My eyes shot open to the pitch black of my room. I grabbed my phone off the side table, and immediately turned on the flashlight. I threw the blanket off of me and leapt toward the door. I could hear him; something was wrong. I opened the door and darted across the hall to his room. His cries of distress grew louder with every step. When I got to his door, I opened it gently, and I was sure to close it behind me before I crept to his bedside. I put my phone on his side table with the light facing the ceiling, took his arm, and gently shook him while repeating softly in his ear "Chris, you're okay; wake up."
Ever since we both had been admitted to the same psych unit, this has become routine. When one of us senses that the other is having a night terror, we rush to their aide, since the staff doesn't seem to notice.
I gave my messaged about five or six times before he came to. "A-Ash?" he got out in disbelief. He turned his head to face me, and he looked incredibly relieved. "Ashley! Oh my god, Ashley, I am so glad you're okay."
He caressed my cheek as tears rolled down his face. I took his hand in mine and let him sit in silence with me to let him confirm that he was just dreaming, and that I'm alive and with him. After a few moments, I got up and sat at the edge of the bed with him. I wrapped my arms around one of his own and leaned on him. His hand was gently on my thigh. "I—I can't go back to sleep tonight, Ash," he choked out, "I'm gonna have the dream again. I see it every time I close my eyes."
"Chris," I looked up at him. His eyes were calling for help, "When I was little and I had a bad dream and went crying to my mom, she always told me that the dream will never happen again if I tell her about it."
"Ash, I don't know—"
"I think it could help, Chris."
He took a deep breath before he decided to begin. "Okay. I keep flashing back to you and Josh being tied up in the shed on the mountain. Chris in the dream knows that Josh has a fake body set up and knows that the saw won't actually kill Josh, but no matter what I do in the dream, I watch you die. Right in front of me," He spat his words out in between holding back sobs, "I pull the lever toward Josh, put the saw goes toward you. I pull it towards you and the same thing happens. I try to do nothing by running behind the fence and getting you guys down, but then the saw starts automatically and night after night, I watch you get sawn in half, and I'm completely helpless. And if I'm not seeing that, I'm exploring the basement of the lodge, and finding the creepy doll head, turning it around to reveal that it's your head, severed from your body. Sometimes bugs crawl out of your eyes, sometimes blood pours out of your neck… I'm just so happy you're here."
His hand was off of my thigh, and I watched him bury his face in his hands to conceal his breakdown. I held his arm tighter and cried quietly with him. When it got to the point where the only sounds were either of our sniffles, I decided to speak. "Chris," he looked at me, "I know exactly how you feel.'
The look on his face read confused, so I continued, " I get similar night terrors, flashing back to the lodge. Remember when I let you in after the wendigo got the flamethrower man and chased you back to the lodge?" He nodded yes, "I dream of what would happen if I didn't make it in time. I come to the door and see your head, or your headless body, and a few times, I've seen the wendigo slice your head off, right in front of my eyes. That's what I see when you wake me up from my screaming and crying."
Chris put his arm around me and rubbed his hand up and down my arm. "Ash, we're both here, and we're very much alive," He kissed my head before continuing, "And I can't tell you enough how grateful I am for that."