13 Reasons Why... I 💓 you

#2

I love you,
Cuz you hold me through my nightmares!

It was the same dark alley... littered with dirt and garbage. A scanty ray of was light coming from somewhere, only barely enabling her to see the ground. Her whole body was trembling with fear and desperation...her legs weak with all the running, shaking so violently threatning to give away. She was sweating profusely... Her hands clammy as she rolled them into a fist to increase her speed, battling even the air in front of her that was thick with moisture... Her nails digging into her palm as she heard the footsteps drawing closer... Her breathing laboured, she shut her eyes to stop the panic from taking over... Her heart was thudding so loud in her chest, it would have been audible from a mile... She felt herself running out of breath and fell on the ground and she felt something touch her back... It was that man, he had finally caught up to her... 'Niti' he called out, his voice hoarse and croaky. She steeled herself, trying to say something but nothing came out...He positioned the pistol on her temple, and then BoOm!!!

"Nit-"

"Haah" she woke up with a start, "huh... wohuh...wooo" breathing and wooshing, bewildered and scared, unable to form any words. She couldn't even make sense of her surroundings. She continued that for a while before she got her breathing under control. Her surroundings started taking shape slow by slow, making sense.

She was at home, in her bed, safe. No one was behind her... no one was gonna kill her. She felt someone stroking her back, calming her down. Obviously it was Parth and she realised he must have been doing this all the while she's been awake, trying to comfort her.

"You okay?" He asked when he saw her look at him intently. She nodded weakly still regaining her strength to speak. Her forehead was sweaty with beads of perspiration. He slowly moved the hair sticking to her forehead and tucked it behind her ear.

"Was it bad?" He tried again.

"Horrible" she answered this time.

"What did you see?" He asked in a concerned voice, shifting closer to her and taking her hands in his.

"Oh the same old thing" she said giving him a tired smile. It had happened for the third time in one week this time and it was always the same dream. It had started nearly a month ago when Niti had suspected someone of following her while she was coming back home from work. It was someone in a black hoodie, she couldn't really see his face. Turned out he wasn't really following her, cause that never happened again. It was an error in judgement but in those couple of minutes she panicked and that fear stayed, no matter how much she tried to rationalise it. It was more frequent at the start, just after... the nightmares had been less frequent since but they were still there and they were pretty intense.

"I feel so tired..." She gulped, her throat was dry, most likely with fear; "I can barely find the energy to speak. It was like... like I was really running and um... fighting, saving my life" she said looking at him with those helpless eyes. It had drained her out, it always did. She had bags under her eyes because she hadn't slept well in days. She wanted this to end so bad. And she couldn't even begin to understand how bad it must be for Parth. He was just as exhausted, she knew, but he never complained.

She felt Parth pull her under his arm, her tiny body easily fitting under his muscular frame. He pressed a kiss to her head, "Come back to bed. I'm here" he said and pulled her back to a sleeping position. She hugged him tight.

"I'm sorry and thank you" she said.

"What for?"

"For all this. This is the third time this week. I don't how you're doing this? But I know it's hard. So I'm sorry I'm putting you through this and thanks for... everything!"

"Shut up and sleep!  I'm sure you would've done the same for me."

And as Niti laid her head on his chest, she let out a silent prayer for having him by her side.