You're Not Alone (Austin Carlile)

30. Love.Sex.Riot

Title credit: Issues

Austin's POV:

One day later

"You're going to be fine, I know you will." I hold Holly's tense hand in mine in the waiting room. Today is the big day, not only is Holly nervous but I'm nervous. I try to erase the worries from my mind as I think back to yesterday, we spent all of the visiting hours together. We talked about a lot, mostly about her and what's been going on with her nightmares and just being here in general. There wasn't much to say about me, I just wanted to make sure my girlfriend was okay. She is getting better, a lot better. Hopefully the doctor can tell me at some point when she can come home, but not to Ohio, or the tour bus, home; with me in Cali. I've talked to Keirsten and Mandi about it and they think it's for the best, I don't want her hours and thousands of miles away when she needs me the most. She deeply exhales, causing me to snap out of my trance and look at her. She looks over at me, in return I give a small smile and she rests her head on my arm. I love having her so close to me, I missed it a lot.

"Cipolla, Holly." A nurse calls out, causing Holly to tense up.

"Easy." I rub her shoulder and stand up with her. "Everything will be okay, I'm right out here." She nods her head and wraps her arms around me in a tight hug, then she walks off with the nurse, through the door and out of my eye sight. The agonizing wait starts now.

-

Hours pass by, people come and go out of the office before I hear word from the nurses or doctor.

"Austin?" I look up to see the doctor himself. I feel relieved. "Follow me." I jump up without hesitation and follow after him down several hallways, turning left and right a few times in the process before we get to a room, which I take Holly is in. We walk in and she is sitting in a chair, her back to us, in front of a desk, which I take is Dr. Russo's. She is also back in her regular clothes. I sit down beside her and intertwine our fingers. We look at each other, I give her a small smile and reassuring squeeze of her hand and then look at Dr. Russo.

"We had to do several scans on her brain, but we do have the results. We diagnosed her with Nightmare Disorder." Her doctor says to us. Holly's grip tightens on my hand, so I decide to speak up.

"Well, what is it?" I ask quietly, since Holly looks a little too shocked to speak.

"Nightmare disorder, is also known as 'dream anxiety disorder'. It is a sleep disorder characterized by frequent nightmares from overly traumatic events. The nightmares, often portrays the individual in a situation that jeopardizes their life and or personal safety, usually occur during the second half of the sleeping process."

"So that means?" I ask, not really understanding what he's talking about. Doctors are way too smart.

"Nightmares occur within many people, but those people with nightmare disorder experience them with a greater frequency. The symptoms include that during the nightmare, the sleeper may groan and move slightly, or in her case, scream. The individual is often awakened by these threatening and frightening dreams and can often vividly remember their experience in the dream. Upon awakening, the sleeper is unusually alert and oriented within their surroundings, but may have an increased heart rate and symptoms of anxiety, like sweating. They may have trouble falling back to sleep for fear they will experience another nightmare, thus explains Holly's insomnia. A person experiencing nightmare disorder will have trouble going through everyday tasks; the lack of sleep and anxiety caused by the fearful dreams would prohibit the individual from completing everyday jobs efficiently and correctly." (Got this information off a professional website). He takes a deep breath, I don't blame him, that was a lot to say. I look over at Holly and she is just blankly staring at the wall behind him.