Face Your Fears

Chapter 9

"Archer! Archer, wake up! Archer!" 

I bolted upright with a gasp, my heart pounding wildly against my chest, my hair matted to my face with sweat.

Hadley was leaning over me, looking beyond frightened, her eyes wide. 

"Archer?" she whispered, reaching out to touch my face. "Are you alright?" 

I dragged my hands through my hair and took a deep breath, forcing myself to speak. 

"I'm...okay. Yeah. I'm fine."

Hadley scoffed and squirmed closer to me.

"Archer, you were thrashing around on the bed and talking in your sleep."

I had no recollection of that.

I just remember I'd been having this dream where I'd been walking down this hallway. I could barely see my hands in front of my face, but I knew that whatever that was at the end of this hallway was something...important. Something very important.

And then I'd woken up.

"What was I saying?" I asked Hadley.

"Something about you finding someone or something," she said, frowning. "I'm not really sure. I couldn't really understand you."

I laced my fingers through hers tightly and kissed her hand. 

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you," I said.

Hadley gave another scoff, rolling her eyes. "You didn't scare me."

"Uh-huh. Right."

"Look, Archer." She grabbed my face in her hands, locking eyes with me. "If you were having dreams...you know, dreams about...that - "

 "Hadley, it's nothing. They're just bad dreams," I said. "Bad dreams happen to everyone."

"I know that," she said exasperatedly. "But dreams...sometimes they can mean something else."

"Like what?" I snorted. "Premonitions, you mean?" 

"I wouldn't put it pass Havoc to mess with you in your dreams, is what I mean, Archer."

Oh.

Well, I hadn't thought of that. Hadley would know how this guy operated better than I would. 

"Maybe you're right," I finally said. "Maybe. But can we talk about this some other time? It's Christmas Eve, for God's sake."

Hadley sighed exasperatedly and dropped her hands.

"We're going to have to talk about this sooner or later, Archer. It's been almost a month. Have you even thought about any of the fears you need to conquer?"

"Yes."

Yes was my automatic response, but in reality, that was probably a big fat lie. Technically, I had been thinking of things that didn't exactly trip my trigger, but those moments didn't happen very often. It was something I didn't like to think about. And what had I always done? Avoided things I didn't care for like hell. 

"Oh, really?" Hadley said dryly, raising an eyebrow. "Like what?" 

When I didn't answer for several moments, Hadley sighed again and pulled herself out of bed, heading for the door. 

I could hear plenty of voices downstairs, people already up and about for coffee and breakfast. If I knew my family as well as I thought I did, Hadley would be pulled into conversation for the rest of the day with all of the women and I wouldn't see her again until tonight at Christmas Eve mass.