Jesse bolted upright in bed with a gasp. The sound of little him's screaming still echoed in his head. He tried to calm his racing heart. He was in his room, safe and sound in the present. That's what he repeated to himself in his mind. Taking a few shaky breaths, he looked over at his clock. It read two thirty-four.
Great.
With only twenty minutes of sleep under his belt, it was going to be a long rest of the night.
"Bad dream?"
Jesse's heart leapt as he noticed Jack standing in the doorway.
"How long have you been there?" He asked sharply.
"Not long. I just heard you yelling up here and thought I'd come check it out."
Jesse furrowed his brows. "Yelling?"
"Yeah, you kept apologizing and screaming 'no' over and over again."
Jesse looked away, recalling his nightmare all too vividly.
"Well sorry about that," he muttered, trying to kill the conversation as quickly as possible. He dragged himself out of bed and shouldered his way past Jack.
"It's alright," Jack replied as he followed. "I wasn't sleeping anyway."
Just then a horrifying thought entered Jesse's mind. He paused at the top of the stairs and looked back at Jack.
"Wait. Please tell me you weren't up using your whole dream walking thing on me."
A concerned look overshadowed Jack's face.
"...No," he replied slowly.
"You're being honest with me?"
"Yes!" Jack replied indignantly. "You think I can't handle you being mad at me for doing something I shouldn't?"
He did have a point.
"Just making sure." Jesse said. Then he turned and headed downstairs to the kitchen, a curious Jack following close behind.
"What's the big deal anyway?" He asked, taking a seat at the kitchen island. "Were you dreaming about some kinda top secret agent stuff or something?"
"Real funny," Jesse scowled, opening the fridge and grabbing a carton of milk. "You ever heard of a little thing called none of your business?"
He opened the carton and, lifting the spout to his mouth, took a couple swigs.
"OK, alright! Jeez." Jack said. "You can't blame a guy for being curious."
"You can when he's trying to poke around in your personal business and constantly terrorizing you." Jesse put the milk away and turned to grab an apple from the counter. "Want one?" He asked over his shoulder.
"Sure, thanks." Jack replied. Jesse tossed him one and took a bite of his own. There was an awkward silence as the two munched on their snack. Jesse studied his alternate self sitting across the room from him. He looked distracted.
"Why weren't you asleep tonight?" he asked.
"Maybe it's none of your business." Jack smirked.
Jesse snorted. "Well played."
"I'm kidding. I was just—thinking."
There was another awkward silence before Jack spoke up again.
"Hey, did you know that only fifty-three percent of people can truly say they have a good relationship with their parents and about eighty percent of families are dysfunctional? It's crazy if you think about it. There's so much room for someone to fall into that category, it kinda makes you wonder what the people in that twenty percent did to get so lucky. And why you couldn't have been one of those people."
