Whoa Baby

Chapter 49- Wake Me Up

He never kept that promise.

It was never his last one.

JC, just like after every nightmare stood up to scream. But he realized just in time that he was not in the comfort of his room. So he rolled his face into his pillow and screamed on the top of his lungs. And even that didn't help him. He thrashed around on his mattress, threw his pillow against the closet door, rattling, griping his hands in his hair tightly. With all the noise and movement, Paisley finally stirred slightly awake.

Out of habit she looked over to the crib first, listening quietly for any sounds and then looked down to see JC in his terror state. Her fingers move down, gripping on his arm closest to her. "JC." She calls, shaking him lightly, "JC what's wrong?"

JC stuffs his fist in his mouth to prevent the screams. Paisley slides off her bed, kneeling by JC mattress to comfort him. "JC. What's wrong? You're scaring me." She says to him, shaking his shoulder. He laid there, panting, and she couldn't help but worry more. "JC, open your eyes. Everything is going to be ok." Paisley promised him holding one of his hands he gripped so tightly on.

Slowly he opened his eyes, his breath just a bit more calming. She got him to sit up, and lean his back against the bed. "What just happened?" She asks him, holding his hand and looking at him intently. "Are you alright? Do you need to go to a doctor?" She asks worriedly, not really understanding what just happened.

He shook his head taking long deep breaths. "No. It was just a nightmare." He tells her with a long exhaling breath. Except it wasn't a nightmare, it really did happen, it just came back to haunt him.

"That must have been some nightmare." Paisley mumble, trying to sooth him comfortingly.

He paused, looking in the dark for her, to see if she were really paying attention. "My dad was in it." He admits in a whisper.

She press her lips together not knowing what to say besides, "I'm sorry. But he's gone. You don't have to worry about him anymore." She assure him, holding onto both of his hands tightly.

"It feels too real every time." He mumbles in a slight daze while shaking his head. One of his hands reaches behind his head, his fingers brushing over and over on the same spot.

"This isn't the first time?" She figures, asking him curiously, sitting by his side.

He shakes his head, pressing his finger for the slight dead bald spot on the back of his head where five staples once were years ago. "I'm fine now. You can go back to sleep." He insists, patting her hand.

"How long has this been going on for?" Paisley asks, not ready to go back to sleep with so many questions on her mind. This could be the moment she needed for JC to tell her everything, to tell her why he was so moody all the time, why he can't sleep properly, and everything else that's going on with him.

"I don't know. Frequently now in the past few months. Before it was rare." JC admits, rubbing his eyes. "I didn't mean to wake you." He says.

She shakes her head not really caring about that, "What changed from rarely to frequently?" She asks, still holding one of his hands because it was locked around hers so tightly.

He didn't speak, he just let silence engulf them until Paisley's head felt too heavy to carry and fell to his shoulder. He knew she was out of it by now but he still chose to speak and answer the question that was left floating in the air. "He's coming back." JC whispered sounded scared. "He's coming back."

===

Paisley's POV

The next morning, I woke up stiff. Neck, back, butt, and I couldn't feel my left hand. I picked up my head and realized I indeed fell asleep sitting on the floor with JC. JC, still snoozing, had his head back against the mattress with his mouth slightly parted, holding onto my hand tightly from last night.