"Are you gonna be a good girl for daddy?"
"No, daddy, no!"
Scarlett sat up in bed. She was sweaty and the feeling of fear was strong. An arm wrapped around her waist and dragged her back down.
"It was just a nightmare, darling," her boyfriend Brian said.
He held her tight and kissed the top of her head. He was always so good to her and she was grateful that her nightmares hadn't scared him away.
Lately she had been having them more frequently. For the past week it had been every night. He had stopped asking a long time ago what they were about. She wanted to tell him, she really did, but certain things were just too hard to talk about. He had accepted that and instead just made sure always to be there for her and hold her tight whenever the nightmares took over.
She sighed and got out of bed. He watched her through the darkness.
"Come back to bed, darling," he said.
"I'll be back in a minute. I just need something to drink," she lied.
He sighed as he watched her leave the room. He knew she wouldn't come back. She never did. She would stay up all night and look like crap in the morning from lack of sleep. He wasn't completely sure what the nightmares were about but he had a feeling. She sometimes talked in her sleep when the nightmares occurred and he didn't like at all what he was hearing.
"No, daddy, no!"
He hated those words. He never told her that she would whisper, speak or sometimes even scream those words. He wondered what her father might have done but the thoughts alone hurt him too much. Somewhere he knew. Somewhere deep inside and it broke his heart.
If he was right in his suspicion, it made sense why the nightmares were starting to happen every night. They were about to take a trip to her childhood home. He had never met her family before even though they had been together for almost two years. She had never felt the need to go back home and introduce him to them. But now with her brother's 40 year old birthday happening tonight, they were going there.
He gave up trying to fall back asleep and walked out in the kitchen to her. She was already brewing coffee. She was sitting by the table, chewing on a fingernail. He walked over to her, wrapped his arms around her, pulled the finger out of her mouth and kissed her neck.
"You know you can talk to me about anything, right?" He asked.
"Yeah, I know. It was just a nightmare. Nothing to worry about," she answered.
"You've been getting them a lot lately," he said.
"No need to remind me," she said.
He sat down on the chair next to her, took her hands and looked her deep in the eyes.
"Don't push me away. No matter how bad it is, I won't go away. I promise," he said.
"I know," was all she said.
She put her hand on his cheek and gave him a weak smile before standing up.
"I'm gonna go shower," she said and walked out of the kitchen.
She locked the bathroom door behind her. She didn't usually do that but she didn't want him to come in there this morning. She turned on the water and as soon as she felt it on her skin, she broke down. She sat on her knees under the warm water, sobbing into her hands. His words kept roaming in her head.
"Are you gonna be a good girl for daddy?"
