Shaded In

Paralyzed

The card game had continued on through the evening, getting laughs out of the teens at the light-hearted questions they had asked each other. Even Luke had joined in after he had finished his work.

After dinner, the group had started a game of Uno, laughs and teasing threats about who would win sounded throughout the living room. They played till it was time to go to bed. Clem and AJ in their room, Luke in his, and Violet and Louis in the living room again. Luke saying how they'ed fix up the guest bedroom for them tomorrow.

It was roughly around two in the morning. The house was now quiet and dark, as the fire had died out hours ago. The only noise was the light breaths and snores that came from the occupants of the cabin.

Clem stirred in her sleep, mumbling something incoherent. Her slight movement turned into tossing and turning, her mumbling turned into short words getting louder and louder, until...

Clem shot upright in bed, and let out a terrified scream. Her heart rate was out of control and her breathing was uneven. Tears streamed down her face, as sob after sob racked through her body. The noise caused the little boy in the bed across from her to wake. AJ sat up in bed still drowsy from being awakened. Then the sound of crying reached his ears. His eyes adjusted and he took notice of the older girl crying on her bed. "Clem? Are-are you okay?" Worry etched across his face he slipped out of bed and approached the girl. He went to touch Clem's arm but before he could Clem's eyes widened in fear and she moved away from him. "No, no, stop! Please stop!"

He could see her form shaking in fear. She was having another one of her panic attacks again. "Don't worry! I'll-I'll go get Luke!" AJ ran out of their room and down the hall into Luke's room.

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Violet and Louis slept soundly on the couches in the living room. Just then Violet was awakened by a scream. She bolted upright and waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness of the room. The first thing she did was look to the other couch to check on Louis. But he was still fast asleep in one of his weird positions, snoring softly. Louis had always been a heavy sleeper, so he hadn't been affected by the noise. Then she heard some other noises coming from upstairs. It sounded like crying followed by footsteps, multiple ones.

She waited for a few minutes, but curiosity getting the better of her, she threw the blanket off of her and started to make her way upstairs. She figured she better go make sure everything was okay.

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Once AJ had told Luke what was going on they both made their way back to the bedroom that AJ had left Clem in. Luke pushed open the door to find the girl curled up on her bed crying to herself, mumbling little words to herself every so often. She had her knees pulled up to her chest and her arms wrapped tightly around them. Luke knew that look. She was frozen in place, the world outside her head was lost and distant. She would no longer feel things until she snapped out of it.

Luke slowly approached her, careful not to scar the girl. "Clem?"

She didn't respond. He went to put a hand on her shoulder, but she recoiled back. "No, don't!"

"Clementine, it's me." Luke tried to calm her down. "Clem it's me, Luke." Even though it was dark he could still see the panic in her eyes.

She looked up at him as if trying to decide if she really knew who this person was. She stood still, scared to move, except for the shaking of her body that she couldn't control. It took a moment before she could snap out of her trance. She jumped up and threw herself into Luke's arms. He was a bit surprised by her sudden actions but hugged her back anyway.

She had a tight grip on his shirt, not wanting to let go. Clem cried into his shoulder, soaking his shirt. "It's my fault! It's-it's all m-my fault!" She cried.