On The Corner of 44th

May 18th, 12:42 AM

May 18

12:42 AM

An hour and nineteen minutes was the amount of sleep we got. Hope desperately kicked and slapped the tent in her sleep, waking us all up. Francesca groaned, crawling over Xavier and Grace to get to the frail, light haired girl. Carefully, Francesca straddled Hope and grabbed her swinging arms, pinning them down. "Hope, you're dreaming! Stop!" Fran hissed at her. Hope went limp and went back to a peaceful sleep. Fran rolled back over, cuddling into her enormous pillow and closing her eyes. I had stayed awake, feeling slightly uneasy and uncomfortable. Just as everyone tarted to dose back off, the tent shook. I sat up as the other five groaned. They all stayed where they were, too tired to budge, but I knew something was wrong. Hope was crying, her legs kicking and while one hand covered her eyes, the other pleadingly reached for her left leg. It was my turn to crawl over; I grabbed her hand and held it.

"Hope? Hope, you're okay. It's only a dream!" I whispered. Hope was in such a state of terror she wasn't waking up. I knew from past experience that it wasn't a nightmare. Nightmares are something you wake up from. Night terrors grab you and pull you under, like you're drowning and can't fight it.

Everyone gathered around, scared as our friend screamed and cried in her sleep. Grace, being the smartest of us all, pulled out her phone and began her research. "You can't wake her up, if you do she can hurt herself or others. Only one person can talk to her; let Vanessa do it, she knows what she's doing!" I hushed those around me and rubbed circles on the back of Hope's hand with my thumb.

"The shark... The shark... I was drowning and the shark... My leg!" Tears flooded out from under her eyelids.

"Hope, the shark is gone. Everything is okay," I tried.

She let out a sob and reached for her leg again. Grace and Xavier left the tent, calling Hope's best friend, Ari. Granted it being past 12:50, this was considered an emergency. "My leg... My leg is gone... The sun is too hot," Hope covered her face with both hands, panting for air. I looked to Francesca, who was blaming herself for when she sat on top of Hope, thinking that she was the one that triggered the dream of drowning. I asked for her water bottle, which she reluctantly handed over, and gently held it to Hope's forehead. "The sun... The shark got my leg..."

"Hope, it's Henry. You're dreaming." Henry touched her leg and Hope immediately began to freak out.

"Don't touch me! Get off of me! Don't touch me!" She began flailing her arms and legs around. Xavier and Grace came back, unsure of what to do.

Grace threw her phone into the tent, landing it on her pillow. "Ari said she couldn't help. She said this has never happened before."

Hope began to kick harder and scream louder. Henry and I backed away to avoid getting hit. She wasn't listening to what we were saying, she wasn't understanding it. So from the new distance, I called to her. "Hope!" I put authority into my voice, making my voice deeper, praying that it would work, "Hope!"

Suddenly, her eyes opened. She gasped for air and leaped forward, holding onto my legs. "Vanessa, what happened? Where am I?"

Everyone let out a breath of relief as Henry soothingly rubbed circles onto her back. "It's okay, Hope. You had a bad dream, you're in the tent with me, Fran, Xavier, Henry and Grace. We're going to take you inside, okay? So that you'll be in the air conditioning," I said calmly, helping her off the ground with Henry. Xavier and Henry took over bringing her inside; Grace, Fran and I followed.

As Hope was laid out onto a futon, Fran looked at us and said, "It's my fault she was drowning in her dream. I sat on top of her, I was the undertow. I'm going to stay with her tonight to make sure she's okay." The two boys, Grace and I all nodded and went back outside to the tent. As soon as their heads hit the pillows, they were out like a light. But something in the pit of my stomach didn't feel right. I quietly snuck back out of the tent and into the house, where I slept on the couch outside the room were Hope and Francesca stayed together.