Everybody Hurts

Chapter 16

 The sound of whimpering roused Sam from the deepest sleep she'd had in months. No nagging nightmares, no annoying voices whispering words of failure in her ears, keeping her awake. She stirred, the feeling of firm, warm flesh pressing against her cheek. Sam snuggled into the body heat, a heavy arm draped around her, hand resting on her hip, hoping she still had a few hours before Cam's alarm inevitably woke her even if she could sleep another hour.

Her eyes shot open as she remembered that her and Cam were a thing of the past. She definitely did not want to be snuggled up against him and she should not have another body in her bed. Tilting her face up, dark hair that spilled across the pillow tickled her nose, causing her to scrunch it up. Her eyes took in the face above her, the long lashes that caressed his cheeks, that jawline that tensed every time he was annoyed, the full lips that had brought her to ecstasy over and over again just hours before. Sweet Jesus, this man had stamina. He'd made her explode with pleasure until her body had shook, spent, unable to take anymore. And then he'd pulled her into his chest, fingers tracing patterns over her back as they slipped into sleep. She had not felt so cared for, so wanted, in such a long time. No, probably ever.

Sam's thumb brushed over those lips, warm breath caressing her skin, pulling back when he whimpered once again. So she hadn't imagined it. His eyes closed tightly, brows furrowing, his lips twisting, grimacing as if he were in pain. She sat up, her hand pressing against his chest, rubbing over the skin gently in an attempt to rouse him.

"No...no..." he groaned, his head shaking from side to side, his hands fisting the sheets, gripping them tightly, a sheen of sweat dampening his brow that she hadn't noticed before.

"Eddie," Sam said softly, not wanting to scare him even more, her hands grabbing onto his shoulders.

"No! No!" he screamed in his sleep, his entire body now shaking, hands flailing as if they were trying to rip something off of his abdomen. "Stop! No! Please! Dustin!" His hands grasped toward his throat, grabbing at nothing, a phantom attacker she couldn't see.

Dustin? Truly scared now, Sam shook him harshly, forgetting all about being gentle or not scaring him because she was terrified. Desperate to release him from whatever was tormenting his mind in his dreams, she shook him even harder. She cried his name out, louder, over and over and he continued to howl and wail, begging, pleading for whatever it was to stop. Her entire body trembled watching him relive something truly terrifying.

She had to wake him. In desperation, she grabbed onto his face, shaking his head from side to side. She didn't know if it was the right thing. She'd read somewhere that you should never wake someone who was sleepwalking but this wasn't sleepwalking. This was trying to survive a living nightmare and she had no idea what the proper protocol for something like this was. She just knew she had to get him out of it somehow.

Eddie's eyes shot open, his mouth opening wide as he gasped and lashed out. His arm swung out, slamming into her chest and knocking her backward. Sam fell off the bed, her back hitting the corner of the nightstand and she cried out in pain. He sat up, eyes wide and crazed, his chest heaving, and she shrunk back into the wall, making herself as small as possible. He looked like a cornered animal, ready to take out anything in his path in his need to flee. She'd never seen anything so horrifying in her life and she couldn't begin to imagine what had been going on in his head.

He blinked, struggling to find reality, eyes slowly coming into focus. Realization rushed over him as he took in the sight of her cowering against the wall, hands on either side of her head, knees tucked into her chest, terrified. A low moan fell from his lips, a sob catching in his throat, those brown eyes that had been feral just moments before now twin pools of pain and shame.