FEAR

Chapter Two

Chapter two

When I woke up, Nate and my mom were on either side of me. They were trying to calm me down, to let me know that everything was OK.

"Did you forget to take your medicine?" Mom asked in a soft voice. I nodded thinking about how I didn't mean to fall asleep. We all knew that without it, the nightmares came on strong.

Mom shook her head and got up off the bed. She walked into my bathroom and came out a minute later with a small glass of water and my pills in her hand. She handed them to me without a word and watched as I swallowed them without complaint.

It was ridiculous how much I had come to depend on the pills over the last two years. Before I got them prescribed to me, I would have nightmares and someone in my family had to sleep with me every night. Now that I had the medicine, I could sleep in peace without having a babysitter. That was, if I remembered to take them.

"I'll sleep with her tonight." Nate told mom. That was when I felt truly pathetic. I was getting so used to sleeping by myself, now I just felt like a child.

Instead of arguing, I rested my head on my pillow and closed my eyes. Being annoyed with them wasn't going to help me. They were just trying to be there for me and the least I could do was not gripe about their help.

Mom kissed my head, then Nate's before she left the room. I turned to see Nate give me a sympathetic smile. "This was a bad one huh?" He asked.

I nodded. "He touched me. I was in the woods and I heard him. At first, I didn't know who he was. Once I realized it, I ran. It didn't help. He caught up to me and grabbed me. I yelled but no one came."

I didn't realize I was crying until Nate wiped the tears away with his thumb. He didn't say anything, only held me until I stopped with the tears.

Right when I started drifting off to sleep, I felt him kiss my hair. For the rest of the night, I slept without dreaming.

The next morning, I got out of bed feeling groggy and disoriented. I went and took a shower while Nate slept in. It was the day that Becca and Sammy were supposed to be coming over. I decided to make my mom, dad, and Nate happy. I walked into my closet with my towel around me and looked for something to wear. It was hard picking out something that would say "Hey I want to fit in. Please like me." but I managed.

I decided to go with a cute white mini skirt, a pale pink halter top, and my white knee-high boots. Since my hair was already naturally curly, I added some gel and hair spray and topped it off with a pink headband.

Looking in the mirror, I couldn't recognize the girl staring back at me. I was so used to wearing worn out jeans and baggy t-shirts that dressing in nice clothes took me by surprise. I wasn't used to seeing myself dressed in something so nice. I finally looked like a girl that wanted to fit in. My family would be proud.

I went to get Kaylee and dressed her in a sundress with a flower headband. She looked adorable with her chunky cheeks and her little blonde ringlets. Once I put her shoes on, we walked down the stairs. Since she wanted to do it herself, I held onto her hand and we took our time getting down.

As we walked toward the kitchen, I stopped her when I heard my name. I could hear my mom and dad talking, along with Jack adding things to the conversation.

"Last night was awful Kyle." Mom cried. "There is nothing I can do to help her when she dreams." Her voice cracked at the end. It made my heart hurt. "She didn't take her medicine Lex. She'll be OK now." Dad tried to sooth her.