Arcadia [h.s.]

Chapter 21

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Come over here and sit next to me / We can see what things grow naturally/ Just say the word and I'll part the sea

-

Arcadia

The first thing Harry saw when he opened his eyes was Noel's clenched hands connecting with his chest. He distinguished a low whine that escaped from her lips before she muttered a soft no. Naturally, his eyes widened at the commotion which woke him up.

While it would have also been natural for confusion to arise, this clearly had been a habit of Noel's for a while now.

When he looked down at her squirming body, he had gotten distracted by the pleading expression on her face, that he forgot she was attacking his chest.

Part of him wanted to wait for it to end because he was scared to deal with her reaction when she woke up. But another part of him knew that they were past a point in which something like this could be tossed to the side.

He wasn't naive enough to assume she'd tell him the origin of these nightmares if he asked, but he also didn't want her to think her feelings didn't matter to him, because... well, they kinda did.

"I'm here!" She suddenly screamed, and he could have sworn her hands were headed toward his jaw until he caught her wrists in his palms.

"Hey," he nudged her in a stern voice, but the effort proved fruitless. She was still antsy and whines and cries left her lips while her brows set in.

Harry sat up this time, her body falling flat against the couch in the process while her legs laid on his lap. He leaned down to grab her arms, shaking her body as he recited, "wake up, wake up."

He didn't know why this battle she was having in her head was so much stronger than his almost-violent insistence nor how sleep could induce such a ghastly world for her.

He wondered if they were imaginary delusions or her mind was constantly in retrospect.

After seriously considering that these nightmares she had were very likely memories more than they were fictional monsters, he instantly stopped trying to wake her up.

It wasn't easy to watch her cry the way she was, but it also wasn't safe to wake someone up from a nightmare like this— not when they were clearly suffering from PTSD.

Instead of making things worse for her, he decided to get up from the couch and sit in the corner of the room near the heater.

Bringing his knees up to his chest, he watched her cry and shout and wriggle around for the next few minutes, observing her every movement— because that was all he could do.

Arcadia

The first thing Noel saw when she opened her eyes was the poplar trees that were unusually tall and thinner than the usual ones she'd spot on the street. Because of this observation, her first thought was that this forest must have been older than the city itself. Or maybe it just remains the only untouched part of it.

When she regained consciousness to reality, her eyes shifted to Harry who was sitting on the corner of the room next to the heater where he had his photos scattered around him.