Air, he needed air. The water surrounding him was dragging him down as Dean attempted to claw his way back to the surface. Not knowing how much more his lungs could take, he fought the urge to breathe when suddenly water came rushing up his nose and into his mouth.
Gasping in gulps of air, Dean sat straight up in bed, the sheets twisted around him. His t-shirt was plastered against his skin, damp with perspiration.
"Dean?" Sam asked groggily from the other bed. "You okay?"
"Yeah," replied Dean in a hushed tone. "I'm good. Just go back to sleep Sammy."
Untangling his legs from the bedclothes, the older Winchester brother got up and headed to the bathroom. Flipping the switch and squinting at the sudden brightness, Dean stood and relieved himself before flushing the toilet and stepping over to the sink. He rinsed off his hands before cupping them and splashing his face with water a few times.
As he cupped his hands under the flowing water, Dean realized that he was incredibly thirsty, parched even. Bending down at the waist, he lowered his lips to the surface of the water in his hands and began to greedily gulp it down.
"You keep drinking like that and you'll make yourself sick."
"Jeez, Sam" exclaimed Dean, startled by his brother's sudden appearance in the doorway. "Don't sneak up on a guy like that."
"Don't pee with the door open," Sam retorted.
"I'm a grown man, if I wanted to shut the door, I would've shut the door. Besides, you're supposed to be asleep."
"So are you," the younger brother replied. "But this is the second night this week that you've woken up with nightmares."
Dismissively Dean said, "Don't worry about it. I'm fine. I've been through worse. We both have."
"Dean," implored Sam, "something isn't right and you know it as well as I do."
"I said," Dean said menacingly, "don't worry about it. Now get back to bed."
Grabbing a few more gulps of water, Dean wiped his face on his sleeve before shutting the facet. Forcefully brushing past his younger brother, he stalked over to his bed.