Behind His Eyes (CoD: Ghost Fanfiction)

17

Ellie and Ghost fell asleep in her bed not long after. Ghost was hesitant in sleeping in the same bed as her, but after ten minutes of encouragement, she was able to convince him to stay.

Ellie was sound asleep for most of the night, but kept waking up every time Ghost moved. She wasn't used to having someone around, let alone sharing her bed. She wasn't even sure he was sleeping until she woke up to hear small snores coming from the other side of the bed.

At one point during the night, Ellie was awoken by what sounded to be a wounded animal. She opened her eyes and listened in the darkness as the sound came again. Ellie began to sit up slowly when she heard a gentle, "Stop," from the other side of the bed.

Her heart skipped a beat as she realized the noises came from Ghost. She glanced at his figure in the dark, lit up enough by the lamp post outside that she could see his figure. Ellie sat up in the bed and waited to see if she had been dreaming.

She wasn't. Ghost's face was strained, and his eyes were clenched like he was in pain. "Stop," he whispered again.

"Ghost?" Ellie called out quietly.

He didn't acknowledge that he heard her. Ghost was having some sort of nightmare, and it seemed to be like what she had experienced back in Mexico. His forehead was coated in sweat and his shirt clung to him.

"Make it stop," Ghost whimpered in what sounded like a pained child's voice.

"Simon?" Ellie's heart began to pound as he didn't respond to her. After he began to shift in his sleep, Ellie saw a tear fall down his face in the dim lighting.

She made the mistake of reaching out and touching his arm lightly. Before she was able to let out a small cry, Ghost had grabbed her wrist and pinned it down as he hovered over her. The anger in his red eyes was beyond anything Ellie had ever seen as he put a hand on her throat.

"Simon!" Ellie choked out. "It's me!" She touched the arm that had a hard grip on her neck, forcing herself not to panic at the wild look Ghost had on his face.

The man's face contorted as he realized what he was doing. "Ellie?" he panted. When she nodded, he pulled his hand from her throat and touched her cheek. She smiled weakly and caressed his forearm. "I... I didn't..."

Ghost pulled away from her as if shocked by touching her. He got up from the bed and rubbed his face as he headed out of the room. Ellie sat up and watched him go. "Where are you going?" she asked. When he didn't answer, Ellie listened for the front door to open, expecting him to full-on leave.

She listened to her patio door open a minute later, and she knew he stepped out to get some air. Seemed like she wasn't the only one suffering from her past. Ellie debated on leaving him alone, but if they wanted this to work, he needed to be truthful to her. She knew he'd shut down if she didn't push hard enough and let him know that it was okay.

Grabbing one of her robes since she was still naked from their fun earlier, Ellie wrapped herself up and walked down to the kitchen. It was 2 in the morning, but she poured Ghost a glass of bourbon before going to the patio door.

He was smoking a cigarette and sitting in one of the chairs staring down at the pool. Ellie took a deep breath before she stepped outside and set the glass beside Ghost. He glanced at it as she sat down in one of the chairs on the other side of the table silently, crossing her legs.

They remained silent for a minute as Ghost worked on his cigarette. Ellie picked at her nails as she waited for him, and her patience paid off as he let out a sigh and grabbed the glass she left him. "Thanks," he murmured, taking a sip of it.

"You're welcome," she replied.

He flicked the ashes into the ashtray on the table between them. "You should go back to bed."