A Little Love (1st Draft)

Chapter 24: Taming Nightmares

Chapter 24

Taming Nightmares

Alec

A blood-curdling scream had my body jumping out of my bed and dashing in bare feet to the location of the shrieking. This was the first time since Ariana had made such a terrible sound in her sleep. Since being notified by the military that her brother was Missing in Action, Ariana hadn't been sleeping well because of nightmares. Among her little nightmares, I could barely get her to eat anything, seemingly ruining all the hard work she had put into her eating disorder.

This, however, was the first time her nightmares had been so vocal.

In nothing but my bare feet and pyjama pants, I burst into Ariana's bedroom to see her flailing in and Binx hissing at the end of the bed. I was scared Ariana would hurt herself if I didn't wake her up. Firmly I placed my hands on her shoulders and ignored the banshee screams she let out.

"Ariana, sweetheart, I need you to wake up," I cooed, hoping that being gentle would work, however, it was drowned in her cries. It hurt to hear her calling out 'go away' and 'no' repeatedly.

"Ariana!" I said louder this time. "Wake up! It's okay. It's a dream. ARIANA!"

My stomach flipped as I hated yelling at her, but it seemed to be the only way that worked. Her eyes shot open. She was drenched in sweat and her breath was quick and panicky. Her face was filled with salty tears. "Oh baby, it's okay, I got you," I soothed, pulling her against me, and wrapping my arms around her.

When she wasn't calming down, I picked her up and brought her to my bedroom.

"Ariana, you need to breathe honey. Tell me, what did you dream about?"

As I held her in my lap, I already knew what her dream was going to be about. Last night she had dreamed about her brother being alive and in a dangerous situation of criminals asking for a ransom. According to her, I refused to pay the ransom for her.

"You wouldn't pick up your phone," she cried.

"My phone? What do you mean?"

"They came to my door. They told me he was dead. But he couldn't be dead because I talked to him. He can't be dead. And you, and you, and you said that you would ALWAYS pick up your phone if I was calling. Why didn't you answer your phone?"

"Shh," I cooed. "That was a dream. It didn't happen. It wasn't real. I told you I would always pick up my phone is it involved anything with you, and if I didn't, I gave you the phone numbers of people who will be able to reach me."

Thankfully these words grounded her and helped to calm her down.

"I just want Daniel to be okay. He's the only person I've been able to call family. Do you think he's okay? "

What answer could I give to that? I couldn't just tell her that Daniel would be okay. She knew just as much as I in this situation. I had done my best to see if I could research the situation. There was no amount of money that I could use to find Daniel.

"I want him to be safe and sound just as much as you do. And I am also sure the military is doing everything they can to find him. Daniel will be doing everything in his power to get back to you."

I hoped that it was enough to reassure her. She breathed in slowly and let it out. She knew I wouldn't tell her that he would be okay because I didn't make promises I couldn't keep.

A yawn escaped her mouth the same time it escaped mine. It was three in the morning and the energy she had spent flailing in her sleep was taking a toll on her. I stroked her hair that was damp with sweat. "You need to sleep baby girl," I told her softly and she shook her head. I frowned. "Ariana sweetie, you need to sleep." She gave me a little grunt with a 'nuh uh' tone. "Why don't you want to go to bed?"

She didn't speak quickly, and when she finally did it was mumbled.

"I don't want to go to sleep and have nightmares again," she sniffled. "And it seems the only time I can sleep without dreaming that Daniel is dead is when I fall asleep on the couch..." she said hesitantly.

This was true. We couldn't spend anytime on the couch lately that she wouldn't fall asleep. The moment I sat down she was curled up against me and asleep in five minutes. I would hold her against me, squeeze her when she started to produce any signs of restless sleep.

"Do you mean falling asleep on the couch with me?"

She nods her head.

Despite the circumstance it did make me smile. I wanted to have her sleeping in my bed the moment I had her in my house. Even more so that she wasn't sleeping well.

"Well, we can sleep on the cough, if you like. However, it might be more comfortable if we were to stay in here. Or your bedroom. But I will sleep wherever you want to."

I rubbed her shoulder.

"Can we sleep in here?" She spoke meekly.

Nodding my head, I moved to sit up. "Then let's get you a change of clothes and we will crawl back into bed and sleep, okay baby girl?"

I changed Ariana into something comfortable. She was silent. The little girl that had opened to me had moved back to hide in a shell. Holding her hand, I lead her back into my bedroom and pulled back the covers in the king-sized bed. I put a t-shirt on in hopes that it would make her feel more comfortable. Helping her into my bed I covered her in the blankets.

"Is this weird?" She asked.

Shaking my head, I replied, "no, it isn't."

"But we've never done this before. What if you sleep with me tonight and then think that I shouldn't be—"

I flicked her nose. "Sweetie, it's okay. I've wanted this for a while. I just want you to close your eyes, okay?" I wrapped my arms around her and found that my hands graced alongside Fluttershy. I pressed the little button that made her talk and told Ariana she was beautiful alongside it.

After a while, Ariana's breathing slowed and soon she had fallen asleep. Another yawned escaped my mouth. I wanted to fall asleep with her, but I wanted to make sure that she had fallen asleep and was staying asleep, free from any terror that wanted to be in her mind.

"I love you Ariana." 

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