Cure

Chapter Ten

Gabrielle's POV

My eyes shoot open and for a second, I forget where I am.

I hear Lana moaning and I look at her as hard as I can. It's so dark in here that all I see is pitch black.

Digging for my phone in the bed, I finally find it and turn the flashlight on. I lay the phone on the bed with the flashlight facing the ceiling, giving a little light to the dark room surrounding me.

She moans again and I can tell she's in pain.

"Lana?" I look over to her and see tears running at a rapid speed down her cheeks. "Hey, hey, hey." I sit up quickly when I realize. She lays flat on her back beside me. Her hair is stuck to her wet face, and I reach up to brush it back.

I lay my hand on her arm. "Lana, wake up." I shake her and she opens her eyes and looks at me, but doesn't move a muscle.

Tears still roll out as she looks at me.
I see her stomach start to move up and down, faster and faster, trying to catch her breath.

I move my hand from her arm to her stomach. "Hey, hey. Lana, just breathe. Can you sit up?" I anxiously ask her.

She still just looks at me and doesn't move a muscle.

I'm so confused.

She tries to open her mouth, and starts to make a forced mumbling sound. But I don't understand anything.

I feel her finger touch my leg and I look down at her hand. Her index finger moves slightly, and I grab her hand to hold it as tight as I can.

Her breathing is still rapid, and her eyes look away from me and up to the ceiling. She continues to force out moans.

And then it clicks.

"Sleep paralysis?!" She moves her eyes to me again, confirming what I had just said was correct.
I pull her hand to my face. "Elizabeth, just breathe. Keep looking at me." My face shows my sadness.

And finally, it's like a switch is flipped.

Her whole body relaxes immediately and she inhales as hard she can.
Her hand that was once limp in mine is now gripping it tightly, holding on for dear life.

She cries harder than before. And I begin to cry with her. Dear God, why am I so connected to her already.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She repeats it over and over.

"No, no. Why are you apologizing?" I move her hair from in front of her shoulder to cascade down her back.

"I didn't tell you. I didn't tell you about my dreams and about-" she forces herself to exhale hard. "that."

"It's okay, Lana. It's okay." Her hand is still in mine, but I take the other that I had just used to move her hair to gently rub her back. "You're sweating like crazy." I say as I lay her hand down and stand up.

"Where are you going?" She asks me with sad eyes. I can tell she doesn't want me going anywhere.

"I'm just going to turn the light on and get you something else to wear." I let her know quickly.