You Are My Sunshine

Chapter Five

Sam's POV

A small body thrashing at my side woke me up. Weak whimpers filled the room, and I sat up with a start. Looking over to the other end of the bed, I saw Emily going through the same motions. Our eyes met, and then in unison we shifted our gazes down to the young girl between us.

Kinley was rolling back and forth, hands slapping at the air. Mumbles fell from her lips, releasing no actual words. Her face was so distraught. Hurt. Scared.

My heart shattered.

Gently, I pressed my hand to her shoulder and shook her, just the barest bit. She was already so afraid. The last thing I wanted to do was add to it, or accidentally harm her. But she needed to wake up. Leaving her in such a horrid dream would be cruel.

"Kinley," I murmured in the most soothing voice I could manage. She still moved, but it was less frantic now. I shook her a little more firmly. "Kinley, baby. Wake up. You're okay, baby girl, just wake up."

With a gasp that hitched two painful times, Kinley's eyes flew open. She went completely still, eyes wide and terrified, but also...resigned? As if waking up was a surrender. Her gaze found me, and I was faced head on with that expression. It took everything in me not to flinch.

"Kinley," I whispered, reaching out to pull her to me. She was stiff at first, but once she was settled against my chest, she relaxed. "It's okay. It's okay."

I don't know if she was in shock at first of what, but she started crying then. The most heartbreaking sounds were leaking out of her while her tears wet my chest. My focus was centered on the little girl in my embrace, but I caught Emily silently moving out of the room from the corner of my eye. When she came back, Kinley and I hadn't moved. She was still held against me, one of my hands soothing her back as she cried.

"Kinley, honey," Emily said. My sister flinched slightly, but looked up with puffy eyes. "Here, drink this." She tried to hand a cup of what looked like hot chocolate to Kinley, but the small girl's hand was shaking so bad, she almost spilled it all over the bed.

Keeping one hand firmly around Kinley, I grabbed the cup. "Come on, little girl," I said softly. "I'll help you drink some of this." She didn't resist, actually seeming kind of eager. So she liked this. Good to know. From the way Emily's gaze was on us, I knew she was taking not of this, as well. When the cup was nearly empty, I handed it back to Emily and wrapped my other arm back around Kinley. As much as I wanted to simply comfort her and not press her on anything, I had to at least ask about this.

"You okay, baby girl?" I asked quietly.

Her eyelids drooped, but she appeared to be fighting her drowsiness. Bad sign. If she was too afraid to go back to sleep, this was even worse than I thought. We definitely had to talk about this. She nodded anyway, though it was sadly obvious she was not okay. Not at all.

My grasp on her tightened a smidge in an attempt to make her feel more safe. "Can you tell me what your nightmare was about?"

Regardless of my hold on her, she went rock solid. And then she started to shake again. Her head whipped back and forth, one of her cheeks hitting my chest in the process. She kept her eyes open wide now, drowsiness no match for her.

I smoothed a hand down her hair lightly. "Talking about it might make you feel better." Or I hoped it would, at least. I wasn't exactly a professional in this area. But she just kept shaking her head, making it obvious I had to try a new tactic. "What if I ask you specific questions?" I offered. "They'll be yes or no, and then we'll at least get a better idea of what's bothering you. Can you do that?"