Confined [N.H]

Day 53: Nightmare Thursday

Niall's POV

I wake up to knocking on the door of my bedroom. I look towards the window and it seems like the light hasn't come up yet outside. Sleepily, I check the clock on my phone and it says 4 AM. I get up and put on some shorts before I open the door. I don't see anyone so I look down and I see Nat sitting on the floor.

'Hey, what's going on?' I ask crouching down to her level and lift her head up. 'Are you crying?' I ask and quickly hold her. 'What's wrong?' I ask again since she hasn't replied to any of my questions.

'I... I had a nightmare. It was really bad. I woke up in panic and had to find you. When I got here and the door was closed I remembered that you're still asleep. I only knocked once because I felt bad about waking you up. Then you didn't open immediately and I just started crying because I didn't want to be alone or go back to sleep. I'm sorry.'

'Aww, it's okay. Everything is okay now.' I reassure her and rub her back soothingly. 'It was just a dream. You're safe now, you're with me. Everything is okay.'

I keep holding her and calming her until eventually, she stops crying. I pull away from the hug and kiss her forehead and then her lips.

'What do you want to do? Go back to sleep?'

'No!' She shouts.

'Okay. Alright. No going back to sleep. Do you... want to go watch some TV in the sitting room?'

'No, I'm too tired and sleepy to watch anything right now.'

'Okay... then I guess all there's left to do is cuddle. Do you want us to cuddle?'

She doesn't answer but she does nod and I can't help but chuckle. She's so adorable.

'Alright. Would you rather cuddle in your bed or mine?' I ask.

'No! My room is evil!' She argues in a child-like tone.

'Aww! Why would you say that? Do you not like your room?'

'Yours is homier.'

'Yeah? How so?' I ask trying to distract her from what happened in the dream as I guide her to the bed.

'I don't know. The room just has that feel... It's just so... you... you know?'

'I mean I guess... It is my room after all.' I chuckle and pull her into my arms as we lay in between the sheets.

Our bodies immediately go into cuddling mode: my arms wrap around her like magnets, my fingers instinctively find her hair and play with it, and she does the same with her hand that's resting on my chest next to her head, all the while our legs intertwine.

'You smell really good.' She randomly says.

'Thank you. I took a shower before I slept. I guess that's the smell of the shower gel or something.'

'Yeah maybe...'

'What are you thinking about?'

'I'm trying not to think of the nightmare.'

'Do you want to talk about it? Maybe it'll make you feel better.'

'It was just a bloodbath. Everyone was killed. And I couldn't do anything about it. I was just sitting there watching. I couldn't even more.'

'I'm sorry you had to see that. But it's just a dream. You know that. None of it is actually true.'

'I guess...' She mumbles.

'Can I ask?'

'Yeah?'

'When you say everyone... Was I included?'