A howling noise whipped by the window and Jason cringed, rubbing his left hand as he stared up at the ceiling from where he was laying on the couch. Just the wind, Burnhart. Ever since the four travelers had returned from their journey to the west and back, neither Janet, Jason, Lucy or Ray had been able to handle the night in the same way. Too much had happened to the four teens, and the memories were ones that weren't going to go away any time soon. Ray and Janet now found themselves unable to sleep without a light on. Lucy was constantly waking up in the middle of the night from nightmares and spent much of her time mourning over her brother. Jason seemed to have a nice mixture of just about everything. He couldn't sleep, at all. Lights on or off, it didn't matter. Currently the windian had turned on a lamp that was located on a small shelf, just at the head of the couch. It cast enough light in the room for Jason to see clearly much of what was around him, however the small light wasn't enough to dispel all of the shadows in the room. It was those shadows that worried the windian the most. Jason closed his eyes and tried to sleep. No sooner did his lids shut that it began.

First it was a feeling. Nothing too big, just a slight presence. The feeling that he wasn't alone in the room. The feeling that there was something else there, something watching him. He tried to ignore it, pulling the blanket that he was using up over his head and turning his back towards the rest of the room, but the feeling only grew. Soon the noises started up, quiet whisperings that echoed in his head, and Jason shivered uneasily as he tried to block them out. It didn't work. It only made them louder. The presence began to grow larger and the windian could feel it. It was moving, hunting through the shadows. The lamp light seemed to slowly fade out, and as it did the presence in the shadows moved, bringing itself closer to where the windian was lying, huddled up under the blankets like a small child. Still Jason kept his eyes shut. The whisperings slowly became murmers, and Jason could now hear what they were saying. Voices. Calling his name out. They were the voices of the presence, and Jason could feel them calling to him as the shadow drew nearer. Jason could feel his heartbeat quicken as he felt the presences of the shadow reaching out for him, the light on the lamp slowly dimming away into nothing. Suddenly the murmering became louder, it's volumne rising like a wave and quickly it was no longer the sound of voices talking. Now it was the sound of voices screaming. He heard them all. He heard Troy yelling, he heard his mother crying, her heard Brandon shouting, and suddenly amongst all the noises, one blood curdling shriek wailed up and the shadow lunged at the windian, the fangs of the presence were bared and its claws where outstretched as it born down upon him.

*BAM!*

Jason threw the blankets off of himself and shot up into a sitting position. He was breathing hard, and cold sweat ran down his forehead as the windian gazed around the room with wide eyes. He looked over at the window to where the wind had knocked a twig into it. It was amazing how much louder things sounded at night. His heartbeat pounding in his head, Jason fell back onto the couch and stared over at the large clock that was standing across the room from him, next to the window. The light from the lamp lit up the tall figure of the clock, and Jason stared at its face, noting that not even a minute had past since his attempt to get to sleep.

And that was the reason why Jason couldn't sleep.

It wasn't because of nightmares, because in order for him to have nightmares in the first place he needed to be able to actually get to sleep.

It wasn't because of the dark, or rather, it wasn't because of lack of light. Jason had not spent on night at the Bendrel's without a lamp on, but like with what had just happened, the light of the lamp didn't seem to do much to help him sleep.

Jason couldn't sleep because of the presence. Fucking paranoia. The windian had finally managed his heartbeat down to a calmer rate and he turned his gaze up to the ceiling. It didn't matter if there really was anything in the room with him. Everytime he closed his eyes, the presence would appear, and whenever he tried to ignore it, it simply made itself that much more obvious to the windian. Day or night, the presence never left him alone, and it reminded itself to Jason constantly in the forms of a watching feeling, or as quiet noises in his head, noises of Jason's parents, of Brandon, of the shadows that had haunted the group in the woods after they had left Springton. Sometimes the presences disguised itself as the freakish melody of the shen's and Jason could hear it in the wind, or sometimes it would be in the sweet voice of Menolly and Jason would shiver and dart a glance around him as he looked for the zombie girl whose face still plagued his mind. The presence never left him, and only seemed to weaken a bit during times when Jason was at school, surrounded by students and teachers. But whenever he was alone, or whenever the night found Jason hopelessly trying to fall asleep on the couch, the presence appeared to him in such a force that he almost expected to actually see it sometime.

Jason had not been able to manage out even one hour of sleep since the night he had spent in Springton. After the group had fought the phantom plague demon that had destroyed three large trade towns, the paraniod feeling of the presence had started up. First it had just been Menolly, her voice calling out to Jason, questioning him like she had done when Jason had turned his weapon on her. He could still see the horrified and hurt look in her eyes. Jason had cared for her, or atleast thought he had cared for her, but in the end, Brandon's order for the windian to protect Janet had overpowered him, leaving Menolly's haunting memory to echo through his head. Then after the few nights of hearing the chirping of the shadows that had hunted the small group, the presence that had formed begun to hunt Jason through the dark, hiding in any corner the glow of light never reached. It wasn't until the night after Brandon had died that the presence had made itself much larger and intimidating to Jason. Lucy's blame, Jason's guilt, and the final scream that Jason had heard from the windian guard before he was silence forever began to mix in with the shadows that hunted him, and soon it wasn't Menolly's voice and face that plagued Jason, it was Brandon's. The shadow of the guard simply echoed the guilt and blame that Jason felt as the presence hunted him in the darkness. Another howl rushed by the windian and Jason looked over, watching as a few leaves and small twigs whipped by, being carried by the wind.

