Reclamation

CW: domestic abuse

Theo jerked upright on a soundless cry, still halfway in the world of dreams. He stared at the shadows across the room and could swear he saw glowing eyes staring at him from the darkness, the luminous blood-red depths making his heart stutter.

He told himself it was just a dream, repeating the assurance like a mantra over and over as he breathed deep and tried to calm his racing heart. A shiver wracked his body—though whether from fear or the cold sweat coating his body, he didn’t know—as he watched the red eyes fade into the shadows and reality settled on his shoulders like a lead-lined blanket once more.

The nightmare had started plaguing him a few months prior but had become a nightly occurrence for the past week. Every night it was the same—he was lost somewhere dark, his surroundings obscured and confusing. He was stuck in a maze, all twists and turns, and he knew on some visceral level that he was being chased. No matter which path he took, how carefully he bread-crumbed his trail, the dream ended the same way every night—with him cornered in a dead end, turning slowly to see the glowing red eyes of a massive bull closing in on him.

Theo bent his legs and rested his head atop his knees. I’m safe, he told his rapidly beating heart. We’re safe. But were they? Theo’s head shot upright and he looked at the door, sighing in relief when he saw the chair still jammed under the knob.

“Are you ok?” Aria asked softly from the other bed, her voice as soft and lilting as her name.

Theo took a breath and turned toward her. “Yeah, I’m fine. Go back to sleep.”

“Was it the dream again?”

Theo gave her an encouraging smile in the dim light as he lied. “Yeah, but I’m fine now. Don’t worry.”

The sounds of yelling drifted to them from across the house and Aria looked at the door with wide eyes. Their mom and stepfather had been fighting for years. Mike was a nasty drunk, violent and always looking for a fight. His drinking was a common enough occurrence, but recently he’d been drinking almost every night. The fights had been getting worse and he’d started threatening to march into their room and take it out on them to teach their mother a lesson. That’s when Theo and Aria began jamming a chair under the doorknob—it might not stop Mike, but at least it was some protection.

The yells grew louder and Aria clutched her blanket and pulled it to her chin, folding in on herself and looking even smaller than she was. Theo gingerly got out of bed and joined her, holding her tiny frame and shielding it as best he could.

Not for the first time, Theo wondered why their mom didn’t just pack them up and leave Mike—he was an abusive asshole even when he wasn’t drunk—but it was like they were trapped here, stuck in place with no clue how to free themselves and get out, not even knowing which way was up and which was down. The longer they stayed here with him, the more Theo was convinced something would happen to one of them.

Aria clutched Theo and buried her face in the side of his chest as the sound of fighting became louder, joined by the sound of scuffling approaching their room. Theo stared at the door with the chair jammed underneath, silently willing Mike to not try the handle, to leave them alone for one more night.

Movement out of the corner of his eye caught Theo’s attention and he glanced at the shadows across the room. Eyes stared back, glowing red embers bathed in shadow, waiting.

Theo blinked to clear the hallucination, but when he looked again the eyes were still there. But he wasn't dreaming, he couldn't be. His heart began to race once more. He already had one monster to deal with right outside his door, did he have to worry about the monster from his dreams as well?

FACE HIM.

Theo recoiled as if he’d been slapped. The voice had been deep and sonorous, like the reverberation of a giant bell, rumbling in his chest and ringing in his mind. He looked down at Aria but she was still clinging to him with her eyes screwed shut, completely oblivious to the monster in the room with them. Theo looked back to the shadows and saw the creature still watching him.

Theo’s eyes flew to the door as he heard the knob begin to turn. Aria hugged him tighter and his breath stopped, caught in his throat on a scream he refused to let free, as the door opened an inch before the chair stopped its progression. Mike roared with anger and began to attack the door. Boom. Boom. Boom. It sounded like he was throwing his entire body into the door and, inch by inch, he was pushing it forward.

FACE HIM.

Theo turned back to the glowing red eyes with panic, but the bull wasn’t coming for him—it just waited, eyes patient and resolved. Theo continued to stare into the fiery depths as he heard their mother at the door, screaming at Mike and threatening to call the police, heard Mike roar and a loud crack and then their mother wasn’t screaming anymore. Aria began to sob and clung to Theo tighter, but Theo just stared at the bull.

FACE HIM.

Something clicked in Theo’s head and he realized he’d been wrong about his nightmares. He’d been running from something, yes, but he’d always assumed that thing was the bull. It wasn’t, it had been something else—the bull had just always been there with him, a silent companion watching from the shadows, another part of him waiting to be reclaimed.

Theo nodded curtly to the bull, trying to tell the creature that he finally understood. As the red eyes faded from the shadows, Theo felt himself growing, felt his chest bell out and horns sharpen on his head. He chuffed out a breath and gathered himself as he gently unwrapped Aria’s arms. He moved to the end of the bed and shielded her, readying himself as the door inched ever wider. Red glowed in his periphery as he fixated on the door with a single thought—face him.