the Reckless and the Brave (Sequel to Scream, to be Heard)

The Irony of Choking On a Lifesaver

ALEX'S POV

"It takes my pain away..." my phone blew up next to me, and I cringed as I heard the noise. Every noise was like a thousand bullets to my brain. Make it stop, my brain asked as I answered the phone. "Alexander?" My mother's voice rang through my ears.

"Mom? What's up?" I asked, sitting up and moving Jack's head out of the way. He stirred, but murmured something and his head fell again.

"Heather's turned up over here. I don't know why, but she's somehow found her way over here. Are you fighting or something?" She said.

"No.We haven't fought in awhle. I could've sworn she was in bed. The guys and I were drinking last night but it wasn't too wild. Has she said anything?" I said, finding my keys and walking out to the car.

"No, she won't talk to anyone. She might have said something to your Dad, but right now she's just curled up on the couch crying. I'm really worried about her, honey. Has anything been bothering her lately?" She said. I started the drive to their house, which was about five minutes.

"Nothing I can think of. She's been pretty happy. I'm on my way over, I'll be there in a minute."

"Be careful, Alexander," she said as she hung up. Soon enough I was at their house, and blew through the door like I normally did. Heather was sitting on the couch, curled up into a little ball.

"Heather," I said, walking over to her. She looked up at me, with tears in her eyes. I sighed, sitting down next to her and pulling her into my lap. She put her arms around my neck and started crying softly, about what I didn't know. And she was freezing. All she was wearing was one of my over-sizes t-shirts that went to her knees and a pair of athletic shorts that were Rian's. "Heather, what's wrong baby?" I asked, rubbing her back. She just shook her head and Mom and Dad came into the room.

"There you are," Mom said. "She just turned up here, about five this morning. She didn't say anything to me, but she did talk to your Dad for a few minutes." Dad walked into the room, and looked at Heather sadly.

"Hey, son," he said. "All she could tell me is that it was too much. She just kept saying that she had to get away. I don't know what could be wrong with her." I looked down at Heather, who was curled up and still crying in my lap, shaking her head.

"What's too much?" I asked her quietly. She shook her head again, another tear making its way down her cheek. "Baby, you can tell me." She swallowed and held onto me tighter. "Come on, beautiful. Whatever it is you know I'm here for you. You can tell me anything."

"I just need it to stop, Alex," she finally said.

"What do you want to stop? I promise, whatever it is, I'll stop it," I replied.

"The nightmares," she said quietly. "They're just too much. Every single night. I just want them to stop and they won't. I sound like a freaking five year-old but I just can't stop them." I kissed her forehead, pulling her closer to me. She was having nightmares? Why hadn't she told me? I would have done everything I could to help her, and now it was just about too late.

"Look here, Princess," I said. "I promise, I'm going to stop them. No matter what I have to do I'm going to stop them. Nothing there can hurt you. And they're your dreams in the first place. You can control them, honey. I'm sorry that this is happening, and I'm going to do everything I can to stop them. You could have waken me up. You could have waken any one of us up." She shook her head.

"You would have thought it was stupid," she replied, playing with the hem of my old t-shirt that she was wearing.

"Look at me," I said. She looked up at me, tears in her eyes. "Heather Raeleigh Gaskarth, I will never think anything you say or do is stupid. If you need help in any way I'm always here for you, no matter what. I don't want you to not come to me because you think that I'll think it's stupid. I know everything's tough for you right now. That's what's causing the problem. We can solve it if you'll just tell me the problem in the first place."