Fic: Bad Dreams
Title: Bad Dreams
Fandom: Community
Rating: PG (for brief mentions of violence)
Genre: Friendship, a splash of romance
Characters/Pairings: Jeff/Annie, mentions of the Study Group
Spoilers: For the end of S1, but aside from that nothing major. Set after the end of S2
Summary: Based on a ficcy_friday prompt from eleventhimpala ‘Jeff wakes up in the middle of the night from a nightmare in which Annie is killed horribly. Still half-asleep, he calls her just to make sure that she's alright.’
They were all walking together, down an alleyway, near Annie’s apartment.
Jeff was walking beside her, with Britta on her other side and Shirley on his. Pierce, Troy and Abed brought up the rear.
They were talking about something meaningless, like their old Spanish class, or their options for next year. The words didn’t seem to make sense as Jeff heard them, but it didn’t matter.
A shape appeared out of the darkness ahead, and, suddenly, she was alone. Jeff was too far off to one side, the others had vanished. She was alone, and there was nothing he could do to reach her. His legs were leaden: they wouldn’t move more than an inch at a time.
He saw the figure move further from the shadows, and Annie didn’t move. Jeff shouted out for her to run, to get away, but she couldn’t hear him. He heard her scream echo through his head as his blood went cold.
There was a man stood in front of her, holding a knife, and in moments she had collapsed on the alley floor. Jeff was still frozen, he couldn’t even reach out to her as he watched Annie bleed to death on the concrete…
Jeff’s eyes shot open, and he found himself in his own bed, staring at the blank ceiling of his own apartment.
It was just a dream.
But his heart was still pounding, and he was sweating like he’d done two hours at the gym on cardio. He sat up, turned on the bedside lamp, and tried to dispel the nightmare.
He hadn’t really seen or spoken to Annie since paintball: she’d gone on a summer work placement to Denver and had only gotten back a few days ago. He’d had regular mass-emails from her to the whole group over the summer, and the reassuring group text to confirm she’d got home safely. She was fine. He knew that.
But he still found himself reaching for his cellphone, and speed-dialing her number. It rang for a whole minute before she finally picked up, “Hello?”
She sounded sleepy, like she’d only just woken up, and Jeff glanced at his alarm clock.
3:00am. Oops.
“Hey, Annie.” He suddenly wasn’t sure how to explain calling this late.
“Jeff?”
“Yeah… hi.”
“Hi. What’s wrong?” She suddenly sounded worried, “Is Pierce in the hospital again?”
“No, nothing’s wrong. I just… wanted to see how you were.”
“Oh…” She was right to be confused: this was a really strange thing for him to do. He just… had to know that she was okay, “Well, I’m fine.”
“You haven’t been brutally attacked and killed lately?”
“No, I’m really okay. Jeff?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you sure nothing’s wrong?”
“Yeah, yeah, everything’s fine.” He paused, meaning that to be it, but then found himself saying, “I just… I had a bad dream, that’s all.”
“Ah.” She wasn’t laughing, that was a good start. “What happened?”
“Doesn’t matter, I woke you up. Go back to sleep.”
“Jeff, it’s three am. There was no way you weren’t going to wake me up. Tell me what happened.”
“It was just… it was bad, okay? We were walking in an alleyway-”
“You and me?”
“All of us, the whole group. And then we weren’t, and I couldn’t move, and you died.”
“Oh.” she paused for a moment, “How?”
“You got stabbed by some psycho.”
“Eesh. Thanks for that.”
“You asked.”
“I did. Feel better?”
“Yeah, actually. Thanks.”
“No problem.” He could hear a smile in her voice, and he suddenly wished he could see her. But it was three am, and raining outside, and he’d already used up his crazy-quota on this phone call. “Bad dreams aside, how are you? I haven’t heard from you all summer.” she didn’t sound upset, just curious. But then again, this summer hadn’t started with an unexplained make-out session.
“It’s been good. Caught up with some of my old friends from, you know, before Greendale.”
“Where do they think you are these days?”
“The most popular theory is CIA-based, but I didn’t get the details.”
She giggled, “Well, it’s better than reality.”
“Uh huh.” There was another pause, then a yawn, and Jeff smiled, “Get some sleep, Annie. I’m sorry for waking you up.”
“You should be. How about we meet tomorrow and catch up? Coffee?”
“It’s a date.” It came out before he could stop it, and he dearly hoped she was too tired to notice, “Night, Annie.”
