ruin my life even after his death.

🔸Adelram's POV🔸

I instantly wake up, my eyes going straight to the window in my bedroom.

Kamaria just woke up from another nightmare.

I let out a soft sigh, closing my eyes.

Now that Slyder is dead, I was put on hold from the ESPP, which means that I'm free to do whatever I please, live my life, date whomever, live wherever, until or unless they need me at anytime. It's unlikely that they will need me, not much goes on in the Eribiss. I'm just a safety net, a just in case, a back up plan, which I am more than okay with.

That also meant that I could date Kamaria, but if this does end up happening, I'm definitely going to have to ease into it, baby-steps at a time. Waiting until she's completely ready, if she even wants to that is.

I get up from bed and walk over to my window, pulling it open. "You okay, Princess?" I ask, attempting to rub the tiredness out if my eyes.

A few moments later, Brenda appears at the window, she offers me a sad smile. "She'll be alright. Sorry to wake you again" she apologizes.

I give her a lazy shrug. "Don't worry about it" I say, just before a yawn escapes my mouth.

Around thirty minutes later, Brenda leaves the room, leaving the window open just a crack. "Hey Princess, do you want a cuddle buddy?" I offer into the darkness.

The answer comes back immediately "yes, please" the soft voice replies.

A second later Kamaria walks in front of her window, her hair was in a loose bun, strands of hair poked out everywhere wildly. Her skin was extra pale at the moment. Dark bags laid beneath her tired eyes. She's wearing a baggy tshirt and some loose basketball shorts. She looked gorgeous.

Kamaria seemed completely terrified just standing in front of a window, she looked from left to right outside, before cautiously pulling up the window and stepping to the side so that I could enter. I took a step back and ran forward, leaping into the room with little to no noise at all.

"Seriously, are you like a literal ninja?" Kamaria inquires, her eyes slightly widened.

I offer her a cocky smirk. "A sexy ninja, remember?" I correct. Kamaria rolls her eyes, trying to pretend she's annoyed, but I notice the smile tugging at her lips.

"This time, you're wearing pants, or at least shorts" she declares.

I let out a groan. "But-" I starts to interject, but she interrupts. "No buts, seriously Adelram, I am so not sleeping with you when you're only wearing underwear." She announces defiantly.

I see my opportunity to tease her and take it. "Well yeah, if we're going to be sleeping together, I'll have to be naked" I conclude using a 'duh' tone.

I can't help the smile that spreads on my lips when Kamaria blushes "shut up, you knew what I meant" she grumbled. I chuckle lightly at her embarrassment. "Alright fine, hang on, I'll go get a pair of shorts" I say, leaving to my own bedroom.

Once I had a pair of shorts on, I jumped back into Kamaria's room to find her curled up under her covers, only her eyes poking out.

"What's wrong?" I ask walking towards her. "Nothing, I just, I thought I heard a noise" she admits fearfully, her eyes jumping all over the room.

I slowly get into bed with her. "Slyder's dead, Kamaria" I remind her. "Princess" I correct myself. It was strange saying her real name out loud when talking to her. I think Princess suits her better.

Kamaria whips her head over to me and stares at me with wide, fearful eyes. "Oh my God, you're Slyder, aren't you? Adelram doesn't call me Kamaria" Kamaria says, standing up suddenly.

"What? No, of course not. I am Adelram, it was an accident" I assure her, though it didn't seem to help any.

She begins to heave in and out, as though she's hyperventilating.

"Princess" I stood up and walked over to her, resting my hands on her shoulders. "It's me, Adelram. Slyder is dead" I announce surely.

Her eyes look anywhere but into mine. "My dreams was right. The Slyder I killed was just a hallucination." she said quietly before shoving me "Get away from me!" She screamed, slamming her fist down on my chest. "Get away!" She screamed. Pounding over and over again. I didn't move.

I grab her wrist and made her look into my eyes. "Princess, Slyder is dead. We really did kill him, not a hallucination. I know for a fact. If we had killed a hallucination-which I have done before- the body would have disappeared. Slyder isn't able to produce his own eye color in his hallucinations, because his eye color is so unique and uncloneable, he is dead." I assure her.

She shakes her head dramatically and looks to the floor. "No, no you're lying. You're Slyder. I know it."

"Kamaria!" I yelled loudly, instantly catching her attention. She stops freaking out to look at me for a moment. "I'm not Slyder. Slyder is dead. I am tired and Kamaria just slipped out, I promise it's me" I say, begging her with my eyes to believe me.

She lets out a soft breath. "I know, you're right." She concludes. I pull her into a hug, letting out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding.

Finally after she had fully calmed down, we got into bed, it took some time, but Kamaria finally got up the nerve to turn off the light. She curls up beside me.

After what feels like forever, I begin to fall asleep, my breathing slows, my eyes droop, and soon, I'm sleeping.

All of a sudden, in one swift move, Kamaria leaps forward and yanks her lamp light on, whipping her head back to look at me.

I squint my eyes at the light that now shined on me. "What? What is it?" I ask, my voice raspy from just being woken up.

Kamaria sighs and settles back into bed, leaving the light on. "I thought I felt you shape shift" she admits.

I didn't know what to say. Even with me in the room, cuddled up next to her she was still terrified, unable to relax and feel safe.

The ESPP warned me of this, they said she could be like this for six months, a year, five, they said that she could be like this the rest of her life. They gave me an offer, one I immediately refused, but I was starting to question my refusal.

They have an Eribissian who has the ability to erase a person's memory, as far back as you want. They said that they should use that person to erase Kamaria's memory up until the day she met me. I could erase every amount of torture, pain, suffering, and fear she had inside her...right along with me.

At first, I thought that was horrible, not only would I be stealing a big achievement out of her life, but I would be taking myself away from her, she wouldn't know about what she is, she wouldn't know her real name is Kamaria, she wouldn't know about her real mother, she'd forget all about The Eribiss, Mr. Komachi, everything and everyone she met in these past few months.

It doesn't seem fair, but then again, neither does her having to suffer every single day of her life, constantly fearing that Slyder will appear somehow in her life. She's traumatized after everything she's gone through. She's been tortured, abused, beaten, scared, and manipulated, it's impossible to go back to normal life after all of that... unless you erase it all from your memory.

I don't know yet, I think it's time to talk to her and her mom about it, but that can wait for tomorrow. As for now, I need to worry about letting Kamaria fall asleep.

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