8 Nightmares

James could only sigh with her reaction to him drinking. Humans were truly strange and pathetic creatures.

As he sat down on his bed to sleep he rubbed his eyes. Opening them he watched the blank, blue jewel tone wall. Blinking he laid down. What was he going to do? The first day had been nearly intolerable with her constant wheezing; how was he going to manage six more.

His lids closed and his mind drifted to dark memories.

He awoke in a cold sweat, his heart and head still pounding from the screams. He looked up to the door when the screams still continued.

He ran through the hotel room until he arrived at her room. He paused for only a second before he threw the doors wide open.

He ran to the bed, her hands were frantically wiping at her body and clawing at her eyes as though they were trying at remove something. Her eyes were squeezed shut and her mouth was releasing loud piercing screams.

He grabbed her frail shoulders and shook her. Her screams faltered and her eyes snapped open. Her tears had reddened her eyes. Eyes that were so similar to his. So lost.

"Stop, there were too many…" She mumbled in a hysterical voice, "T-too many…"

"Too many of what?" He asked harshly, although he was curious as to what she'd been so terrified of.

She closed her eyes again as is she was blocking something out. Grasping the side of her head she kept shaking it and whimpering.

He rolled his eyes and left the room. When he got back to his own room at the other side of the suite he saw that it was only one in the morning.

With an annoyed groan he collapsed onto the bedsheets.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Spiders. Spiders in my eyes. Spiders in my mouth. All over every inch of my body. Biting and crawling.

This was one of El-kor's hallucinations that he'd show. In my dreams the blindfold was always off. I could see them everywhere.

I swallowed hard to fight the building fear and hysteria that was threatening to drown me. My entire body was shaking. I don't know if James coming in had been a dream or real. But if it had been real then I'm humiliated he might've seen me like this.

After trembling nonstop and not being able to block the images from my mind for an hour, I took another sleeping pill and tried to relax.

I woke up at my normal time, five. And got dressed. My normal clothes were sweatpants and any shirt that I could put a sweater overtop of. I searched the hotel room but found that James wasn't awake. Fine by me.

I took one of the blankets from my room and tucked myself in on a chair with a coffee table pulled up for a footrest. I then proceeded to turn on the TV. Switching on, Leave it to Beaver, I sat down and watched it while my hands worked on a sudoku puzzle.

After hearing heavy footsteps I could only assume that James was up. I didn't look in his direction and focused on my sudoku and show. My grandma had watched Leave it to Beaver and a few other older shows with me. I used to wake up early quite a bit. My mind began to wander and I stared at the blank page.

My mind was interrupted by James roughly asking, "What would you like for breakfast?"

I thought for a second, 'Nothing.' I answered and turned back to my work.

"Is that a no?" He asked darkly.

I glanced up at the TV, 'What do you think it is?'

He grunted and walked away, to the kitchen most likely.

While he ate in the dining room I continued to watch the TV. Perry Mason was on now and next would be Matlock. I'd given up on my sudoku when my hand began to hurt. Now it was to the point that I was gritting my teeth.

I didn't want to move but I knew that the only way it would go away was if I had some painkillers. My focus was no longer on the TV as throbbing pain shot through my arm.

The phone rang and James got up, his movement announced by the screeching of his chair.

"Hello." He answered as he scratched his beard, "Hello, Alpha. Yes, everything's been fine so far. Yes. Yes. Yes."

I sighed, 'What was Thresh asking?' I wondered. I urged myself to ignore the mind numbing pain in my hand, but despite my wishes a sharp gasp left my lips when I tried to move it.

James glanced at me and rolled his eyes.

The day passed easily, he spent most of it in his room while I was allowed to rule over the living room. For lunch I had some cheese flavoured rice crackers.

When dinner came round I got a text from Gloria and Duma simultaneously. My brows raised slightly; a planned assault.

The text from Gloria read, (Hi, Brooke. How was it today? Was there anything serious?) I blinked and read Duma's.

(Hey, Parker misses you! Thomas came over yesterday and started packing things up. How you doing?)

I looked out the window. And thought about how to reply. My fingers were cold but I did my best to type.

(Hello, Gloria. Today was quiet and fine. My broken hand flared up but other than that it was good.) I sent it off and began to reply to Duma.

"I'm making chilli for dinner." I tensed at the voice and looked up at James. I hadn't even realized that he'd been there. I began to feel a little anxious. I didn't like being snuck up on.

I returned to texting Duma.

"Is that a yes?" He asked.

I didn't reply and he stormed off.

(I'm doing fine. When will the moving be finished?) And I sent it off.

Flexing my hand and seeing that it didn't hurt I decided to walk a little. The kitchen was filled with the smells of chilli and I wrinkled my nose.

I had never liked chilli. It was too spicy and that many things didn't belong together in one pot.

James served the chilli in two bowls and I walked away.

"So you're not going to eat it?!" He thundered and my steps faltered. I resumed and made a beeline for my room.