All the Stars :: Anakin Skywalker

Come Back to Me

"Anakin!!!" I screamed when a painfully brutal nightmare woke me up. I snatched one of the white pillows from next to me and clutched it tightly to my chest.

His painful screams. His arm being sliced clean off. It's all stuck in my head.

I tightly placed my hands over my ears and sobbed. His screams they're so loud.

Someone rushed into my room and into the bedroom. He sat right in front of me, but my eyes were squeezed shut.

I was crying, loudly, trying to drown out the sounds of his screams.

"Please!! Leave me alone!!"

"Ellie!!" My father yelled, then placed his hands over mine. "It's okay! I'm right here!"

I continued to sob, only now I'm rocking back and forth in shock.

Whimpering, I let my father pull me into his arms.

"Please... please..." I cried into his shoulder. "Make them go away. Please..."

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I'm here," He whispered. "I'm right here. You're safe. It's okay."

"Gahh!!" I cried again with another wave of painful sobs. "Please!! G-go away!! Leave me alone!! Please!!"

"Ellie, hey, Ellie, my little Ellie," My father spoke softly into my ear. "My beautiful Ellie girl, I love you. It's okay. I'm here. You're alright," He rubbed my back soothingly. "You're okay. Lay back. I promise."

I leaned back on him, still crying. But he wrapped his arms around me and kissed my head, then started humming a tune that instantly silenced every torturous sound in my head.

It was so quiet so sudden.

I yawned and curled up on my father's chest. Unashamed. Because the tune he was singing... it's so gentle and familiar. His touch is calming. He's definitely transferring energy to me.

He continued humming the familiar tune until I'd drifted off to sleep. Then he kissed my head and smiled softly.

"Still works. Just like when you were a baby."

--

I woke up the next morning without another nightmare last night. It definitely was strange, because I'd expected to not get any sleep at all. The bed next to me was empty and cold, but my bedroom door was cracked open and I could smell something sweet drifting into my room through the air.

I rubbed my tired eyes and got out of bed. I didn't even try to fix my hair. This is my father. I don't have to try with him.

"Well, good morning," He smiled at me when he turned around and saw me awake. He pulled me into a hug and kissed my forehead. "Did you sleep okay? Better?"

"After that... horrible nightmare," I winced. "Yeah. what... what was that tune?"

Obi-Wan lightly chuckled. "It was a song your mother used to sing to you on nights you were having a hard time getting to sleep. When you were only an infant. I didn't even think it would work, but you fell asleep faster than you did when you were younger."

"Thank you," I sat at the kitchen island. "I haven't... had a panic attack like that in... years."

"I knew it would happen. That or something of the sort," He set a plate of what looked like some kind of sweet breakfast pastry in front of me. As well as some tea. "I heard you from all the way down the hallway."

"Oh," I nibbled the pastry. "That means... h-he must have heard me too..."

"He's training," Obi-Wan said, sitting in front of me. "Already. He's in the gardens, lobbing off the heads of every kill dummy we have."