Daughter of the Moose (sequel to 'Married to a Moose')

Chapter 18

I fell asleep pretty fast once I hit the bed. I was exhausted. An hour or so later, Dean came in, and I woke up.

"Sorry." He said.

"It's ok Dean. Are you ok? You seem upset."

"Yeah, it's just that I had nightmares again the past couple nights. Don't worry about it. Just know that's why I'm acting weird."

"I'm sorry Dean. You'll get through this. Oh, by the way, I found something in my bag that I forgot was in there that you might like."

"What's that?" He asked. I walked over to my bag, and dug to the bottom. I had an air mattress and pump I forgot to take out from a school trip. He smiled once he realized what it was.

"Thanks Alex."

"Of course. You should be comfortable too."

He pumped it up and quickly went to sleep on it. I, too, however, ended up having a nightmare. I had been shoving thoughts of the day out of my head, but when I was asleep, it was as if they twisted together to form one sick image after another. As soon as I fell asleep, the dream hit me almost like a flashback, but it hadn't ever happened. Dean and I were fighting again, but this time, it was different. Dean punched me in the face and I fell. He just kept kicking me over and over and over again. He wouldn't stop. The pain was crippling. I was physically incapable of doing anything but take each and every blow. My dad was nowhere to be found. Dean kept talking to me, but most of it was unable to be understood. I did, however hear things like "pathetic" and "worthless" and "stupid". I tried to get away, but I couldn't. Suddenly, there was a bright white light, and I thought I was dead and finally free from the pain.

I woke up with a start and nearly head butted Dean as I did so.

"It's ok. It's ok. It's just me. Are you ok?"

"Yeah. I'm ok."

"You were having a nightmare weren't you?"

"Yes, but I'm fine."

"You aren't fine and I bet it was about what I told you a few days ago. Wasn't it?" Dean said.

"Yes it was about you, but not directly about what you told me."

"What do you mean?" He asked, clearly confused.

"I- I" I started to stutter and get a little teary-eyed.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"It's fine. Umm...... I was fighting you again for training, and you punched me in the face and I fell to the ground, which was understandable, but..... You didn't help me up, and you just stood there kicking me and calling me things like "pathetic" and "worthless" and "stupid". And Sam was nowhere to be found. I'm scared about the mark kicking in I think."

He sat with me on the bed, and put one arm around my shoulders. "Hey, I would never hurt you on purpose and I will always try my best to not let the mark get control. I hope you know that. No matter what I do, or you do, you are never pathetic, worthless, or stupid. I'm sorry you're having these nightmares. I never should have told you about all that stuff. That shouldn't be your stuff to deal with."

"I know you wouldn't hurt me on purpose Dean. And it's ok you told me all that stuff. I could see a difference in you once you told me, and it was a good change. A change I'm happy I saw." At that, he just nodded and we went back to sleep. I ended up falling asleep, and slept until after noon. We took that day off from training since my eye was still throbbing. I kept icing it, which slowly brought the swelling down. We decided to resume my training the next day.