haunted by the past
It was the witching hour, nothing so crude as midnight of course. Anyone can be a witch at midnight under a full moon. It was past 3 am and he had been awoken by a hand on his shoulder, shaking him urgently. His eyes opened to an unfamiliar ceiling and the usual questions of "Who am I?" "Where am I?" "Am I wearing clothes?" filled his head and were promptly banished. A finger pressed against his lips and words were whispered into his ear barely above the threshold of hearing, the voice one of a distant memory his sleep addled brain could not yet recollect.
"I want to tell you a secret."
Joshua sat up quickly. He was sweating and clutching the sheets tightly. Panting lightly, he pushed the covers off of himself and got up to get a drink, the whole time trying to think back on the dream that seemed to be just out of reach. "Who was that?" "What did they say?" The dream was reoccurring. Every night for the past few weeks he had had the same dream. Every morning he could remember a little more, but the voice always eluded him.
Joshua is a medium height black panther of 22 years old. He lives with his boyfriend, Derrick who is shorter than him by a few inches, and a year younger than him, Derrick is a red panda. Joshua (or Josh to his friends, family, and boyfriend) is a writer and stays at home most of the time. Derrick works at the local library. Derrick and josh have been together for two years and Josh moved in with Derrick about a year ago.
After getting a drink and cooling off, Josh went back to bed where he found his smaller boyfriend looking worriedly back at him.
"Have that nightmare again?" asked the sleepy panda.
"Yea... It's getting worse..." Josh answered as he got back into bed and wrapped his arms around Derrick.
"I'm sorry hun." Derrick snuggled into Josh's arms and gave him a light kiss "I wish there was something I could do about it."
"Don't worry yourself about it, it'll be fine." Josh said as he fell back asleep.
Derrick fell asleep shortly after, wrapped in his boyfriend's arms. The night went by without anymore issues of the nightmare. Morning arrived and Derrick got up and made breakfast, leaving Josh's on his side of the table, and leaving for work. Josh got up about a half hour later and re-heated his breakfast. It was a normal morning.
Josh walked outside and breathed in the chilled fall air. Looking up and down the street, josh could see Halloween decorations in front of houses, he and Derrick had some jack o' lanterns on their doorstep that they had made together a few day ago. Derrick felt cold and walked back inside and sat at his desk, turning on his computer and getting to work on his story.
Morning turned to midday and midday to evening; Josh leaned back in his chair, popped his back, and saved his work for the day. He went into the kitchen and pulled some things together for a dinner and cooked while he waited for Derrick to get back. He didn't arrive when Josh had expected him to so Josh took dinner into the living room and lay down on the couch with the TV on, waiting for Derrick to get home.
Derrick finally arrived an hour later and tossed his things aside, walking into the living room and sitting on the edge of the couch in front of Josh without saying anything. Josh could tell it had been a long day for Derrick, probably some bad kids messing up the building, Josh rubbed Derrick's back and pushed Derrick's dinner a bit closer to him.
"Eat up hun." Josh prompted "Once you've eaten you can tell me what's wrong."
Derrick ate his meal and put his plate down, laying next Josh on the couch. He sighed and slid close to Josh.
"It was some teenagers, they thought it would be fun if they left some fake dead mice all around the library, someone even put a jack o' lantern in one of the toilets." Derrick explained.
"That's pretty bad... do you know who did it?" Josh asked.
"No, not a clue, it was all like that after I go back from my lunch break. I spent all afternoon cleaning it up." Derrick sighed. "Holidays always get people to act up a bit."
Josh sat there silently for a while then suggested that they get to bed. They went and got ready for bed then went to sleep in their bed.
It was the witching hour, nothing so crude as midnight of course. Anyone can be a witch at midnight under a full moon. It was past 3 am and he had been awoken by a hand on his shoulder, shaking him urgently. His eyes opened to an unfamiliar ceiling and the usual questions of "Who am I?" "Where am I?" "Am I wearing clothes?"
This time the answers popped up instantly. "I'm Josh." "I'm in my basement." "I'm naked and tied up" the finger pressed to his lips again and he heard the voice. This time he looked up at who was speaking and gasped. Josh was looking at what he thought to be a dead friend from when he was 10 years old. The friend was a coyote, his name was Jeff, and he had died in a car accident.
The two had been the best of friends, they told each other everything, Josh now realized that he was remembering the last time he saw him. Back then he wasn't in his basement and tied up naked. This bothered him.
"I want to tell you a secret." Jeff whispered.
Josh knew very well what it was and started to tear up as he saw his old friend again, just before he died.
"I love you. I always will."
Josh woke up. It was morning, sun was filtering in through the blinds and Derrick was still in the kitchen making breakfast so it must be early. Josh gets up and throws on some clothes, heading for the kitchen. Derrick was surprised to see Josh up so early but guessed it was from his nightmares, since he hadn't woken during the night.
"You o-"Derrick started before Josh wrapped his arms around him and hugged him tightly.
Tears were rolling down Josh's face and this scared Derrick. Josh was the strong one in the relationship, he always looked out for and defended Derrick, and here he was crying.
"What's wrong?" Derrick asked as he rubbed Josh's back.
Josh didn't know how to explain so he just kept holding him tightly, afraid to let go, afraid to lose Derrick like he'd lost Jeff. Derrick decided he didn't need an answer and just quietly cooed to josh to calm him down. Josh just stood there, holding Derrick for what seemed an eternity before he let him go and looked him in the eyes.
