through hell and back

please stop screaming

A few weeks had passed by and neither Ed nor Lorraine has mentioned Maurice's exorcism again. After Lorraine unlocking the door and even before the two of them knew, he wouldn't ask and she wouldn't tell him. Although Ed had to admit he was definitely curious because he still worried. But he accepted her decision, he had to. God brought them together for a reason, he kept reminding himself a lot in the last weeks. Lorraine had acted different since. He has accepted it because he knew it would get better. That wasn't the point. The problem was Judy. Their precious little daughter Judy changed as well. These eight days with her mother having isolated herself were giving Judy a hard time. Every night she would lay in her bed and hear the sobbing of her mother and it wouldn't stop. She understood her parents were demonologists or whatever people used calling them. And every time her mother started screaming Judy hid under her blanket and hoped she'll eventually stop doing that. She felt sorry for her mom but was really mad at her at the same time. It was her own fault, she thought. Lorraine knew how dangerous her "job" was so she could face the troubles afterwards. But although the little girl understood a lot, she couldn't imagine what her parents were facing regularly. So she just stayed mad at her mother for locking herself eight days straight. Lorraine didn't notice Judy's madness and that did upset her even more. Her mother was acting quite strange.
It was one of those not-so-rare-anymore-days Judy and Lorraine had been arguing about every slightest thing. Judy lay in her bed and it was already way past her bedtime. She was just staring at the aisle, waiting for her mother to wake up screaming from another nightmare. Lorraine didn't notice how her daughter stopped sleeping at night due to her nightmares and neither did Ed. But Judy felt lucky getting around 2 hours of sleep at night. Sometimes she just felt like napping. She didn't know what was bothering her that much. The fact her mother chose her work over her daughter or that she just cared about herself anymore. While the little girl was staring at the aisle, a lot of thoughts have been wandering through her mind. It was true, Lorraine hadn't properly talked to her since. She just snapped at her and Judy snapped back.
This morning they argued over toast, at noon over Judy hearing music and in the evening over grocery shopping. It was almost ridiculous and every of them knew that. On the contrary Judy talked more often to her father. He seemed so understanding and caring and started doing the things Lorraine used to do.
A single tear slipped out of Judy's eye and rolled down her face. She has missed her mother so much but her mother didn't seem to care. That was what made Judy so mad. Not once since the exorcism of Maurice, Lorraine asked Judy how she was doing. Not once. It was always about her mother. Ed asked Lorraine a lot how she felt. And sometimes Lorraine asked Ed the same question. A few times her father asked how she was doing and even her grandma did. Everyone except her beloved mother. The young girl felt her heart aching at the thought of her mother not loving her anymore.
"It's always just about you.", Judy snapped to her mom as if she actually could hear her.
She sat up and let her tears fall down her cheeks. She didn't had the power arguing with her mother anymore but she wanted to feel loved at the same time. After all, Lorraine was the adult and Judy was the child. Judy just cried for what felt like an eternity and her clock tolled at 3am.
It was when Lorraine woke up, terrified, screaming. She was still lying straight down on the bed but her eyes were opened in fear and she screamed at the top of her lungs. Tears were welling up in her eyes and her vision went blurry. Since the incident she only slept with the lights switched on. It comforted her in some way. But right now she was full of fear. Lorraine felt like she would never stop screaming. She tried to but she was too anxious. She tried to move but she couldn't move a finger. The imagines from her vision were still present and did not leave her eyesight.
"Lorraine..", Ed said and turned around to lay his hand on her shoulder,"shh, honey, it's alright."
He got used to calming her down every single night. That's happened a lot and not just since the exorcism. Ed didn't know what was bothering his wife but for now he didn't ask and he knew he won't do that in the near future or ever. If Lorraine didn't ask for help she was coping with it on her own and if she'd ask for help Ed would be there for her. Lorraine was a smart woman and she sure knew when she needed help and she didn't need any yet. Ed was sure.
He kept talking to her in his calming voice right after she stopped screaming. His thumb was gently caressing her shoulder and he could feel the sharp bone under his touch. His wife was always slim but since she hadn't eaten anything for eight days straight 38 days ago she lost quite a lot of weight. What ever it was that was bothering her, it sure as hell did make her look worn-out.
"I love you", Ed whispered and kissed her temple softly.
Lorraine closed her beautiful eyes again and tried going back to sleep. Her husband instead watched her doing so. He looked at her face closely and realised just now what an impact it had on her physical appearance. No matter how much time she spent asleep she always had dark rings under her eyes. Her face was pale, all the time. Her cheekbones were standing out and her lips haven't smiled in forever. He felt so mad at himself knowing he could do nothing to make his wife feel better. She would have to get rid of the nightmares. All his thoughts were busy thinking about Lorraine and he didn't even waste a thought on his little daughter. He didn't know about how she felt about her mother screaming every night, because he didn't ask.
Judy of course heard her mother screaming. She had put her hands over her ears. She couldn't hear it anymore. Tomorrow the girl would talk to her mother. But just tomorrow. For tonight she was beyond tired as she hasn't slept properly for a while.

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Heyo! First of all if it might seem strange with Lorraine acting weird towards Judy I'll just say that I changed her vision she had during Maurice's exorcism a bit. After all this is fictional and this fanfic is a story I made up basically so for my prompt I needed to change it a bit. And it still mainly will be a Lorraine and Ed fanfic but I don't want things to go to fast, I'm sorry.