Happy Valentines Day everyone!
The hours went by and Marilyn struggled to stay awake in the later hours of the night. She switched her place from laying comfortably in bed, to standing by the window to sitting on the sofa.
Several times she wasn't sure if she was dreaming or not and the jolt from an element in her nightmare forced her brain to awaken her from the unpleasant slumber.
The gunshots she heard were all too real and Marilyn several times ran to the window to see if anything new was going on that she could see. There were only the faint glows from the fires that illuminated the perimeter of the buildings.
The night felt like it was never ending. Each time Marilyn awoke the clock on the wall indicated only ten or fifteen minutes had past. Still, exhaustion sank in again and again and again never driving her into beautiful dreams that escaped reality- only into worlds that were worse than the apocalypse itself.
The latest one felt all too real. Marilyn ran and the ache in her side from running for so long was debilitating. Smoke was all around and she had no idea where she was but the growls of the undead could be heard all around.
"Negan!" Marilyn called out for him but there was nothing - no response, no form of human life. She knew she could die right there if one of the walking dead were to lunge at her.
Marilyn heard his voice but it sounded far away and echoed. He called to her and she felt her heart thudding against her chest.
"Where are you?" She tried to yell the question but her voice box wasn't working. On a second try the words came out barely above a whisper and Marilyn reached for her throat. She couldn't speak, but why?
I'll run to him, she thought. Marilyn went to move but she was frozen; stuck. When she looked down her feet were chained to the cement and she tried to scream but she couldn't. She couldn't move; couldn't speak.
This is it, Marilyn thought. I'm going to die. I'm not even going to really get to tell him how I feel.
"Marilyn." Negan's voice was far too calm for the circumstances. She didn't need to see him to know it was him.
She tried to call out to him and felt hot tears begin to slide down her face in frustration when her voice box betrayed her again.
The growls around her grew louder and the world glowed an eerie red with swirls of dust and sand that stung her eyes.
Marilyn tried to fight off the elements but felt like she was stuck in an awful swarm of death. The only contrast was Negan's persistent, gentle voice in the background. She tried to focus on it but when a pair of hands landed on her shoulders a loud scream finally emerged from her mouth and she was sure that was it - that the undead had discovered her in the midst of the chaos.
"Marilyn!" Negan's voice was more prominent now and clear as day. When her eyes snapped open he was standing in front of her with concerned eyes and his hands placed lightly on the tops of her arms.
She stood up, still shaken from the dream and took a long, deep breath before taking in their surroundings.
"You alright doll?" Negan pressed his eyebrows together and tipped his mouth up in a smirk before touching her face gently with one hand.
"Yeah." She made sure they were still in his room and that her wild dream hadn't somehow led her to sleepwalking with the dead outside.
"You fell asleep on the couch... fuckin' talkin' in your sleep and shit."
Marilyn drew a hand across her damp forehead and shook her head. "It's the undead and all that shit that went on today." She glanced at the clock, still feeling shaky. "Bad dream."
"You could've fuckin' slept in the bed honey."
"I know I was just... trying to stay up."
Negan shook his head. "Going to run yourself into the fuckin' ground if you try to keep up with me. I told you I might not even be back tonight. It's four in the damn morning."
"I've been in and out of sleep," Marilyn admitted.
Negan removed his jacket and boots before ridding himself of everything but his boxer briefs. "I'm going to wash up... then we need to get some fuckin' sleep. It's not going to be any shorter of a day tomorrow and I may need your help keeping the girls in your crew fuckin' sane and occupied."
Marilyn felt a sense of relief about getting a job to do. She knew she needed to keep her mind busy. "Okay."
Negan ran his thumbs under her eyes. "You're exhausted." He shook his head. "You better start fuckin' listening to me about shit. I mean it."
"I stayed in the room." Marilyn managed the tiniest smile and she could tell Negan was trying to hold back from grinning himself until he finally chuckled.
"That's a fuckin' start I guess." He shook his head again as turned to head toward the bathroom. "Stubborn."
She laughed lightly and then eyed the bed noting how inviting it looked after she had forced herself to stay up for most of the night. With a big yawn she made her way across the room and slid under the covers.
From the bathroom she could hear Negan washing up and moving around. It wasn't until he climbed in beside her that she felt content closing her eyes and melting into the fluffy pillow on her side of the bed.
"How's it look out there?" Marilyn asked him.
"Like shit." Negan guided her toward him and Marilyn rested her head contently against where his arm met his chest. Her arm draped across his midsection.
"Are we going to be okay?"
"Yeah," he said in a groggy but confident voice.
"Okay." Marilyn felt her heavy eyes begin to drift shut. She forced her eyes to stay open for another couple of seconds to give a glance to Negan.
Without opening his eyes he said quietly, "Go to sleep doll."
Marilyn smiled to herself as he obviously sensed her persisting sleep resistance. Unlike the earlier hours of the night she was able to relax and drifted off to sleep leaving her worries temporarily behind.