//EDITED//

People say that time will heal your pain, but to me, time makes it worse. Each day I feel the guilt eating at me from the inside, making me miserable. Time makes me realize how pathetic I was, and how much of a coward I was, for not helping the poor woman. The nightmares don't help much either. I always wake up screaming. Thankfully Jake is a heavy sleeper, so he doesn't know about it, but tonight it has been the worst.

Each night, I wake up and go to the bathroom to find the body of the woman. I drink the blood and see the woman return from the dead. Then she makes me feel guilty and horrible for not helping her. Finally, she kills me and I feel like I deserve it.

However, today's nightmare was different—It was the worst of them all.

Instead of seeing the woman dead in my bathroom, and waiting for her to kill me, tonight it was my brother who lay in her place.

My brother is my everything. He is my best friend, my dad and mom, my brother, and my rock. After my parents died eleven years ago, my brother and I have been in orphanages and foster homes. No-one wanted an eleven-year-old and a sixteen-year-old, so we were separated for five years. That however, didn't stop my brother from finding me and coming to see me. Every time we moved, he would always find out where I was. He has called me princess ever since I was three, and I call him charming because he is my knight in shining armor.

So seeing my brother covered in blood, dead in my bathroom, hearing him call me a murderer, and then killing me, makes me cry and scream harder than I had after any of the other nightmares.

I wake up screaming;my throat is as dry as the Sahara desert. My eyes fill with tears and my face is matted with salted water. In the middle of my screaming, my brother kicks the door open and rushes to my side. He imminently wraps me in a hug and strokes my head trying to sooth me.

"Hey, it's okay Princess. I am here and I won't go anywhere," Jake says.

I dig my head into his warm chest and wrap my arms tightly around him. My tears are still streaming and I am still scared as shit.

"At first, I thought the smoke detector went off, so I came in here to get you out of the apartment before it explodes."

I smile through my tears.

"Only you would think my screams were the same as the smoke detector," I say chuckling.

"Oh, I am pretty sure I am not the only one Thea."

"The smoke detector makes an annoying beeping noise and my screams do not sound like that."

"You're right‚—it sounds even more annoying," he jokes.

I playfully hit his shoulder—I know he is only joking, but it's still fun to cause him some physical pain.

"Ouch woman! I came in here in the middle of the night to save you from a nightmare and you start abusing me!"

"Oh please, I lightly touched you, and plus it's already nine o'clock," I say, rolling my eyes at his childishness.

"Exactly! The middle of the night—it's not morning till its like twelve, so if we are done here I am gonna catch my beauty sleep."

He gets up and walks towards the door, but not before I throw a pillow at him.

"Why you women gotta be so violent?"

"Sorry sleeping beauty."

"Um.... I think you mean sexy beast."

I look at him in horror.

"OH, MY GOD!!! My poor innocent ears!!! Dude, I am your sister!"

I just hear him laugh and walk away. God, I feel bad for his future wife... if he can even find one. After getting ready for work, I walk into the kitchen.

"So did you finally get that promotion?" Jake asks while I get myself an apple.

"Nope. My stupid boss is just being an ass."

"Or, you know, your boss just wants to keep the company running," Jake says smirking. "Ever thought about that?"

I roll my eyes.

"Whatever. I am going to go find my 'one of a kind story,'" I said dramatically.

"Hey Thea," Jake calls out as I walk out the door.

"Yeah?"

"You know you can tell me anything right?" He says, looking straight into my eyes. "We only have each other so I will always have your back, even when you mess up big time."

"Thanks Jake. I so feel the love."

"Thea, for the past two weeks you have been very paranoid, and you've been screaming every night. I didn't mention it before because I know you hate feeling weak, but even the strong need someone."

I give him a small smile and a kiss on the cheek.

"See-ya later Charming," I say, and walk out holding my camera.

***