Prompt #6

The Prompt: Terror in the night

She woke up, her throat raw from screaming and entangled in her sheets. Eileen struggled for a moment, freeing herself from the suffocating blankets. They fell to the floor softly and she pulled herself up, glancing around the room in fear.

Shadows played across the walls and Eileen continued to breathe heavily, even as she reminded herself of where she was. Her dorm room. Everything was fine. It was a new place, but it was nothing to be frightened of. Everything was fine.

The light flicked on and Eileen winced. She’d screamed. Again. At this rate Hadley was going to switch rooms before the first month had passed. “You okay?” Her roommate asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes.

Eileen’s face burned. She knew she looked awful, sweaty and shaking and huddled terrified in the corner of her bed, blankets thrown on the ground in a fit of fear. Using every bit of self control she had Eileen pried herself from the bed frame and deposited her linens on a pile in the center of her bed. Making the bed was beyond her, though, so she just left them there.

“I’ll- yeah. Fine. I’m just going to head down to- yeah,” she mumbled incoherently.

Hadley gave her a small smile and lay back down in bed. She’d grown used to the nightmares after being awakened by Eileen more nights than not. “If you say so. Turn off the light on your way out, would you?”

Eileen nodded and flipped the switch as she hurried down the hall to the bathroom. At three in the morning even the late night partiers were mostly in bed, passed out or simply exhausted after classes. For this Eileen was grateful. The bathroom had become her safe haven in the early hours of the morning.

She sank down against the cool tile, letting her head rest against it. Eileen’s frame began to shake again as her walls crumbled and the true terror set in. This night had been worse than most. At least she usually knew what scared her so much about the dreams- nightmares. There was some detail she remembered.

But there was nothing. Not a whisper, not a hint. Just that feeling of utter fear as she awoke.

The nightmares were like panic attacks. They’d only started once college began and Eileen had to move in with her new roommate. The first night it had happened she’d been mortified. Now she just kept hoping they would go away.

Eileen felt her body slowly begin to still as the sheer panic left, but she was far from fine. It took several more minutes and all the strength in her body to stand up and stumble over towards the sinks. She glanced in the mirror and immediately turned away.

She didn’t need to see her bloodshot eyes or the dark shadows that circled them. She knew they were there. The reminder just made things worse.

Instead Eileen splashed water on her face and let the cold droplets wash away the last feelings of fear. Everything would be fine now that she was awake. The nightmares only came when she was sleeping, leaving her waking hours free to focus on schoolwork. It was only just before bed she began to feel anxious.

Because she couldn’t spend forever in the bathroom, Eileen finally emerged. She didn’t have a choice to go anywhere but back to her room and hoped that Hadley would be asleep by the time she got there. The worst nights were when Hadley tried to talk to her about the nightmares. The only thing worse than being scared was being so humiliated, although sometimes after just waking up Eileen didn’t think there was a worse feeling in the world.

The light was still off when she opened the door and she let out a soft sigh of relief. She really wasn’t in the mood to deal with any kinds of probing questions. They just made things so much worse. Her relationship with Hadley was already awkward enough.

Even though sleeping wasn’t a possibility, Eileen curled up on her bed with a textbook. The least she could was use the next few hours to be productive.

A soft rustling drew her attention after hardly getting through the first page, though. Hadley must have been awake after all.

“You awake?” Hadley asked from across the dark room.

“For a while,” Eileen replied, although she never fell asleep after her nightmares.

“If you ever want to talk-”

“I know,” Eileen said, her face flushing despite the dark room. “You’re there.”

“I mean it,” Hadley said, sounding sincere. “I’m not just going to switch out and leave you alone.”

Eileen winced. Being alone might actually be better than sharing a room, but the thought was nice at least. “Thanks,” she muttered, still feeling embarrassed.

“Don’t thank me,” Hadley responded. “We’ve all got stuff going on. You’re no different.”

Eileen wanted to argue, to say she was different, but she didn’t have the energy. On these particular nights she always felt drained of energy.

After some more rustling, Hadley let out a small sigh. “Night,” she said, her voice muffled.

Eileen nodded. “Good night.” At least Hadley was understanding, if nothing else.