𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒍𝒇 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 ➪ «𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑦𝑙 𝑑𝑖𝑥𝑜𝑛»

ch. IX pt. II

oOo

Hazel-green eyes blinked away the last grains of fuzzy dreams and blissful sleep. They glanced around a couple of times, trying to discern the time of day; the darkness in the tent proved to be answer enough.

She rarely slept well and it was still night-time, so who the fuck was disturbing her with that infernal noise?

Alice groaned and punched the ground near her head. Why couldn't people just let her sleep?

She sat upright like a coiled spring set free and glared at her siblings; one of them was the culprit. She adjusted the fabric wrapped around her hair and groaned again.

It was Diana. She was the little shit at fault. She was lying on her side, facing her. Her whole body trembled, and from what Alice could discern in the dark, her face was twisted in an expression of agony. The whimpers and sobs that had awakened her were her sister's.

Alice didn't know what to do. Should she just let her sleep, innocent but annoying victim to nightmares that caused her to cry in her sleep? Or should she be a good little sister and wake her up? But if so, what then? She could pretend to be asleep and let Diana deal with it alone. But then she would most likely continue to cry and that would be even more annoying. Maybe she could wake Felix up and convince him to deal with it.

More heart-lurching sobs brought Alice out of her thoughts. She bit her lip and scratched the side of her neck.

Well, she guessed it was no fun seeing her sister suffer if she wasn't the one causing her pain.

So, good little sister it was.

Alice grimaced and shoved Diana awake.

The girl woke up with a bloodcurdling scream that caused Alice to jump and scared Felix awake. Great.

While Felix gathered his wits, Diana seemed to unravel further. She kicked everything away from her and herself out of her bedding. Alice managed to avoid a slap, but Felix had been less lucky.

Diana heaved and panted and sobbed, all at once. She was a mess of sweaty skin and tousled hair and wide eyes.

"Stop that," Alice commanded pitilessly, and it seemed to work; Diana stopped her thrashing around and sat in the midst of the chaos she'd created. Alice saw her eyes darting around and once her surroundings set in, she relaxed visibly; her shoulders dropped from their tense posture and her expression became less wild and more exhausted.

Alice glimpsed over at Felix, who looked bewildered back at her, a silent question of 'what the hell is going on' clear on his face. She shrugged, not really feeling up to explaining, and turned to her sister.

"The fuck was that about?" she asked. She remembered the morning of two days ago when she'd also woken up to Diana having a nightmare. She'd never thought it'd become a regular instance. She hoped it wouldn't, it was messing up her sleep schedule more than usual.

Diana didn't answer, she just pushed her legs up to her chest and hugged herself into a tight little ball of pure 100% infuriating sister material.

Alice resisted the urge to slap her, so instead, she groaned and hissed between teeth, "Talk to us about it."

The older girl looked up at her from under her eyelashes. She looked absolutely miserable; what a pain in the ass this girl was! "It's okay, I don't wanna talk about it." Even her voice sounded all weak and hoarse.

Alice might come to regret this, but right now, it was time for her to rise to the occasion and be The Good Sister™. "Did I make it sound like a question? I meant it as an order. So spill it."