CHAPTER 34
lukas
I groanedat the incessant pounding at my door and squinted at my clock—three in the morning. I rolled over, flinging the blanket off me and stalked to my door.
I knew no one would wake me up without good reason, but that didn’t mean I was about to be my most pleasant self.
The pounding refused to cease even as I unlocked the door, and I came face to face with a very panicked Eloise and a pale and shaking Aimee. The exhaustion left my body all at once and I pulled Aimee in. Her whole body shook violently, tears streamed silently down her cheeks.
“What happened?” I asked.
I checked Aimee over, running my hands up and down her arms, but she barely seemed to notice.
Eloise’s voice was shaking and raw as she told me. “She woke me up. She was thrashing and crying. I was afraid she was going to hurt herself. Her whole bed was soaking wet, blankets tangled. She was sobbing so hard she could barely breathe.”
I led Aimee over to the bed and sat her on the edge. I grabbed the blanket I’d just been wrapped in, and tucked it around her. Then, I went to Eloise and pulled her into a hug. She wastrembling almost as hard as her best friend. I felt her panic and fear give out as she started to cry.
“I was so scared. I couldn’t get her to wake up, nothing worked.”
I rubbed my hand up and down her back trying to calm her.
“I don’t even know if she’s actually awake, but I-I thought that if I brought her to you…”
She hiccupped, and I did my best to calm her, while staring at Aimee who still shook where I left her on the bed. Her eyes were vacant, tears still dripped down her cheeks.
“Eloise, has she ever been like this before?”
She pulled back, wiping at her own face. “At the beginning. She was inconsolable. She looked just like that.” She said, nodding to her best friend. “Lukas, I don’t know what to do. She’s been having nightmares all week, and I barely get any sleep trying to keep her calm,” her voice was small and afraid.
“You’re going to leave her with me and come back in the morning.”
“I feel bad,” she whispered.
“You need sleep. You can’t help her if you’re exhausted and upset. And I know that whenever she comes out of this, she is going to feel like shit for scaring you. She’s going to need you, and you’re going to need sleep.”
Fresh tears pooled in Eloise’s eyes, and she quickly wiped at them. “Thank you.”
I walked her to the door, and opened it for her.
“I’ll text you when we wake up and you can come get her. She’s going to need her best friend.”
Eloise nodded and gave me a tired but small smile as she turned to leave.
I watched her move down the hall, and then I shut the door and locked it. I turned back to Aimee who was still unresponsive.
“Hey Aimes,” I said softly, crouching down to her eye level.
She didn’t look at me, but her lids fluttered as she continued to stare straight ahead, not seeing. Lost in whatever nightmare still had a hold of her. She’d stopped trembling, but tears still dripped down her cheeks, the skin around her eyes were puffy and red.
I stood up and soaked a washcloth with cool water in the bathroom sink. I gently wiped her face, brushing her hair back, using gentle, soft strokes.
Her eyelids flickered again, but I didn’t say anything. I took her hands in mine and used the cloth on them as well. Her fingers twitched as I moved away, so I stilled and waited to see if she was coming around.
I had no idea what the hell I was doing, or how to actually help her right now apart from just being right here for her, but that seemed to be enough. When she didn’t move again, I stood up and sat the washcloth on the edge of the sink. When I came back into the main room, the blanket had fallen off her shoulders and she drugged her knees to her chest and was hugging them. At the sound of my footsteps, Aimee looked up and I knew that she was back, present. Tears still fell, but I had a feeling they were different. They carried a different emotion, a different kind of pain. If she wanted to talk about it, I would listen, but I thought she just wanted someone near.
Her whole body crumpled. I climbed onto the bed and pulled her to me, tucked against my side. Exhaustion was quickly claiming me again and my whole body aching from the countless runs I’d done, but I didn’t want to sleep until I knew she was on some basic level—okay.
I ran my hand over and down the back of her head, and pressed my lips onto her forehead. She curled closer, her silent sobs shaking her body. Without jostling her too much, I reached down and grabbed the blanket, pulling it over both of us.
