He awoke some time later to a low keening sound. Blinking, trying to adjust to his surrounding, he remembered he wasn't at home but at Meredeth's. At first he thought the sound might have been Arturo, but he remembered Arturo was asleep in Meredeth's office. The sound was coming from Meredeth herself. He propped himself on his elbows, gingerly reached out to feel the outline of her body when he heard it again, the frightened whimper from her as she slept; this time she began to kick in her sleep, like she was lashing out at someone or something. He nearly rolled over and went back to sleep when he heard her whimper, only this time, she was speaking words.
'No, no don't. Get away from me. Get off me.'
Esposito's blood went cold as she began to thrash, her voice getting stronger. Acting on instinct, he flipped on his bedside lamp, grabbed her shoulder to shake her awake.
'Mere, come on wake up.'
'No. No!'
She sat up like a bullet coming out of a gun, legs flailing about as she scrubbed her palms over her arms and shrieked, 'Get them off! Get them off me!'
'Mere, it's okay! It's Javi, it's okay.' He grabbed her shoulders, pushed her hair out of her face and felt his throat slam shut as he saw the stains of tears on her cheeks. 'It's okay,' he repeated, gathering her close. She tried to fight him off but he held on tightly, relief overwhelming him as she wrapped her arms around him and tried to steady her voice.
'I couldn't-they were-they were everywhere.'
'What were?'
'Spiders.'
'Spiders?'
Meredeth nodded. 'Could you get me a glass of water?' She knew she'd scared him, badly, and figured the task would give him a moment to collect his wits.
'Of course.' He went to the kitchen, rattled to the core at what he'd seen her fighting in her sleep. When he went back to her room, she'd sat up, wrapped the bed sheet around her like a cape. Without a word, he gave her her drink, brushed a lock of loose hair off her face as he sat back down beside her.
She polished off the water in a single chugging gulp, set the glass beside her Tiffany lamp. 'Thanks.'
'What the blue fuck was that, Mere? You scared the crap outta me.'
Meredeth smiled weakly. She'd prayed she wouldn't have an episode while he was staying over, but she was thankful he'd been there to hold onto when she'd awoken from her nightmare. 'My mother was a nurse in the Gulf War.'
'Really.' Esposito had no idea where she was headed with this non-sequiter but he figured being a writer, she would wind back to the point. He kept his eyes on her face, his gut clenching as she delicately wiped away tears.
'Yeah. She was in the Air Force Nurse Corps. Second Lieutenant Freja Dakkars Coleman. Her helicopter was shot down over Yemen in January of ninety-one. I'd just turned eleven the November before.' She remembered the way her grandmother had gently sat her down, told her her mother died a hero. 'I'd been living with my grandmother, but my mother had named her sister as my legal guardian. So I went to live with her, and my uncle, and my cousin Colby. Colby was fourteen, and to call him a sociopathic little bastard is being nice.'
Meredeth pulled her fingers through her hair as the memories crept in. 'He was fine enough when my aunt was around, but when she wasn't...he was the nastiest little shit you ever met.'
'I take it the nightmares have something to do with this?'
'He had a pet tarantula he called Baby, and I was already terrified of spiders. He thought at first I was just being a girl but when he started seeing how scared I would get, he turned really mean. He started letting it out of its terrarium and putting it in places he knew I'd be. The first time, I was in the shower and when I pulled back the curtain, he'd left Baby on top of my towel on the sink. I screamed my head off until he moved the damn thing. Another time, he put it in my sock drawer. I started losing sleep, but my aunt figured I was just grieving, told me it was natural enough to be frightened and scared. Then came April Fool's Day.'
She looked so young, Esposito thought, as she relived this hell. He didn't realize he'd reached out to hold her hand until he felt her squeezing his fingers tightly.
'My aunt had gone out to do some shopping, and Colby told me she'd called looking for one of her credit cards in my uncle's jacket, could I get it since he was on the phone with her. I was still naive enough to believe he was just a bully. I went into the closet, and when I went in, he shoved me in and put Baby in on the floor with me and locked me in the closet.'
'Oh Mere.' Twin vines of sympathy for the little girl and rage at the boy who should have known better twisted inside Esposito's chest.
'I was too scared to yell or even move. I must have blacked out, because the next thing I remember I woke up in the hospital. Needless to say, I went back to living with my grandmother, and my nightmares turned into night terrors. Every night I was back in that closet, only instead of it being one tarantula, it was thousands of little ones crawling all over me.'
'How often do you get them?'
'Now, it's only when I'm stressed.'
Esposito said nothing for a moment as a question burned in his mind: was it him? Was he putting too much pressure on her and scaring her off without even realizing it?
'It's not you, or us,' Mere said reassuringly, reading him perfectly. 'My grandmother is moving to her winter place in Florida, and I'm going to be moving to her place in Murray Hill at the end of November. It's been taking a bit of a toll on me.'
A wave of shame washed through her as she sighed, tears threatening to spring out again. 'I'm so embarrassed. This probably isn't what you expected our first night together.'
'Well there was a little screaming involved,' he joked, glad she was enough herself that she punched him in the shoulder. 'You think you can get some sleep?'
'I'll try.'
She laid back down on the bed, shoulders hunched tightly until she felt Esposito's hand on her back, rubbing in soothing circular strokes. It was so comforting, so sweet; she turned to him, kissed him lightly. 'I could use a hug.'
He held her tightly, brushed a gentle hand over her hair as her breathing began to slow into sleep. 'I'm right here,' he murmured. 'I won't let anything happen to you.'
R&R&Enjoy.
