Beautiful Memories • Carl Grimes

Chapter 8

Kate's POV

Horrible dreams disrupt my sleep schedule that night, and I wake up around 2-4 in the morning, drenched in sweat. A thought was haunting me and keeping my brain occupied. Those people. Where they the people from the camp by the pond? I sit up and pull my knees to my chest, tugging the blanket up to my chin as I think about my nightmare.

My body shivers with adrenaline as I gather my thoughts. I press my fingers to my temples, wishing they would go away. A small gust of wind draws my eyes to the other side of the room.

Carl is wide awake, propped up on his bed with his shoulder leaned against the wall and his eyes attached to the trees outside the open window beside him. He has a lit cigarette between his fingers. Sophia is snoring lightly, her face smashed against a pillow.

I watch intently as he brings the cigarette to his lips and slowly inhales. Then he proceeds to smoothly exhale a large cloud of smoke, which gets sucked out the window immediately. It doesn't phase him one bit. His eyes remain glued to the sky, though I know he's aware that I'm awake and studying him.

He lowers the cigarette and fiddles with it between two fingers. "Have you ever had a fear that made no sense at all to you? Something completely irrational and yet you're still terrified of it?" he questions randomly, his eyes not once straying away from the stars.

I slow my breathing and steady my voice. "Spiders," I admit.

He chuckles and it makes my skin tingle. "Same here. Those eight-legged assholes."

"Why did you–"

"You were having a nightmare. Was it about spiders? Or something far worse?"

I lay down on my side, still watching him closely. "Spiders hardly compare," I admit.

He nods but doesn't look over. "I doubt spiders would make you mumble as much as you did anyways," he concludes, bringing the cigarette up again and placing it between his lips. I feel my eyelids grow heavy again.

"And what about you? Do you have nightmares?" I mumble just above a whisper.

He lets off a small laugh as if I had just said something with an obvious answer. "Oh Kate," he begins as he finishes exhaling once more. "I'm the king of nightmares."

I feel my heart thump with intimidation when he says that. "I.. I stabbed you." My eyes widen with realization.

"Yeah, no shit," he says sarcastically, holding his hand up so the bandage is in view while he continues to study the moon. "It hurt like a bitch, by the way. Guess that's what I get for knocking you out, huh? Now we're even."

"You're not mad?"

"I'm always mad."

"Oh..."

"But that doesn't mean I can't behave myself at least sometimes. Besides, it was only four little holes."

I shrug. "Well, you did deserve it for what you said in front of Lily."

"Do you think she's scared of me?"

"She has every reason to be."

"Yeah," he hesitates. I can feel sleep enveloping me in its warm arms again. He takes one more puff from the cigarette and then puts it out on the windowsill. Curiosity drags my tired eyes to him flicking the rest of it out into the night. "C'mon, lets go somewhere."

I groan at the thought and he looks at me for the first time since I woke up. The expression is unreadable but his silhouette is calm. "You can go back to sleep if you want. The woods around here hold more secrets than you think."