Rebuilt

Lightening through the Darkness

*BOOM*

The thunder sliced through the stormy grey sea of clouds. Lightening flashing through the darkness.

I screamed, sitting up abruptly in Evan's bed.

He didn't have a guest room so had offered to sleep on the sofa so that I could take his bed.

I glanced at the clock. 2 am. Brilliant.

After talking everything over with Evan we decided it was best not to tell anyone what had happened and for me to just try and sleep it off.

I agreed, yawning and by the time I slid into bed, wearing one of Evan's shirts which hangs limply from my small frame, it was about 12:30. So I have managed an hour and a half. Better than I thought.

I heard feet stomping up the stairs.

The bedroom door burst open to reveal Evan in his pjama top and shorts.

He rushed over to me,

"Lil, are you o<..."

He was cut off by another rumble of thunder and my frightened screech once again. I cowered from the sound, pulling the sheets up to cover my face.

I heard a creak of the bed and felt a warm arm hug me, his breath hot on my neck, causing me to shiver from the contact.

"Ssssshh, it's ok. I'm here, it's OK." He whispered into my ear.

Lightening flashed around the room, I wimpered.

He held my hand in his as I lay back on his arm and stared at the ceiling. I felt him rub his thumb in circles over the back of my hand.

Though I'm not used to the contact and I feel awkward, it was really nice to have someone to comfort me.

"Okay" he whispered, " let's play a game. We can count between the thunder OK?"

"Y-y-yea. Okay"

*BOOM*

"1...2...3...4...5...\"

*BOOM*

"1...2...3..\"

*BOOM*

His voice tickled my ear as I relaxed slowly, tensing up when the thunder hits.

After about 20 minutes I was calm enough to speak again. I turned to look at Evan who still had his arm around my waist.

"Thank-you" I breathed quietly.

"No problem" he replied, showing me a priceless smile. "I have a feeling that you won't want to go back to sleep now" he continued.

"No" I agreed.

"Nightmares?" I stared at him shocked. How did he know?!

Sensing my tension he continued, "One of my friends used to get really bad nightmares. She wouldn't sleep at night either." He grimaced as if remembering something he didn't want to remember.