Inside His Basement (Editing)

Chapter 18

Carmen's POV

He needs to stop ringing that doorbell. I didn't expect him to come back home at all. Ivan, without a doubt, is thinking I'm ignoring him, or he's thinking I'm kicking him out when all I'm doing is taking a shit. Giving him a key is going to be put on a to-do list. It's been decided that he lives here, so there's no point in him having to ring the doorbell.

After finishing up in the bathroom, I walk to the front door and open it. A sound close to my ears makes me turn my head in their direction. Ivan is sitting next to the door, his head above his knees and tears streaming down his cheeks.

Sitting down, my knees touching the ground, until I'm face to face with him, I wipe his tears with my sleeve. He brings his head up and his crying dies. His mouth is open, but his shock keeps him silent. I continue wiping his cheeks. A smile replaces his tears.

"I thought you hated me," he says.

"What!? No! Of course I don't hate you! I could never hate you! I was finishing up in the bathroom when you got here!" I look at him, my dark eyes wide.

"I'm glad. It was frightening thinking you hated me."

Ivan's eyes narrow and his head starts to drop. I help him up and bring him inside the house. We go to the bedroom, so I place him on the bed. His eyes shut and I pull the blankets over him. He looks so peaceful when sleeping.

"Sleep tight, Ivan," I say, placing my lips on his forehead. "Maybe I should bring him with me and Jasmine to the restaurant tomorrow. I don't know if Jasmine will like that, but I don't want him to think I'm running from him or that I hate him. I'm sure Jasmine will understand."

Like Ivan's, my eyes start to close. After a few seconds pass, everything becomes nonexistent. Today was more exhausting than I realized.

~~~~~~~~

"Help me! Someone, help me! Please! Carmen!" he cries. "Carmen!" His voice is getting louder.

My eyes jolt open. I turn over on my side, quick to notice a saddening sight. Ivan is drenched in sweat, his arms flailing, close to hitting me in the face. Those beautiful silver eyes of his are still closed. I'm unsure of whether this is another panic attack or something different. If Aunt Silvia were here, I'd ask her.

"Ivan?" I say.

"Ah!"

Instead of staying by his side, I go into another room. This feels like one of those moments where I have to let it go. I shouldn't try to do anything or else I'll end up making it worse. However, it hurts to hear him like this. Looking it up on the computer might help.

I go over to my computer, turning it on. When it's up and running and I have the internet up, I do a brief google search. A night terror, I conclude. After turning off the computer, I go back in the bedroom. Ivan's still flailing his arms and screaming, crying.

"I shouldn't have gotten mad yesterday... I didn't mean for him to think I hated him."

"Carmen!"

I lay back down and wait for Ivan's night terror to end. Minutes pass and the night terror is continuing. Another few minutes pass and still nothing. After thirty minutes pass, Ivan screams come to an end. He doesn't move, but I know that he's awake.

It's relieving that it ended, but I'm still worried. Ivan gazes over the room. When his eyes end up on me, he jumps a little. He gets up and goes over to a corner. Curling up into a ball, I notice the familiarity of this.

Lack of trust.

"Ivan?" I say, my pace slow as I walk over to him. "Are you okay?"

He doesn't look at me. "W-Where am I?" he asks. "Who am I? Ivan?" His voice is a whisper.