Relaxing is Going to be Harder than I Thought

I step out of the elevator and I swear I can't breathe. I see Aaron talking to Carly and Carly is definitely flirting it up.

"Sam?" I hear someone say faintly, I can hardly hear anything. My heart is beating so loud. How could he know that? This just makes me think about everything else about this guy that isn't right.

"Sam?" Like how did he get my notebook the other day? I can't believe I forgot about that. I keep trying to stop Freddie from being rude to him and saying that Aaron is a nice guy that I kind of forgot about it. There has to be an explanation…..

"SAM?" I finally snap out of it and turn to Freddie, who has been calling me this whole time.

"Huh? Yeah, what?" I say. I think I just took my first breath since the elevator.

"Are you okay?" He asks in a hushed tone.

"Yeah, I'm just not feeling well. I think I'm just going to go lie down." I say.

"You sure?" Freddie asks. He puts a hand to my forehead, "You do feel a little warm."

"I'm just gonna go." I say and with that I'm out the studio door and down the stairs. Yes, I do know what I said about the stairs, but at this point I really don't care. My head is spinning and I just need to lie down and I have to stop freaking out. I walk down into Carly's room and close the door. Silent. This is better. I turn on some quiet music and lay down on Carly's bed…..

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I look around and see nothing in the darkness.

"SAM!" I hear a screaming the dark. I know that scream.

"Carly?" I shout into the nothingness. I start running, but I don't know where to or even if I'm getting anywhere at all.

"Sam HELPME!" I hear her shout from the other direction. I can't see anything. I'm running blind. Is Carly okay?

"Where are you?" I shout. I frantically turn every way trying to find something in this darkness. There is no answer. "Hello?" I shout, but I only get my echo returned to me. I'm alone. "Carly?" I try again. Nothing. Not a single sound.

"You're too late." Someone says. A boy's voice, Freddie? I don't know and suddenly everything gets bright and I scream.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I jolt awake and almost shout out loud. I'm breathing quickly and I scan my surroundings. Carly's room. It was just a dream, that stupid dream again. Will it ever end? I see Carly sleeping next to me on the bed. Her clock reads 2:52am. I slept through the whole night; I missed pizza, which is probably why my stomach is growling for food now. I quietly get out of the bed and make my way to the kitchen.

I open the fridge and see my pizza wrapped neatly in plastic, I pull it out and begin eating slices. I'm not a therapist or anything but these dreams cannot be good for me, I need them to stop. Can you stop your own dreams? I have no idea…

"What are you doing?" I hear someone whisper. I practically jump at the sound. I turn and see Freddie in his pajamas looking all tired. Freddie? What in the world is he doing here?

"Geezz Freddie, you scared me half to death. What are you doing here?" I ask.

"My mom got a flat tire on her way home from book club so she just said stay the night because it was already late, so I just crashed on the couch."

"You live right across the hall…. Why didn't you just crash in your room and then your mom would have just gotten home whenever." I say.

"Yeah right, like she would let me sleep alone in our house." He says and grabs a piece of my pizza.

"So you just crashed here instead?"

"Pretty much." He says.

"Wow Benson a sleepover on a school night? You rebel." I tease.

"Yeah yeah. So are you feeling better?" He asks.

"Yeah much, I think I just over worked myself or something" I say, not wanting to think about everything again.

"Just take it easy for a while." He says.

"I will." I finish my pizza and walk towards the stairs to go back to Carly's room. I look at the door; this is the first time I'm not sleeping on the couch watching that door. What if something happens?

"I'll watch the door Sam" Freddie says as if he read my mind, "No man is a match for me" He jokes with this ridiculous fake jock voice. I laugh. "Goodnight Sam."

"Goodnight Freddie" I say and make my way to Carly's room. I quietly lie back down in the bed and shut my eyes.

"Sam?" I hear a very tired Carly say.

"Yeah?" I turn to face her. Her eyes are closed, she is just mumbling in her sleep.

"You know you're my best friend right?" She mumbles. I smile, who doesn't love a sleep talking Carly?

"Yeah I know." I say.

"I love you Puckett. Goodnight." She says almost inaudibly.

"Love you too Shay. Night." I say and close my eyes for the night.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"I see, so long have you been having this dream?" Ms. Harris asks. I'm sitting in a funky lounge chair in our school therapist's office. I mean Ms. Harris is our school therapist so she would know something about these dreams right? Well it seemed like a good idea to me.

"For a few days." I say.

"So since you got back from the hospital?" She asks.

"Yep. And it is always the same one, over and over."

"Well Sam, it's not uncommon for people to get nightmares after a traumatic experience."

"So I'm I like traumatized or something?" I ask.

"Well it is different for each person on how their mind copes and tries to heal afterwards. Some people hear different noises or their mind has moments of confusion and cannot tell what's going on."