It was a windy night. The wind had come up quickly soon after dusk, rising instantly into the howling blows that it was now. Jason had been laying awake listening to its calls as it zipped by the window. With another glance at the clock, the windian rubbed his eyes and sighed loudly.

Only 3 am... shit... won't this night go by any faster? With a mutter he began to massage his left hand uneasily and stared up at the ceiling, listening to the various sounds of the night. The clock ticked idly, the house moaned under the constant push of the wind as it tried to settle, the windian could hear his own heartbeat as he lay motionless on the couch. Suddenly he caught a new sound and went rigid as he held his breath to listen. Damn... the windian sat up and looked around. Where is that coming from?


Britney was crying uncontrollably from the nightmare she had just had. Clutching her blanket in her tiny hands, the dragon shivered ask she cried. Finally, the sound of her bedroom door opening caused her to sniff loudly and rub her eyes as she looked up. "Ray?"

"No, he's still asleep." Jason glanced uneasily into the room and Britney stared at the windian uncertainly. He cleared his throat a moment and leaned against the doorframe. "Hey Britney, you alright? I heard you crying..."

"I had a scary dream." Britney sniffed again and wipped her eyes. "It woke me up."

Jason considered the little dragon for a moment before motioning into the hallway with his thumb. "Want me to go get Ray?"

"NO!" Britney reached her arms out to him. "Don't go! It'll be scary again if you go!" Once more she began to cry and Jason fidgited uneasily before making his way into the room and over to her bed.

"Hey whoa, wait a sec, don't cry." Jason kneeled down beside her bed. "Don't cry, alright? Just..." he sighed as he thought for a moment. "Why don't you tell me about your dream? Sometimes it makes it less scary when you tell it to someone."

Britney sniffed a moment, hiccuping as she rubbed her wet eyes. "I had a dream... Ray went away again, and then these bad things came after me, and he wasn't there to help me..." Britney began to cry again as the images of her dream crept back to her. Jason sighed.

"So that's it? Hey, you're scared that Ray's going to go away again and he won't be here to protect you?" Britney nodded weakly as she attempted to calm her crying down. Jason just considered her for a moment. "Hey Britney..." he rubbed his chin lightly as the little girl looked up at him. With a sigh, Jason continued his question. "You still think I'm a bad man?"

Britney stared at him for a moment and shrugged. "I don't know.... you did a lot of bad things to Ray..." She sniffed again as she stared at the windian. Jason rubbed his left hand uneasily and nodded.

"Yea, guess I did, but... you know I'm really sorry about all of that." He looked over at Britney, an honest look on his face. "And I swear I'll do anything to make it up to you. You know..." Jason paused a moment, a thoughtful look passing over his face. "Britney, you know your dream... Ray wasn't around to protect you when bad things started happening, but I swear to you that as long as I'm here I won't ever let anything bad happen to you..."

Britney stared up at him in wonder. "... really? You promise?"

"Yea." Jason nodded. "I did a lot of bad things to your brother, but I want to make it up to you two by doing a lot of good things while I'm here. Is that alright with you?" Britney sniffed and nodded again before yawning. Jason considered her for a moment. "Hey Britney, think you can get back to sleep?"

Britney nodded sleepily before lying down, pulling the blankets up to her chin. Jason managed out a weak smile for her and stood up, making his way over to the door. He paused and turned back towards Britney as he heard the dragon's little voice call out to him. "Jason?"

"Yea Britney?"

"... good night."

Jason paused for a moment, and honest smile crossing his face. "Night, Little Bit." He then stepped out into the hallway and closed the door behind him.

"Little Bit?" Ray's voice startled the windian as he looked up. There was an interested smile on his face and Jason shook his head.

"Shit Ray, you scared the fuck out of me!"

"Sorry." Ray rubbed the back of his neck.

"How long where you standing out here anyway?"

"Hm? Oh, I got here a little after you did..."

Jason narrowed his eyes curiously at the dragon. "Then why didn't you come in the room?"

"I wanted you to help her out... seeing has how your Britney's new 'older brother' and all..."

Jason stuffed his hands into his pockets and raised his eyebrows at Ray. "So? Did I do a good job?"

Ray shrugged and smiled. "She seems to like you... where'd you get the name 'Little Bit' from?"

"Um... I don't know." Jason shrugged his shoulders thoughtfully. "Just kinda came to mind. Hey, you call her Brat, I can call her Little Bit."

"I guess so." Ray chuckled lightly. "Hey, I'm going to head back to bed. You try and get some sleep, alright?"

"Yea, sure." Jason muttered and headed back downstairs.