Faces, Names, and Memories (completed)

Chapter 8 - Nightmares

They didn't send us back to the room until it was late. I didn't have a clock, but I assumed it was late since we were sent to bed right away and some of the little kids had fallen asleep inside the commons.

As untiring as it may seem, sitting around talking all day was actually tiring. In that short time I realized that the basement was divided up into groups. There were those orphans that wore expensive jewelry and stuff from their parents that thought they were better than everyone else because their parents had been wealthy.

Then there were the gossips that tried to find everything about everyone in the basement. After we had finished "breakfast" they had hurried over to me and Tressa. They made sure to know my story, who I was and all of that stuff. Of course, I couldn't tell them much.

The basement even had a group of those jock-like orphans who were the most athletic. But, when you think about it, the whole reason that these orphans were here - in the basement of a hospital - was because they were too sick and their parents left them. Needless to say, it's ridiculous to think that anyone here was going to grow up to be a famous athlete.

But, the majority of the orphans were just normal, they didn't think that they were better than anyone else because they recognized that everyone was in the same plight. Cale was in that category.

Still, the orphanage had those rebel types, like most places. They were loners that sat against the walls all depressed and sad-like. Whenever someone came by they told them that there was no reason to be happy because our parents left us here because they didn't want us. They also told us that we'd never get adopted because we were to sick and we were castaways. It made me angry listening to them and it made me even madder that no one rejected what they were saying. I mean, my parents were dead, I accepted that but by what I've heard, it seemed like a lot of the kids here's parents were still alive. At least, Tressa seemed to think that. Simply, she said that her parents left her because she was too sick to be home at the time. She told me that she was in the hospital for a couple years, since she was 7, and she was fourteen. She'd only recently got better, about a month ago. That's how she knew a lot of the kids here, because she'd seen them while they were still patients. The thing about Tressa was that she didn't talk to any of the other kids, so I wasn't sure where she fit in with the other basement kids. As for me - since I was hanging out with Tressa - wherever she fit in was where I fit in.

Thinking about that as I lay on the "bed", I couldn't really fall asleep. I hadn't slept really well since I woke up in the hospital a couple days ago actually, but today it was especially hard to fall asleep. When I closed my eyes I saw only scary things, like the flashback I had yesterday, but they weren't things that had happened to me, that's what made it so strange (and more scary).

Sometime later, I still couldn't sleep. I guessed a few hours had passed. I had been sleeping for about five minutes then waking up from a bad dream. It was an agonizing. More than anything, I wanted to go to sleep. Even with the bad dreams, I still wanted to sleep. But I kept waking up.

On the other side of the room, I noticed I was hearing noises.

"No, no, no, no, no! Please no! Please stop you're killing him! Stop! Please stop! Please you're killing him!" A voice was yelling. "Stop! You're killing him!"

It was Cale. I sat up and looked over at him. They never turned the lights off so I could clearly see that he was drenched in sweat and writhing in his bed.

"Stop please! You're going to kill him!" He shouted again. He started clawing at the blanket, which he was tangled up in. "Stop! No, no no! Stop!"

I had to do something before the guards came in and started beating him, he was being so loud I thought he would wake them up. I climbed out of my bed and hurried over to his.

In his sleep his face red and his teeth were clenched. He kept on gnashing at the blanket as if he was trying to hit someone. I saw the tears that were streaming down his face.

"Stop! You're killing him! Stop!" He shouted again. He was fighting so hard a was afraid he'd hit me if I touched him. But as he only started fighting worse, I knew I'd had to calm him down.

I grabbed his arms. "Cale! Cale!" I whispered. He was fighting against me.

"You killed him! You killed him!" Cale began to sob.

"Cale you're dreaming wake up!" I shook him, causing him to fight harder.

"You killed him! You killed him!" He cried again.

"Cale wake up!" I whispered again, shaking him some more. He continued to fight and repeat what he had been saying again.

"Cale!" I cried again. "You're asleep you're dreaming it's all a dream!" He slowly stopped fighting, and seemed to be waking up.

"No, no, no, no, no," He whispered weakly. He was panting in between his words.

"You're dreaming," I whispered. "It's okay." He was shaking his head and he kept on saying "no". His body seemed to have gone limp into the bed.

"It's okay, you're dreaming," I whispered. I brushed his bangs out of his forehead. Then I realized how hot his skin was to my touch, he was burning up.

"Cale," I said more urgently. "Wake up your dreaming, and you're burning up! Hurry up and wake up." He kept on saying no. I wanted to call for help, but I knew that if the guards came in and saw me on Cale's bed they would definitely hit me. I decided to shake Cale harder. He just kept on saying no over and over again.

"Cale, I'm here, you're having a bad dream, wake up!" I whispered. He stopped saying no and he was still for a few moments, then his eyes fluttered open.

"Jade, why are you on my bed?" He whispered.

"You were having a night-mare," I answered. "You were really in it and you were flailing around and you kept on saying 'no' and 'you're killing him.'"Cale paled a bit more when he heard what I'd said. I saw another tear slide down his cheek and mix with the sweat that doused his face. He dabbed his face with the blanket.

"Oh," was all he said breathlessly.

"You also have a fever," I explained.

"A fever?" He repeated. I nodded. He closed his few eyes for a few seconds. "It was probably just because of the dream." Then I remembered what he had told me on my first day in the basement, with the chip.

"Are you sure, shouldn't your chip prevent you from getting fevers?" I asked. Cale shook his head.

"I wish," Cale replied. "It just prevents me from getting fevers as frequently as I did when I was little. And if I'm sick I'll still get a fever."

"So you think you're sick?" I ask. Cale shook his head again.

"No, the nightmare probably caused it," Cale said. He got up and walked into the bathroom, then he came out and sat back down on the bed.

"Are you going to be okay?" I wondered. Cale didn't answer for a few seconds. Then he nodded.

"Yeah, fine," He said shortly. He lay back down on the bed and slowly got under the sheets. He lay still for a minute and I watched him. Then he turned around and looked at me.

"Why are you still on my bed?" He wanted to know.

"I'm just making sure you get to sleep okay," I replied, knowing that if I tried to go back to sleep the flashbacks would just keep coming, but I didn't tell him I was having trouble sleeping. After a while his breathing evened and I knew he was asleep. I sat, staring at Cale as he slept. He didn't move a muscle. I figured he was one of those rock sleepers that doesn't move at all, as long as they don't have a nightmare, that is.

I climbed out of his bed and went over to mine, laying down and staring at the ceiling. Call me a wimp, but I didn't want to try to go to sleep. But eventually, fatigue took over and I just had to relax. I drifted into an uneasy sleep dreaming of terrible things: shoot-outs, car accidents, natural disasters. They weren't my memories, I knew that much. But why was I dreaming about them? At least I stayed asleep, even though the nightmares were so terrible.

The next morning I woke up exhausted and confused. Was I ever going to get a good night's sleep?