Word Count: 1,009

Noll never screams when he awakens from a nightmare. But I just happen to be the one to wake up with him, because of the absolute terror that he manages to send to my brain.

I'm sitting up in my bed. I had turned the lamp that sat on my nightstand on. There were books scattered on the bed, and also papers and my favorite pen. I had fallen asleep while catching up on homework.

The light only managed to make more shadows dance around the room, shadows that are intent on grabbing you and dragging you down into hell. But even so, I felt safer in my ring of light compared to not having the lamp on.

Books fell to the floor as I pulled the covers off of me. I walked to my opened bedroom door and flicked my light switch on. There were no monsters hiding in the corners of the room, since the light exposed everything. Except for under my bed, but I was trying not to be so childish as to look underneath it.

I was quiet as I walked down the upstairs hall and then down the stairs. When I passed the grandfather clock, it read three in the morning. Everything was dark and seemed very much alive.

I kept my eyes focused on my goal. I didn't look at any of the corners, closets, mirrors, or heck, even the opened spot in the middle of the living room looked scary.

I knew there was nothing in this house, but my own imagination could fool me of that.

I turned the kitchen light on, which was still slightly untidy from dinner. The tea pot sat on the stove, and I put the back of my hand to it, feeling the warmth that still sat in the pot.

Martin had been up late working on his lecture notes tonight – I know because I had still been up studying when he went to bed. That was about an hour ago, and I was pleased that there was some leftover tea from the pot that he had made for himself.

I turned the pot on and waited for it to heat up some more. I pulled a mug out of the cabinet, and then leaned against the counter. My eyes flitted back and forth, analyzing anything that moved, not mattering whether it was real or imagined.

I sometimes had nightmares, because a spirit will be trying to show me what happened to them without any of my consent. Most of the time their stories are horrifying enough to truly make me wish I didn't have any psychic power.

But even so, I only got to watch the event unfold in my nightmares. I'm always just on the sidelines.

Noll gets to relive every nightmare with the victim.

I poured the tea and turned off the kitchen light. I carried the cup with me as I walked the stairs and opened the door to Noll's room, which was down the hallway from mine.

I didn't turn on any lights; so I had to rely on my night-vision as I walked through the room. Luckily Noll kept his room tidier than mine.

He was sitting up. He was turning something around and around in his fingers.

I held out my hand for the item, since I knew what it was. The little thing he placed into my hand was a dragonfly barrette, iridescent and eerie in the dark.

I gave him the cup of tea. He gripped the handle hard to stop his hands from shaking. He didn't drink any, yet. He just stared ahead with sightless eyes.

There was something about the black tea that seemed to soothe him after these kind of 'attacks', as I've come to call them. Food and drink are the best things that you could do after out-of-body experiences. It grounded you back to the physical world.

I placed the chair from his desk by the bed, sitting on it and not saying anything. If he wanted to talk about it, he would. Otherwise, I would rather not know what it was.

But I knew from the moment when the terror that radiated across our telepathy link, that we had lost the case.

The little girl, the owner of the dragonfly barrette, was dead.

We had been following this case for three days. We were contacted a day after she was kidnapped. If only they had called sooner, then just maybe we could have –

But it wasn't worth thinking about. It was over. I hoped that we could at least recover the body.

"Are you okay?" I asked, letting the thought drift across the telepathy link.

"I'll be all right," Noll said. He took a couple sips of the tea, just because he knew it would help calm his nerves; he otherwise wouldn't have had any.

I wanted to ask some questions, but I knew it was better to wait until after he had regained his composure. Besides, it was best for him to get as much sleep as possible, since we would have to talk to the little girl's parents tomorrow. There's nothing more energy sapping then saying there was nothing more you can do.

Noll set the tea on his desk and lay down.

I stayed by the bed as I listened to his breath even out in sleep. It was a thing Noll expected me to do – in fact, the very notion of asking me to stay beside him or for me to voice the option would undoubtedly destroy his pride.

So he never asks to stay and I never say I will.

Giving him the tea and keeping a vigil is something I want to do, since I know that he would do the same for me if I was in his position.

I rolled the dragonfly barrette around in my fingers, feeling the residue energy it was laced with.

I clenched the thing in my palm and sighed. Sometimes I wished that I was psychically ignorant.