InsaneJournal

"can you feel that?"
Who: Dani, Caroline, and Scott
What: Dani wakes screaming and paralyzed from a nightmare
When: Two days ago, I forgot to post!
Where: Dani's house
Status: Complete
Rating: PG-13



It was snowing, and cold, and there was a gigantic bear. The bear had claws that were bigger than she was. They glimmered against the inky blackness that made up the bear itself, which seemed to waver a bit, like it was there, but almost wasn't. Though she was certain she'd never seen a bear like that before, she was also certain that she had. In that moment, the bear had been a long time enemy of hers, had hunted her her down in her dreams, chased her and tormented her, and this was to be their final confrontation.

She knew she had to face the bear, and she knew she had to face it alone. There was a moment where she seemed to be showing the bear something, but it ended up being a picture of herself. There was a mighty battle, and what seemed to be a victory. The sweat on her body was freezing in the coldness of the blizzard around her. She panted for breath, weary after the fight, but filled with relief and glory over the fact that she'd won.

What followed was unimaginable pain. She couldn't move, the snow around her body was freezing, and she knew she was dying. The bear was too strong a foe to be taken down by her alone. It had won.

A scream reverberated through the house at what was, to most people, considered to be an ungodly hour of the morning. It was loud enough to wake the person who'd done the screaming up, but the pain that had ripped through her in the dream had followed her to the waking world, and Dani found that she couldn't move. She stared up at the canopy over her bed in utter terror, tears streaming unchecked out of her eyes.

It was loud enough that it sent Caroline thrashing out of bed like the ghost of elvis had landed on top of her. Whatever had caused it it had prevented her from knowing what was coming next - and she was perversely grateful. She crawled up the side of the bed and looked at Dani, "Danielle?"

The scream had jerked Scott out of his own dreams. Not a nightmare, but not exactly welcome, either. He grabbed his gun out of the drawer and ran up stairs, wearing only a pair of blue boxers.

Caroline shook Dani carefully, then glanced up when Scott burst into the room, "Whoa don't shoot!"

"It's coming it won it's still out there somewhere oh gods," Dani muttered, somewhat in a panic. The words slurred together a bit and she felt like she was still trapped in the bed somehow, paralyzed with fear and pain. She couldn't even feel her legs, and let out a paniced noise as she tried to move them.

Ignoring the very naked state of the women, Scott put the gun down and came over. He handed a robe to Caroline, who was checking Dani's eyes for dilation. Scott smoothed down some of Dani's hair, "It was a dream. It's not out there. Nothing's out there."

Somewhere in the back of her mind she'd register that she absolutely hated being this weak in front of other people, but for now, she was still trying to muddle through everything. The tears welled up a bit more as she whispered, "It killed my parents."

"A bear did, yes, but it's not here." Caroline said softly. She pulled the robe on and pinched Dani in the thigh, "can you feel that?"

"No, it... it really did, it was... I can't..." Dani frowned and shook her head, then looked over at Scott, "I know I sound crazy, are you sure it isn't?"

But it made no sense that a gigantic, demonic bear would actually be outside on her lawn. There had been a blizzard, and there was no way that a blizzard was actually happening right there in the beginning of a California summer. She shook her head at herself, and closed her eyes, "This is really embarrassing."

Scott couldn't answer that. Not that she sounded crazy, but that she didn't sound crazy, not to his ears. He'd had too many dreams without explanation. He could however reassure her, "If it makes you feel better, after most of my dreams lately I wake up blind."

Caroline looked between them, then rubbed her hands together.

The urgency of the dream was quickly fading away now, taking the pain she'd felt with it, and Dani let out and extremely relieved sigh as she managed to wiggle her big toe a bit. Mostly what she felt now was embarrassment, though there was some lingering fear. A bear HAD killed her parents. She didn't want to think about how connected the two events might be.

She reached up a hand to wipe some tears off her cheek, and nodded, "It kind of does, actually. That sucks though, sorry."

She wanted nothing so much as to pretend the last 5 minutes had never happened, so she glanced at Caroline and grinned a bit, "I know that look. That's the 'there's science to do' look."

The fact she'd woken up paralyzed was fascinating to Caroline, who wanted to study the scientific aspects of this. Oh a part of her heart went out to Dani - it was hard not to with how close they'd been.

But mostly? Science.

Scott looked between them, then held up his hand, "I'll uh, just go downstairs, if that's all right with you two. Do you want anything?"

Dani shook her head, "I think I'm okay."

She watched him get up to leave, and grabbed his arm, "Scott? Thank you. For running up here with the gun and everything."

It was very nice to know that he was that quick to come to the defense of people in the house, even if he wasn't directly in any danger.

Scott gave her a smile, "No need to thank me. You ladies have fun." He picked up the gun, checked the safety, and then walked out of the bedroom.