“Night, Jeff.”
Fandom: Community
Rating: PG (for brief mentions of violence)
Genre: Friendship, a splash of romance
Characters/Pairings: Jeff/Annie, mentions of the Study Group
Spoilers: For the end of S1, but aside from that nothing major. Set after the end of S2
Summary: Based on a ficcy_friday prompt from eleventhimpala ‘Jeff wakes up in the middle of the night from a nightmare in which Annie is killed horribly. Still half-asleep, he calls her just to make sure that she's alright.’
They were all walking together, down an alleyway, near Annie’s apartment.
Jeff was walking beside her, with Britta on her other side and Shirley on his. Pierce, Troy and Abed brought up the rear.
They were talking about something meaningless, like their old Spanish class, or their options for next year. The words didn’t seem to make sense as Jeff heard them, but it didn’t matter.
A shape appeared out of the darkness ahead, and, suddenly, she was alone. Jeff was too far off to one side, the others had vanished. She was alone, and there was nothing he could do to reach her. His legs were leaden: they wouldn’t move more than an inch at a time.
He saw the figure move further from the shadows, and Annie didn’t move. Jeff shouted out for her to run, to get away, but she couldn’t hear him. He heard her scream echo through his head as his blood went cold.
There was a man stood in front of her, holding a knife, and in moments she had collapsed on the alley floor. Jeff was still frozen, he couldn’t even reach out to her as he watched Annie bleed to death on the concrete…
Jeff’s eyes shot open, and he found himself in his own bed, staring at the blank ceiling of his own apartment.
It was just a dream.
But his heart was still pounding, and he was sweating like he’d done two hours at the gym on cardio. He sat up, turned on the bedside lamp, and tried to dispel the nightmare.
He hadn’t really seen or spoken to Annie since paintball: she’d gone on a summer work placement to Denver and had only gotten back a few days ago. He’d had regular mass-emails from her to the whole group over the summer, and the reassuring group text to confirm she’d got home safely. She was fine. He knew that.
But he still found himself reaching for his cellphone, and speed-dialing her number. It rang for a whole minute before she finally picked up, “Hello?”
She sounded sleepy, like she’d only just woken up, and Jeff glanced at his alarm clock.
3:00am. Oops.
“Hey, Annie.” He suddenly wasn’t sure how to explain calling this late.
“Jeff?”
“Yeah… hi.”
“Hi. What’s wrong?” She suddenly sounded worried, “Is Pierce in the hospital again?”
“No, nothing’s wrong. I just… wanted to see how you were.”
“Oh…” She was right to be confused: this was a really strange thing for him to do. He just… had to know that she was okay, “Well, I’m fine.”
“You haven’t been brutally attacked and killed lately?”
“No, I’m really okay. Jeff?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you sure nothing’s wrong?”
“Yeah, yeah, everything’s fine.” He paused, meaning that to be it, but then found himself saying, “I just… I had a bad dream, that’s all.”
“Ah.” She wasn’t laughing, that was a good start. “What happened?”
“Doesn’t matter, I woke you up. Go back to sleep.”
“Jeff, it’s three am. There was no way you weren’t going to wake me up. Tell me what happened.”
“It was just… it was bad, okay? We were walking in an alleyway-”
“You and me?”
“All of us, the whole group. And then we weren’t, and I couldn’t move, and you died.”
“Oh.” she paused for a moment, “How?”
“You got stabbed by some psycho.”
“Eesh. Thanks for that.”
“You asked.”
“I did. Feel better?”
“Yeah, actually. Thanks.”
“No problem.” He could hear a smile in her voice, and he suddenly wished he could see her. But it was three am, and raining outside, and he’d already used up his crazy-quota on this phone call. “Bad dreams aside, how are you? I haven’t heard from you all summer.” she didn’t sound upset, just curious. But then again, this summer hadn’t started with an unexplained make-out session.
“It’s been good. Caught up with some of my old friends from, you know, before Greendale.”
“Where do they think you are these days?”
“The most popular theory is CIA-based, but I didn’t get the details.”
She giggled, “Well, it’s better than reality.”
“Uh huh.” There was another pause, then a yawn, and Jeff smiled, “Get some sleep, Annie. I’m sorry for waking you up.”
“You should be. How about we meet tomorrow and catch up? Coffee?”
“It’s a date.” It came out before he could stop it, and he dearly hoped she was too tired to notice, “Night, Annie.”
“Night, Jeff.”