"Oh my God, Alexis! Unless you're dying, stop it!" David snapped, glaring at his sister in the darkness.
She let out a whimper, violently kicking her blanket aside and getting her left leg tangled.
"Alexis?" David said, his voice softer. "Alexis!"
She sat up with a yelp, breathing heavily, her hair falling in her face. "Oh my God", she gasped, and David slipped out of his bed, moving to sit beside her. He gently brushed the hair out of her face (Alexis was a wild sleeper, always a tangle of hair and limbs and blankets), waiting for her breathing to even out.
"David?" she said in a tiny voice. "Can you please check the door?"
"Are you okay? What happened?"
"Please, David?"
"Okay".
He padded across the room, twisting the doorhandle. "Its locked".
"Are you sure?"
Every night, David watched Alexis double check the doors. She'd march into their parents adjoining room, making sure both were locked. Alexis had reacted worse than Moira on that first night in the hotel, the night Roland had taken their doors. He didn't know what kind of event she'd been through that made her do that (he didn't want to know, either. He'd lost many nights of sleep worrying about his little sister, and if he heard about all of her escapades he'd never sleep again), but he knew it must have been something serious.
"Its locked, Alexis".
"Okay". Her voice was tiny, reminding him of when they were little and she'd crawl into his bed during a thunderstorm.
When they were kids, David was the one who had nightmares. He had been born with his fair share of anxiety, and apparently Alexis's share as well. He was the one who had had nightmares, but it seemed the tables had turned.
"Are you okay?" he wanted to know, sitting down on the edge of her bed again.
"Yeah, of course". She nodded, a little too quickly. "Yes".
She expected him to snap at her, to tell her to stop being so dramatic and go to sleep. But he didn't.
He nudged her over, climbing properly into her twin bed. It was an even tighter squeeze than it had been when they were kids- they'd always had double beds, minimum. But he curled up beside her, tucking the blankets up around her shoulders.
"You don't have to", she mumbled, as he started working the tangles out of her hair with his fingers. "I'm not a baby, David".
"I know". But he laid beside her, waiting for her breathing to settle. He took an hour and eighteen minutes for her to fall asleep, and when she did, her head lolled onto his arm, pinning him there.
So he stayed.