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36. The Sorrow of True Love

A piercing scream jolts me awake and I shoot up in bed.

Paige is flailing beside me, the blanket tangled in her legs and she was about to fall off of the bed.

"Hey, hey," I whispered as I leaned over her. My hands lightly gripped her shoulders to pull her back from the edge of the bed.

"Get off of me!" She shouted with her eyes still shut. I tightened my hands on her shoulders and climbed over her body to move her further in on the bed and her eyes flew open.

"Paige, stop, stop," I mumbled as she began hitting my chest when I let go.

Those clear blue eyes jumped all around before they actually landed on me and then they widened until I was sure they would pop out of their sockets.

"Landon?" Paige stammered out and looked up at me with furrowed eyebrows. I noticed that her cheeks were damp.

"Hi," I breathed out. My chest still stung from Paige slaps.

"Oh, you're here," Paige spoke lowly, almost like she was talking more to herself than me.

So she has nightmares, too. Two fucked up people in one bed. Marvelous. The panic in her blue eyes almost made me not want to ask about any of it, I knew that she wouldn't want to tell me right now.

"Are you alright?" I whispered after she had slowed her breathing and removed her hands from my upper arms.

"No," she shook her head and reached up to wrap her arms around my neck and pull me down to her.

My body crashed into hers and I moved my arms under her body to pull her into me. In a beat, her fingers were tangled in my hair and she took a deep breath.

"Do you want to tell me?" I mumbled into her neck after a few minutes.

"You left me. You left me with him and- and," Paige sighed and I could feel her breathing becoming erratic again.

"Shh, shh," I turned on my side and pulled her with me, pushing her head into the crook my neck.

"Please don't ever do that to me," Paige cried into my shoulder and I tightened my arms around her body.

"I won't, I won't baby. Don't worry," my voice came out as soothing as I could make it.

One half of my mind was glad that Paige needed me as much as I needed her, the other half knew that whatever Paige was dreaming of was awful and I didn't want her to experience the pain that I had endured for the last couple years.

The light was dimming outside and I searched Paige's room for a clock. I titled my head to look out the big bay window in her bedroom and I gently shook Paige back awake.

"Look, the sun is setting," I pulled my arm from around her and pointed a finger towards the window.

"It's beautiful," Paige murmured and smiled up at me.

It was. The sky was a warm orange color with pink littering above the horizon. I never used to bother looking out the window when the sun was setting, but Paige loved it. And as much as I enjoyed watching the sky, I loved watching Paige watch it more.

Paige tucked her head back under my neck and tightened her arms around my waist. I turned my head down to stare at her sleepy face and the cliché words tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop them.

"Yeah, it is,"

My eyelids dropped shut once more with Paige's body tightly wound around mine.

The clank of Paige's shoes on the hardwood floor send relief surging through my veins but it was quickly replaced with hatred as I looked up from where I was seated on the ground and saw my father with a black belt in his hand and a smirk on his face.