For three nights Travis had layen on a mattress on the floor of Taylors bedroom and for three nights Taylor had slept like a baby.
She had barely moved let alone been capable of walking out of the house or wounding a fully grown man but Travis had heard her that night, knew the terror was real and that it would come again and when it did he would be there to make sure there was no need for restraints and to make sure she didn't have to fight her demons alone.
Taylors bedroom was cosy and decorated like that of a child much younger than her 18 years.
The walls were soft pinks and whites and were adorned by beautiful butterflies of every colour you could imagine along with a multitude of paintings he was pretty sure she had done herself. Her wooden floorboards were covered in beautiful thick fur rugs and her desk was piled high with poetry books and art supplies.
Pushing himself up from the mattress he walked to the desk and picked up a book, it had a beautiful black cover with red and silver writing so he placed it down but not before a scrap of paper fluttered from it and landed softly on the ground
'Nightmares are haunting me,
When I wake up with tears on my cheeks and shallow breathing,
When I'm too scared to get out of bed, not knowing what's real and what's not,
I'm scared you will see me in the morning
I'm scared you will see me'
The words dug in to Travis' heart.
How many times had she written and underlined scared??
His attention was ripped from the writing by the sound of Taylor groaning. He turned to the bed and saw Taylors face twisted in distress, her hands tangled in the bedsheets, Travis knew from past experience that this was the moment to wake her, to rescue her from her nightmare but he couldn't, he needed to know more. How long it lasted, what she cried out, how her body reacted, was she reenacting past events or simply reacting to what was going on in her mind? .
He walked to the edge of her bed and looked down at her face, she was really a beautiful girl, especially when she stopped the pretense and let down her guard but tonight she looked terrified and he couldn't help the guilt that was bubbling in his chest, he was going to allow her to go through this when he could stop it but he was going to make sure she didn't go through it alone
"Mommy... Mom!" she began thrashing from side to side and Travis wanted to grab her and hold her to him, keeping her still but he knew he had to learn more to help her, he would need to get involved at some point but he wanted to leave it for as long as possible so he could learn as much as possible.
"Mommy I'm so sorry!!! Mommy please listen to me!!!"
She began grabbing at the air, reaching for something neither of them could see. Her face was now pink and covered in a layer of perspiration as her body tossed from side to side. The terror becoming more and more real and her desperation becoming more and more palpable as the seconds ticked by
Without warning she suddenly sat up straight in bed and screamed so loud that Travis could hear heavy footsteps running up the stairs
"Señor Kelce?"
He heard Ana's voice at the door but his attention was fixed on a very distressed Taylor who's hands and feet were now doing battle with an invisible assailant.
"Señor?"
Travis turned to shout a response but at the same time Taylor lurched forward and the sound of her body hitting the wooden floor caused Travis to spin and rush to where she lay, she was sobbing, her arms up to protect her face
"Please don't hurt me" she begged as Travis reached down to lift her from the floor but as soon as his skin touched hers she began to panic.
She screamed with everything she had as her arms and legs fought against him
"Taylor its me" he tried to grab her wrists but her feet caught him square in the chest, knocking the wind from him as he collapsed down onto her
"Don't hurt me, please don't hurt me" she cried and begged over and over and as Travis recovered he reached down and scooped her up.
Holding her close he looked to his clock 5 minutes this had been going on, he had rarely seen one last much longer. All he had to do was keep hold of her until this passed.
He held her arms tight by her side as she continued to thrash against him, graoning and crying and muttering until suddenly she began to still. It was ending.
Placing her gently onto her bed, Travis got up beside her and lay behind her, holding her arms to her sides whilst placing his leg on top of hers to hold her in place but the thrashing was stopping, the crying and screaming with calming, the terror was passing
"Its just a dream" he whispered into her ear when he felt comfortable to release her arm. Reaching up he smoothed her hair and repeated "It's just a dream baby girl, nothing can harm you I'm here" his hand moved from her hair to her cheek "I'm here, they aren't ever getting near you again"
****************
Opening her eyes, Taylor allowed the warmth of the early morning sun to bathe her skin. She only wore a light night dress and she could feel the rays on her bare arms and then she felt a weight and a panic gripped her. Someone was with her, someone was here in her space... Her breathing shallowed as she fought the urge to scream and she looked down at the arm that gripped her tightly around the waist. She recognised that tattoo...
Twisting she found herself face to face with the most beautiful sight she had ever seen in her life, brown hair was a mess on the pillow next to her, his eyes were closed and his cheeks were pink. The muscular chest that was hidden beneath a white tank top was pressed hard to her back and his muscular arm was wrapped around her, keeping her safe from whatever demons she had fought the night before
He was beautiful, he was in her bed, pressed against her but he was making her feel vulnerable and she hated vulnerable but somehow with Travis vulnerable meant something other than weakness.
Moving his arm she managed to push herself to her feet and then looked down at the man in her bed.
He was beautiful, he was tough, he didn't take shit but he held her through the night and he was making her feel more than she had dared to feel in years
Walking to her desk she picked up her pen and started to write
'Will you save me?
Will you help me when I'm at my worst?'
No, she scribbled it out
'When I'm panicking and lost...'
Again she scribbled it out
'Needing you and wanting you are different concepts doing battle in my mind right now,
I know that I need you but I really don't want to,
If you help me at my worst when I'm panicking and lost,
Or if you leave me on my own to suffer all alone
I guess I will know your intention
Before I rely on your protection
Picking up the sheet of paper Taylor ripped it up, over and over again before throwing it into her waste paper bin. Looking over her shoulder at Travis who was still fast asleep she curled up her nose and crossed her arms over her chest he was going, the way she got rid of everyone, it may be taking longer than planned but like it or not he was going and she would never look back
