Chapter 4: Nightmares

Lake found herself standing in a familiar hallway. To her left was a family photo hanging on the wall. In the picture, Jesse and Nate were standing in front of their parents. Mr. Cosay's arm was around his wife's shoulders, his other hand resting on Jesse's shoulder as they posed in front of the Disneyland sign.

Lake wondered what she was doing out here in the hallway. She remembered going to sleep in the guest room last night, and now she was standing in the hallway as morning light seeped in through the window. Had she sleep walked out of her room?

The air around Lake felt unusually cold compared to the temperature in the Cosay's house last night. Perhaps someone left a window open? Lake didn't mind the cold, but it was uncomfortably familiar, even though she couldn't quite place why.

Movement caught Lake's attention as Jesse's bedroom door opened and he stumbled sleepily out of his room. He didn't seem to notice her as he turned down the hallway, away from her.

Lake moved to follow him. She had only taken a few steps before her face smacked hard into an invisible force.

She stumbled backwards in confusion. Slowly, she reached out a hand, her palm resting on an invisible wall.

No… She shook her head. No… this can't be happening!

She pressed harder against the wall, pushing against it with all of her weight, but it didn't move.

No, I can't be here! I escaped!

"Jesse!" she shouted as loud as she could. She pounded her fists against the translucent barrier, which she suddenly recognized as the mirror in Jesse's hallway. Jesse didn't make any indication that he had heard her. She watched as Nate came up the stairs and Jesse stopped to talk with him.

"Did you miss me, Sliver?"

No…

Lake turned as fast as she could, but she was too late. Sieve launched himself at her, his hand gripping firmly around her neck, pressing her backwards against the mirror. He glowered down at her, a look of pure hatred in his eyes.

"H-How..." Lake barely managed as he struggled desperately against his grip, using all of her strength to try and pull his hand away. "How are you alive? You were-"

"Killed?" Sieve finished for her. "By you?"

"No, I didn't-"

He pressed her harder against the mirror. Had she been human, her neck would have snapped.

"Don't pretend like you didn't know what would've happened," he snarled. "You knew exactly what that deer would do. You killed me, just like you killed Mace."

"I-I had no choice!" She clawed against his hand, trying to pull each individual finger off her neck, but he was as solid as stone.

"Didn't have a choice? You could have continued to be a reflection. You could've accepted what you are. Instead, you killed Mace. You killed my partner!"

"Please, let me go!" She kicked his legs, but not even her strongest kicks seemed to phase him.

He sneered down at her. "Why? So you can live in the prime world? Do you really think you deserve to be there? You? You're not even a person, and even if you were… even if you were more than just a worthless Sliver, you wouldn't be a good person. You're selfish, cowardly and a murderer." Sieve looked over her shoulder at Jesse. "You don't deserve that Prime's affection." He looked back down at her, his eye's narrowing. "You don't deserve to live."

The sound of his sander reached her ears and Lake let out a sob. She couldn't do anything. She could barely move, she couldn't fight.

"You're done running, Sliver. You're done pretending to be something you're not. You're done existing." He lifted the sander above her head.

"No!" She screamed, struggled frantically. "Jesse!"

He plunged the sander towards her face and she closed her eyes-

Lake bolted upright and gasped for air.

She scanned the darkened room for any sign of the Flecs. The light from the window illuminated the mirror on the back of the door, reflecting her terrified face. Fear gripped her chest as Lake dove for cover.

She landed with a loud thump on the floor next to her bed. The blankets, which had tangled themselves around her limbs, fell along with her into a heap on the floor.

Breathing raggedly, Lake buried her face in the carpet, trying to gain her bearings. Sieve's words echoed in her mind, and she tried to push them out with her own mantra.

I'm safe, I'm safe, I'm out, I'm a person… I'm a person…

But she didn't feel safe, curled up on the floor all alone. She felt incomplete, broken, like a cracked reflection unable to represent the full picture. She didn't feel like a person.

And for a moment, as she sat sobbing alone in a strange room, she worried that maybe Sieve had been right.

Jesse was startled awake by the sound of a heavy thump. His first thought had been of Lake. The noise had come from the room next to him, which was Lake's room, and there were only a few objects heavy enough in his house to make a noise like that.

Instantly awake, Jesse threw off his covers, dashed to her room, and twisted open the door handle.

Fear constricted Jesse's chest when he saw Lake's bed was empty. He waited a moment, his own heart beating loudly in his ears, and then he heard a soft noise coming from the floor next to the far window.

"Lake?" He rounded the bed to see Lake on the ground curled up in a small ball with blankets tangled all around her. Her body shook with broken sobs. "Lake!"

He fell on his knees beside her, barely able to think straight. Was she hurt? Was she okay?

"Lake, it's me," he said, reaching out to touch her shoulder cold. "What happened? Are you okay?"

When Jesse's hand timidly touched her shoulder, Lake froze, her muffled sobs subsiding.

"Jesse?" Lake asked in the smallest voice he had ever heard from her.

"Yes, it's me. It's okay, I got you."

Lake struggled with her blankets, which were tightly wrapped around her arms and legs. Jesse helped her get her arms free, and when she turned to face him, she lunged towards him, wrapping her arms around his middle in a tight hug. Her weight knocked him backwards and he barely managed to stay sitting upright.