"I love you." Was all Josh said.
"I love you too hun." Derrick smiled.
The problem seemed to be fixed and Derrick was happy. He didn't want to see him crying. The two ate breakfast together and then Derrick got ready to go. Just before he left he stopped and turned back.
"I almost forgot! Happy Halloween!" Derrick said and then left.
Josh hadn't realized it was Halloween already. Josh spent the day making sure things were ready for the kids that were sure to arrive later that evening. By about four o'clock, Josh was really tired; he went into the living room and fell asleep on the couch. About an hour later, the door opened and Josh woke up.
"Hun? Is that you?" Josh asked, it seemed a bit early for Derrick to be getting home.
There was no reply. Josh got up and went to the front door. There wasn't anyone there. Josh shrugged and turned around, that's when something hit him across the back of the head and he went out cold.
Josh woke up with a pounding headache, it was dark and the thoughts went through his head once again "Who am I?" "Where am I?" "Am I wearing clothes?" Again the answers appeared in his mind, only this time he knew he wasn't dreaming. The finger was there on his lips again and Josh froze. This couldn't be happening... He looked up and there he was, Jeff, 10 years old and alive. Or at least, what looked like alive.
"I told you, I will love you forever"
Jeff's words floated in the stale air. That wasn't what he was supposed to say, Josh thought. There was a rustling noise to his left and he looked to see Derrick tied up and blindfolded in the corner. His heart stopped, Derrick was in trouble, and he couldn't do anything to help him.
"I told you.... So why did you fall in love with him...." Jeff's voice appeared again.
This time Josh watched and saw the lip movements didn't quite match the sound, he looked into the eyes and saw nothing. No pupils. Josh realized this was a ghost. Jeff moved closer to Derrick but there was no sound. Finally Josh found his voice.
"W-what are you?" Josh almost yelled.
Derrick jumped at the sound of his voice and moved his head from side to side.
"Josh?! Is that you? What's going on?" Derrick sounded desperate and terrified.
This hit Josh like a punch to the face, Derrick was unable to see what was happening, which was probably for the best. Jeff stopped right in front of Derrick and bent over, inspecting him.
"He doesn't look too special."Jeff said.
"You get away from him!" Josh yelled, tears springing to his eyes.
Jeff turned around and looked at him with his blank eyes, Derrick just whimpered. Jeff continued his inspection, he reached out and touched Derrick's arm. Derrick writhed in pain at the touch and tried to back away but was already pressed against the wall. Jeff didn't let go and started laughing.
"So this is him! The one you replaced me with! He's week, such a pitiful creature..." Jeff said almost distractedly.
"Stop it! You can't do this! You're dead!" Josh yelled.
Jeff reeled back at these words, letting go of Derrick, turning his full attention to Josh.
"Dead? Do I look dead to you?" Jeff asked.
"You're definitely not alive, and you're not the one I love." Josh said, trying to stay calm.
"WHY!? Why would you choose him over me!? We grew up together! I loved you!" Jeff screamed fading a little as ghost like tears rolled down his face.
"You died! We were children! You can't do this, your life ended! You can't just expect me to keep loving you!" Josh replied "You have to go back to wherever you came from. Leave!"
Jeff cried and looked at Josh.
"why...." Jeff faded more.
"Hun, please help...." Derrick sobbed.
"YOU!" Jeff turned "You're the reason for this! You stole my love from me!" Jeff jumped on Derrick and Derrick screamed in pain.
Josh couldn't take it. With a roar he ripped through the rope around his wrist and jumped at the spectral Jeff. Josh's claws sank into what felt like flesh and Jeff fell away from Derrick and looked at Josh, shocked at what had happened. He faded more as josh ripped at him with his claws.
"You're-you're killing me." Jeff said in a stunned shock.
"YOU'RE ALREADY DEAD!" Josh yelled as the last of Jeff disappeared.
Josh sat there for a few moments. He looked down at his paws and saw they were burned. He heard Derrick whimpering and hurried over. Cursing himself for letting Derrick be tied up for one more second. He untied the rope and took off the blindfold. Derrick looked up at Josh with bloodshot eyes. He had burns on his arms and some blood on his lip.
"What happened?" Derrick asked "I came home and there you were on the floor, the next thing I knew I was blind folded and shoved down into the basement. Who was that?"
"It's alright now, I think... I'm not entirely sure what just happened...."Josh answered.
It was cold in the basement and he knew they both needed a warm bath. Josh helped Derrick up and led him upstairs. As he walked through the basement door he heard an echo of "Why..." and shivered. Josh led Derrick to the bathroom where he helped him out of his clothes. They stood together for a while, holding each other while the warm water ran down their bodies. Both were just thinking about what had happened to them.
Finally they washed up and treated their burns. Afterwards they went to bed.
"Josh... I don't know what happened today but I just want you to know I love you and I always will." Derrick said as he crawled under the covers.
"I know hun. I know..." Was all Josh said as he crawled in next to Derrick. "I love you too..."
Josh never had the nightmares again. He never forgot the night that he saw Jeff again. He lived with Derrick for the rest of his life, married him when he was 25 Derrick was 24. They grew old together and died peacefully. Neither one forgetting the night that Jeff tried to take Josh back.
sorry if it's not very good. I did it all in one night.... I just really wanted to post something for the competition. Please forgive any mistakes... hope you enjoyed it.