He kissed me. Right on the neck. It felt so wrong. Yet it felt so right.

The sunlight touched my skin and his arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me close in a warm embrace. I threw my arms around his neck and placed my head lightly on his shoulder, heated by the bright fire from the clear blue sky. He whispered in my ear "I never wanna hurt you again". I smiled.

I woke up in complete darkness and solitude, realizing it was the middle of the night and it all was just a dream. I would probably never understand this dream. I did not see who was kissing me, but deep down, I think I knew who it was. Yet I couldn't figure out why I had dreamt about him. It all felt so wrong, especially when thinking about the way he has treated me in the past. But I couldn't help being reminded of his undeniable attractiveness. Too bad he was such an asshole. Playing games with my head. The dude needed to dissapear from my life. Yet he was stuck in my mind.

I grabbed my phone and looked at the time. 2 a.m. It was one of those nights again. They haunted me in a sense, I wasn't able to sleep for more than a few hours and struggled to keep my grades on the level I wanted them. But since I realized I wasn't going to be able to sleep again, I decided to take another late night walk. I tried texting Jenna, but she didn't answer. Most likely because she was asleep.

Suprisingly enough it was rather hot outside, despite it being mid-september. It was a cloudy night, friday was approaching, and I knew I wasn't necessarily safe outside. I just didn't care anymore. I had yet to tell my parents about the way I was treated at school, they were just happy over the fact that I had such good friends in Jenna and Phoenix. I had other friends, but I usually didn't mention them that much, mainly because some of them were heavy drinkers, and alcohol was something my mom highly disliked.

I carefully sneaked out of the house and felt the warm wind brush against my skin. My old sneakers felt oddly uncomfortable, but that was okay. I was quite sure something sharp was inside. Gravel? Glass? I just didn't care. The pain I felt in the soles of my feet was nothing compared to the pain I felt after the awful things everyone used to say to me. And the loneliness. In class and between classes I was amost always lonely. Only after class and during certain clear periods had I someone who actually enjoyed talking to me.

After walking for about twenty minutes I reached a park. It was beautiful, green grass covering an area spreading almost as far as you could possibly see, and a pond with clear water, reflecting tiny glimpses of moonlight as it occasionally appeared between the tree branches.

I unlaced my shoes and let my now very sore feet rest in the damp grass. Turning the sneakers upsidedown, I let the gravel that was inside slowly fall out. The blood that the gravel had caused from my feet lightly stained the lawn, and I decided to rest my feet in the pond. My khaki-colored jacket was placed on the lawn as I sat down by the small body of water. I let out a silent moan as the cold water hit my feet. I could stay like this forever.

I suddenly heard someone walking towards me and turned my head to see a familiar face.

"Hey."

"What do you want from me, Andy?" I said, moving my head back to my bare, scarred feet in the water.

"I want to say I'm sorry. I want to be on good terms with you. I wanna get to know who you really are, not who I pretended you were."

"You must understand that I have a hard time believing you?"

"I do."

"Then understand that I have absolutely no reason to wanna talk to you."

"Listen Iris, I'm sorry. I've been acting like a jerk. I've been calling you names. But I saw you that night with your friend and I realized you weren't who I thought you were. You weren't manipulative, you weren't nice for thesake of getting what you wanted. You were nice because you were you."

I went completely silent for a moment.

"I just want you not to hate me. Please?" He looked at me with his mesmerizing blue eyes, a pleading look on his face. Tears started falling down my cheeks. Maybe it wasn't all him. Maybe I really was broken inside. I didn't want loneliness, I hated being alone.

"Could you just hold me for a second? Don't talk, I don't wanna hear it, just hold me?"

Andy nodded with a slight smile on his face as he scooted up besides me and pulled my head close to his chest. I could feel his heartbeat and the sound was calming. He ran his fingers through my hair and it was all so soothing. After a while of just sitting there I decided to break the silence.

"What are you even doing here? It's in the middle of the night?"

"I could ask you the same." He answered with a smirk on his face.

"Cut the bullshit Biersack."

"Fine. I came here because I couldn't sleep. It was just, unsettling. And I saw you here and thought that maybe it was my fault."

"That might have been the only thruth you've spoken this entire time." I said. I went silent for a minute before I continued. "I came here because I couldn't sleep. I felt lonely, I had no one. In many cases that is your fault. Your constant tormenting made me an outcast."

"That is why I wanted to talk to you. I am deeply sorry for what I have done. If you please could forgive and forget, maybe we could start over. Maybe you could get to know me, who I really am, as I get to know you."

"I could never forget what you did. But with time I might forgive you. I mean, I don't realy know you as anything more than a monster. Maybe there's something in this? Maybe the guy who saved me from being raped is real? Maybe there is something human in you."

"You feel like starting over?"

"I feel like starting over."

I remained in his embrace as he kissed my forehead, just like Phoenix always use to. "Thank you" I heard him say, as the sun slowly started rising between the parting clouds.

Notes

I actually wrote a chapter before this but I didn't like it at all, so I deleted it.

This chapter is pretty sweet. I really like writing about Iris' episodes during the night. It calls for more of a poetic, detailed writing style, and it feels really genuine, compared to the last chapter that I wasn't too satisfied with.

I wanna thank the 8 subscribers, the 2 commenters (who might be subscribers as well) and anyone who has taken the time to read this story. I will try and update once again as soon as possible. Cheers!