"Whoa, Lake!" Her hug was almost crushing his ribs, and Jesse only now realized how much she normally held back when she hugged him.

Jesse wrapped his arms around her as she buried her face into his chest. He could feel her shaking in his arms as tears flowed freely down her cheeks.

He had seen her face down the Flecs and terrifying creatures from the train, but he had never seen her like this. It scared him.

Jesse helplessly began rubbing circled on her back, unsure of how else to comfort her.

How could he even begin to comfort the strongest, most fearless girl he knew?

"It's okay," he promised her in a low voice. "It's okay, you're here. You're safe. You're off the train, you're safe." The words came tumbling out of his mouth before he could think about them. But somehow, he knew they were the right thing to say.

After a few minutes of holding her and rubbing her back, Lake's crying began to subsided. Her body still shook in his arms, which worried him, but her breathing was starting to return to normal.

Lake leaned away from him and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"S-sorry" Lake apologized, her voice horse, and her eyes downcast. "That was so stupid."

"It wasn't stupid," Jesse denied. "Are you okay?"

Lake shook her head, still refusing to look at him. "It was just a dream. I should have realized, but it was so realistic... Then I woke up and saw myself in the mirror and I..."

Lake trailed off as she glanced over to look at the large mirror hanging on the door.

"This is so dumb," she said with a scowl. "I'm off the train, I shouldn't be afraid of reflective surfaces anymore. What's wrong with me?"

"Hey." He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You spent months avoiding reflective surfaces, and this is your first night off the train. Give yourself a break. You can't expect to adjust to it all at once."

Lake sighed. "I know, I know, you're right." She leaned into him slightly and Jesse quickly picked up on the non-verbal cue that she wanted another hug. He wrapped his arms around her once again and rested his head on top of hers.

"I'm sorry I broke down like that," Lake's apology was muffled into his shirt. "I probably freaked you out. I have no idea what happened. I've had bad dreams before, but I've never reacted like that."

"It's okay. I'm just glad you're okay now."

And she did seem okay. At the very least, her shaking seemed to have finally stopped.

After a long moment of sitting in silence together, Lake pulled herself out of his arms, looking exhausted and more than a little embarrassed. When Jesse first met her, Lake wasn't a physically affectionate person, and it had taken a while for her to become comfortable taking his hand and accepting his hugs. However, despite how close they had become, Jesse had never seen her cling to him like that. It worried him, almost as much as it seemed to have embarrassed her.

"Sorry I woke you up," she muttered as she slowly got to her feet. She sat on the edge of her bed, still not looking him in the eyes.

"It's okay, I'm just glad you're okay." Jesse got to his feet as well, but sensed that she needed her space, so he walked towards the mirror hanging on the door. "Maybe we can do something about that mirror." Jesse opened the bedroom door and walked into the hallway.

"You don't have to," he heard Lake protest behind him. "Really, it's fine. It just surprised me."

Jesse found what he was looking for in the hallway closet and brought it back into Lake's room. He unfolded the dark blue blanket. It was a sheet for another bed set that they weren't currently using. He tucked the top of the blanket over the mirror and let it hang over the rest, completely covering it.

"There," he said. "Now the mirror won't surprise you if you happen to have another nightmare."

"Thanks…" Lake said in an unusually small voice. "That actually helps."

Jesse smiled, but he had no idea what he should do next. He wanted to stay up all night with her, making sure she was okay, and be there to wake her up if she had any more nightmares. However, from the way she was blushing, he could tell that if he suggested that, he would only embarrass her more.

"I think I'll be okay now," Lake said. "I'll try and get some rest with whatever dignity I have left."

"If it makes you feel better, when I first got on the train I had really bad nightmares," Jesse said. "I had these dreams that I would keep getting lost and would never get back home."

"Really?" Lake asked, finally looking him in the eyes again. "I don't remember you having any nightmares."

Jesse chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, that's because as soon as I started traveling with you... I don't know… I guess I just started to feel better, and the nightmares stopped. Even though you weren't my friend in the beginning, just having you with me really helped."

"It does make me feel better that I'm not the only one," Lake admitted. "Thanks, Jesse."

Jesse smiled and placed a hand on the door handle. "No problem. If you need me or have any more nightmares, I'm right next door, okay?"

"Hopefully this is the end of both our nightmares," Lake said. "I'm ready to leave the train behind us once and for all."

Jesse agreed, but when he closed Lake's bedroom door, he couldn't ignore the heavy pit settling in his stomach. Lake wanted to forget everything and make a new path as quickly as possible, but Jesse had the impression that it wouldn't be so easy to leave the past behind.

I hope you guys like this chapter. I had a difficult time with writing this one and getting the nightmare the way I wanted it, but I felt like it was really important to explore Lake's nightmare and the fears she is struggling with. I feel like it's well-established fanon that Lake had nightmares, so I feel like I would have been missing something vital if I didn't include it in this fic (and it also fits in with the rest of the narrative I'm creating for her). I hope you all like it even though it was difficult for me to write. Let me know what you think of this chapter!