Chapter Eight

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I wake up screaming and thrashing around, with tears running down myself and when I try to sit I realize that I am tangled in the blankets. All of a sudden I feel someone touch me on the shoulder, still thinking that I'm in the nightmare I scream and jump away from the hand and just barely stop myself from falling off the side of the bed.

"Kayla. Kayla, it's me you're okay, it was just a nightmare, you're safe," Josh says trying to calm me down but keeping some distance between us worried that he will frighten me again.

"Josh," I sob as I crawl over, climb on to his lap and bury my head in his shirt.

I sit there on his lap, crying and sobbing into shirt while he strokes my back, after a couple of moments I hear people running down the hall towards the room. I sit there unable to move still crying Josh reaches over to the bedside table careful not to jostle me, grabs a couple of tissues out of the box that are sitting there and hands them to me just as Amara and Zach race into the room followed by Claire and Justin.

"What's wrong?" Claire asks looking around the room expecting to see some form of danger, then she sees me and realises that I'm crying. "Kayla, what's wrong?"

"She had a nightmare," Josh explains after he realises that I'm not able to say anything.

"What was the nightmare about?" Claire says kneeling in my front of me so that she is on level with me.

"The kidnapping," I manage to choke out after a couple of moments.

"Kayla, when was the last time that you fed properly," Claire asks after closely inspecting my face for a couple of moments.

"I don't know last week sometime, maybe eight days since I should have," I say warily.

"Kayla, you have to feed yourself better that," Zach scolds me mildly.

"I know but I've been busy," I explain quietly and apologetically.

"Kayla, how long have the nightmares been going on?" Zach asks me.

"Since a couple of days after it happened but I thought they would go away and I didn't want to worry anyone," I disclose. "Besides it wasn't that bad when Theo was around. However it's been getting worse and I wasn't sure what to do so I kept it to myself."

"Kayla, why didn't you tell me?" Josh asks me. "I would have made sure that he was in here with you."

"I thought I wouldn't have them because you were in the room," I say looking down at my curled hands. "I thought that it was being close to someone else that helped with them."

"Kayla, after an encounter of the nature that you had nightmares can be really common," Justin says. "There isn't much you can do but go to counselling. However you said that it helped that Theo slept with you made if you and Josh share the bed and sleep, that should help," he tells me with a pointed look.

"Kayla, you can do that but you also have to stay well feed," Claire says with a stern look.

"I'll make sure to feed later or tonight," I promise.

"Kayla, you have to keep yourself feed," Justin says sternly.

"I will, I've just been busy trying to keep up with everything that is going on around here," I tell him around a yawn as I feel myself starting to doze off again. "Can I please go back to bed now? I'm really tired."

"Okay, we'll let you sleep but please make sure to feed," Amara says.

When everyone leaves the room I lay down and curl into a ball. Josh lays down beside me, pulls me into his chest and wraps his arm around my waist.

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