At the frat house, they had started out with separate rooms. It had lasted an okay amount of time - but after April and Jackson started dating, the only time April was alone in bed is when he was at the hospital overnight. She was pretty sure he liked her room better not only because it was cleaner, but because she always had a candle lit - it was homey. She made sure of that.
She had a hard time falling asleep last night, whereas Jackson drifted right off. She laid there and stared at the ceiling for hours - literally, hours. They had gone to bed around midnight, and the last time she remembered seeing was 4:32am. And when she did eventually manage to fall asleep, it wasn’t even restful. It was full of nightmares.
April could still see the barrel of Gary Clark’s gun in her mind’s eye. She had stared down it that day last month, and simultaneously stared down death. She had never felt that scared in her life, and she doubted she ever would again.
The nightmares were always the same. Reliving that scene in the breezeway, over and over. Sometimes, he actually shot her. Sometimes not. This time, she woke up screaming and sweating before she found out.
“Oh my- no, please don’t!” she cried, still half gone. Her face was coated in sweat, which plastered her hair to her forehead. “Stop, I don’t wanna die. Please, please, please... I don’t wanna die.”
When she woke up fully, Jackson was patting her cheek with a cool, open hand, trying to lift her to the surface. She was glad that the first thing she saw was his face.
“Sorry,” she breathed. “Another nightmare.”