"Great, so I'm going crazy." I say sarcastically.

"No you're not going crazy Sam. Just think of it as your mind is in alert mode_"

"Well how do I turn it off?" I ask interrupting her. She just smiles.

"It will stop Sam, but if I were to take a guess, you have been a little more paranoid ever since?" I don't answer. "That is just fine. I don't know one person that wouldn't be, but too much stress right now is not good for you. You need to start relaxing and get back into the routine of things at school and home, and then your mind will come out of alert mode, so to speak."

"So if I just relax and not stress as much, the dreams should end?" I ask.

"Yes, but it will take some time. The mind is just like a muscle and it has been strained, in a sense, by everything, so now it just needs time to heal. It will be okay, Sam. It is hard for the mind to keep the same reoccurring dream for a long period of time. Dreams are hardly ever the same and most dreams you don't even remember when you wake up. The same dream does happen sporadically sometimes and in your case, you keep thinking about this over and over, that it is the one thing your mind can easily go back to when you fall asleep. Does that make sense?"

"Not really." I say with a smile. I tried to follow what she was saying, but it didn't work out that well.

"Well you can first work on relaxing and releasing all the negative stress in your life right now."

"Okay. Got it." I say standing up. I have to go to my locker and then English. I'm already late, not that I care, but I told Carly and Freddie I would meet them in there. They think I'm in Franklin's office talking about something or another, I can't remember what I told them.

"Okay, well you have a good day Sam." Ms. Harris says with a smile.

"Later." I respond and walk out the door towards my locker. So I just have to relax. I can do that. It is the weekend; I'll stay at Carly's and have a nice calm weekend to help stop this nightmare thing. I grab and shove books from my locker into my backpack.

"Hey you." I hear someone say behind me. I shut my locker and turn to the voice. Aaron is walking up to me. Oh great.

"Hi" I say uninterested and start to walk past him, but he stops me.

"Whoa, what's the rush?" He says.

"Nothing, just gotta get to class."

"You don't seem like the kind of girl that would be so keen on going to English."

"Yeah, well." I say and try to get past him again. No luck. If he is smart, he'll get out of the way.

"So what happened to you last night?" He asks.

"I didn't feel well, so I went into Carly's room to lie down and I must have fallen asleep." I finally get around him and make my way down the hall to class. Yep, he didn't get the hint; I hear Aaron right behind me.

"Oh well I hope you_" I really stop listening to him at this point. My mind goes back to all the questions from last night. I try to keep my heart from racing again. I just have to know…. Urrrggghhh, this is not helping my stress levels. He is still rambling about something. Enough is enough.

"How did you know about my mom?" I turn as I say it, practically crashing into him. I can't even tell if he understood what I said because I talked so fast.

"Huh?" He says.

"How did you know that my mom hasn't called me? There is no way you should know that. And how did you get my notebook the other day? You better explain right now because you are officially creeping me out." I say, almost all in one breath.

"Sam, I found your notebook on the floor by your locker, it must have fallen out and Carly mentioned your mom last night in the kitchen. You were talking to Freddie." He says matter of factly. Oh crap… crap. Now he must think I'm crazy. Nice Sam, just accuse him of everything. I basically just called him a stalker!

"Oh…." I say, "I just….. you must think I'm crazy…. I've just been on edge lately and you were saying this stuff and I didn't know, I just_"

"Sam calm down." He says, interrupting my rant. "Its fine" He smiles at me. I give him a small smile in return and start to walk away. Yeah, I'm definitely late for English now. I hope Carly and Freddie don't bother me with questions.

"Hold on a sec, Sam" Aaron says.

"Yeah?"

"I was just wondering if you wanted to go get smoothies after school today?"

"Uhhh…. Yeah. I'll tell Carly and Freddie."

"Actually I was thinking you and I can just go." He says. His hands are in his pockets and he seems nervous. It is kind of cute, seeing him all shy and flustered. Hold on… is he….?

"Like a date?" I say plainly.

"I guess." He says. Good idea? Bad idea?

"Well it's just that Carly is kind of into you…" I say. That's true. Why is he even asking me out? I thought he and Carly hit it off. She was all over him yesterday. I cannot do this to her. Plus, I'm not even attracted to him. He is not my type, not that I really have a type, but if I did, it wouldn't be him.

"Carly is nice, but I just don't see myself liking her, you know?" He says. I don't respond. What can I say? I mean this is my best friend we are talking about.

"Aaron, I don't_"

"Friends?" He says, "We can be friends can't we?"

"Well yeah" I say.

"So smoothies?" He asks again.

"Yeah, smoothies." I say.

"Sounds good, see you later Sam." He says and heads down the other hall to class. Man, it's going to be a long day.