Nico
I was worried about Will.
I was worried, annoyed, scared, angry... all the emotions. Because by now, I was so mad that he wouldn't tell me what the hell is going on with him. And I get it— things can be hard to talk about, especially for him, who keeps everything to himself. But gods.
He left lunch early today because he was feeling "sick". I don't know how much I believed that. He did look sick, but also like something else was wrong. I just wasn't sure what.
When we were leaving the bonfire, I slipped my hand into his. He turned and gave me a tight lipped smile, and looked like something was bothering him.
"What's wrong?" I whispered as we trailed behind the group.
"Nothing. Just feeling a little sick still. And... we leave tomorrow. I'm gonna miss them," he said, referring to our friends.
He didn't meet my eye when he spoke. I think he was lying.
Once we got back to the hotel, he waited to turn the big light off until after he'd put on the lamp next to my side of the bed.
He didn't say much, instead changed and went pretty much right to sleep. I, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. I found myself up for hours after he'd already been asleep, laying there watching his chest slowly rise and fall. I swallowed a couple of pills I had for my insomnia, but I still could barely sleep. I think I was just starting to doze off when Will began taking shorter, faster breaths.
He had been facing the wall opposite me, but he suddenly began to turn over, thrashing around and kicking in his sleep. I sat upright, confused on what was happening, and that was when he started to scream.
"No! Get off of me!"
"Will?" I say quietly. I reach out and place my hand on his shoulder apprehensively.
"No!" He shrieks, reeling away from me.
I realized what was happening then. He was having a nightmare. He told me about them before, and sometimes they were really bad, according to Leo. But I never witnessed him having one, and didn't realize they could be this bad.
"Stop! Stop it!" He was screaming very loud at this point, loud enough to get us kicked out of this hotel.
I touch the upper part of his arm and lightly shake him. "Will, hey, wake up," I said, louder this time.
He sat up straight like a rocket and pushed me, hard. It took me a second to recover from the shock when he started coughing, gasping, his hands going to his throat as if he were choking. All the veins in his neck became visible as if he really were.
I really needed to wake him up now.
"Will!" I shook his shoulder harder this time.
"STOP!" He screamed. He bolted up and shoved me so hard my back thumped against the headboard. He was stronger than me, stronger enough that the one blow had left me completely winded."Let go of me! Get off me, let go!"
I had already done as he said, but that didn't stop him from swinging on me. He hit me over and over, in the chest and arms. I start to back up, but he does as well, and gets dangerously close to the edge of the bed. I grab him so he doesn't fall, but he starts screaming at me again so I have no choice but to let go.
I watch in horror as he falls backward off the bed, bumping into the nightstand on his way down. The lamp he'd left on earlier crashes down with him, the glass shattering all over the place and scraping him up.
"Will?" I quickly scramble to the floor, wincing as my bare feet connected with shards of broken glass.
"What happened?" He asked, pressing both hands to his forehead. He was awake now.
