Time Child

Chuckles and Midnight Tea

 A nightmare pushes Greta to the kitchen in the middle of the night and the chuckle Sara heard happens.

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She screamed, her hands curling into fists as her knees bent and she crashed to the floor; the veins on her neck throbbing as her lungs contracted and she felt like her throat would burst from the agonizing pain; she felt the tears rushing down her face, her eyes shut close so hard she could see light stars behind her eyelids as her roar echoed through the house.

Her mother dived to hold her, wrapping her warm arms around her shoulders and pulling her towards her chest as the young woman replaced her scream with sobs and wails; she grabbed the fabric of her mother's shirt as hard as she could, feeling her world around her spinning out of control as her ears began to ring.

"I'm so sorry" whispered his voice from somewhere behind her, but she could only feel her heart beating madly in her chest, she felt the fabric of her mother's shirt rip under her nails and...

Greta gasped as she sat bolted, sweat dripping down her neck and her chest, her hands clinging to the sheets around her as her chest rose and fell rapidly; she felt the sting of tears rolling down her face. The darkness in the room provided a strange comfort as Greta unclenched her right hand from the covers, her fingers aching as she stretched them, she had been holding to the covers tight enough to make her knuckles hurt; with a rapid movement she cleaned the tears away from her face with the back of her right hand and uncurled her left hand from the covers, her legs kicking the sheets away from her almost at the same time her brain started to work once more.

"It's fine" she whispered into the dark room "I'm fine" she took a deep breath just like her mother had taught her how to do; the nightmares had stopped a few months after her the funeral but they had come back like a tidal wave now that she was on the Waverider and the only thing she was glad at the moment was that she had gotten a room so far away from the rest that no one could hear her scream in the night.

The young woman swung her legs over the edge of the bed and pushed herself up, the sooner she got herself busy the sooner she would forget about the nightmare, the sooner she would forget about the pain in her chest and everything that always came from remembering that day.

"Gideon, lights please" as soon as the words left her lips the lights chased away the shadows of the room and Greta squinted as she hurried towards the bathroom.

She turned on the faucet and cupped her hands under the water, she closed her eyes and after a quick breath through her mouth, she splashed the water over her face; the water cleansing the feeling of the tears that were starting to dry over her cheeks and its coolness felt like heaven against her skin that felt like it had been set on fire.

Greta pushed her hair back and tugged it high into a ponytail, she took a deep breath and looked at herself in the mirror, she looked better than a few minutes ago, her cheeks were a bit puffy but that would disappear in a few minutes; she smiled and walked out of the bathroom, Gideon turning off the light as soon as she was out. With the ponytail bouncing behind her, she walked towards the door and it opened for her as she walked out of the room, the halls had the dim lights on, but it really didn't matter, she was pretty sure she would be able to make her way to the kitchen almost with no lights on by now.

The blond curled her hands into gentle fists, grabbing the long sleeves around her fingers, she had always liked when the sleeves were longer than her fingers; her bare feet making almost no sound as she took a curve and saw the lights from the kitchen on, she didn't give it much thought as she took a curve and slipped into the room smoothly.