The Great Awakening

Chapter 4

            “No please stop!”

            She felt the unwanted hands all over her bare body. She tried to push them away but she was restrained. The figures that the hands belonged to were also wearing grins. She looked back at them, frightened as she cowered against the cold brick wall. Then the crowd of dark silhouettes made way for a person. She couldn’t see his face until he came closer, and when he did, she screamed in terror.

            Melissa awoke with a gasp, followed by heavy panting. It took her a moment to realize where she was. It was dark, with the only sources of light being the moonlight and the headlights of the vehicle they were in. The objective finally came back to her when she turned to her left to see Troy looking at her then turning his head back to the road. “You okay?”

            She nodded. “Yeah… I’m fine.”

            Troy sighed, heavily regretting not saving her from the trauma earlier. “Have you always been doing that?”

            “Doing what?”

            “Talking in your sleep?”

            I guess I made a scene when I was out, she thought as she contemplated. She didn’t want to answer. She didn’t want to think or relive the experience. “No… just recently…”

            He didn’t respond, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t listening. He had a few traumatic moments of his own…

            “How long was I out?” She asked.

            “Only about half an hour.”

            “And how long until we get there?”

            “Only about half an hour,” he repeated.

            Melissa scratched her arm before looking at her wristwatch. 2:30am… only a couple of hours until dawn. She sighed and thought about Jayden sleeping… Sleep sounds really good right now… but she didn’t dare venture back to her nightmare. She looked over to Troy, noticing the scars on his face. “Tell me how you got those again?” She asked.

            “What?”

            “Your scars.” She answered.

            “I already told you so many times though…”

            “Just….” Melissa raised her voice slightly then paused for a moment. “Just tell me… I need to get my mind off of ‘things’.”

            He knew exactly the kind of ‘things’ she was talking about. “Okay…

            “So I wasn’t always an orphan like you… I had a loving mother and father. They took care of me, loved me, and raised me until I was four. We lived in Lowsector, in one of the more violent areas. We were happy... content…” Troy didn’t feel much as he retold the story. He was too young to remember his connection between his mother and father, though for a long while, it usually came back in the form of nightmares. From what he was told, they were happy. “Until one night… Someone followed my father in from work. I was in my room, just playing with my toys… then I heard screams. I did what I was told to do: how to react to these situations. I hid under my bed… I remember being so scared. I don’t remember much of what happens next, but I do remember walking down the stairs and seeing my mom and dad’s throat cut…”

            At this point, Melissa was still listening, beginning to feel better about her trauma. She didn’t mentally compare her trauma to his, but by him talking about his tragedy, it made her feel less alone.