A/N: This fic contains potentially triggering subject matter including but not limited to: suicidal references, gun violence, sexual trauma, homelessness, drug abuse, depression, homophobia, and cancer. It may contain inaccuracies. No copyright infringement intended. Thanks for reading!
BOOK THREE - PART TWO- CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED
Sam lifted her head up and looked blearily around the room. She was at home, in bed. Strangely, the lights were on, and Robbie and Bryson were standing beside the bed in their underwear. She wiped the tears off her face and croaked out, "What happened?"
"You were screaming. You woke everyone up," Robbie responded with slight annoyance.
"You just had a bad dream," Cat quietly told her, "We couldn't wake you. You were screaming for, like, fifteen minutes straight. Are you okay?"
Sam touched herself between her legs and then sighed in relief. Then she blushed and glanced over at Robbie and Bryson.
"It's okay." There was understanding in Cat's eyes. "I think we're good now, you guys. Can we have some space, please?"
"Right. Let's go," Bryson agreed, turning around.
"Feel better, Sam," Robbie offered as the two of them exited the room.
Sam was still extremely shaken. She cried quietly while Cat held her and rocked her. "I'm sorry," she finally managed to croak out.
"I've never seen you have a nightmare like that," Cat sighed. "I mean, not since… before. Do they still happen all the time?"
"Not all the time. I just—" Sam was choked up and struggling for words. "I mean I—I didn't mean to—"
Cat held her tighter. "Shhh… it's okay. Just breathe." They laid there for a few minutes, and finally Cat said, "Would it be better if we just don't talk about it?"
"It was so real," Sam mumbled in disbelief. An idea occurred to her. "Hey, let me up. I gotta do something."
Cat couldn't stop her, so she moved aside and let her slide out of bed. She expected Sam to run to the bathroom first, but was confused to watch her walk over to Cat's purse and open it up instead. "Um, excuse me, Sam—?" She got out of bed and went over to her. Her eyes were wild, and she seemed to be having some kind of episode as she searched frantically through her wallet.
"Sam." Cat was very concerned. "Sam, stop. Stop!" She caught her wrist and stopped her actions.
But Sam already seemed to have located what she was looking for. Cat's debit card was right there, in its usual spot. She handed her wallet back. "Sorry. I just had to check if it was really a dream or not."
"And searching through my wallet helps you answer that?" Cat asked, furrowing her eyebrows. Sometimes Sam did things that didn't make sense when she was really upset like this. She tried not to make a big deal of it. She put her wallet away and took Sam's arm. "Can we please go back to bed?"
"Go lay down. I'll be there in a minute," Sam told her, heading for the bathroom.
Cat did as she was told, and was relieved to feel the opposite side of the bed sink down after a few minutes. She opened her eyes, and they met Sam's bright blue ones in the dark. "Hey."
"Hey." Sam got settled down under the covers. Cat closed her eyes, waiting for Sam to wrap her arms around her. Instead, there was silence, then she heard, "Cat?"
She opened her eyes. "What's wrong?"
Sam looked nervous about something. Finally, she forced out, very quietly, "Can you hold me?"
Cat smiled. She rolled onto her side and put her arms out. "Come here."
Sam settled down in her arms, feeling safe. It was a very rare feeling for her.
"Are you gonna tell me what your nightmare was about?" Cat asked, unable to contain her curiosity. She already had a pretty good idea, but was unsure what had brought this on so suddenly.
Deciding not to bore her with the details, Sam flatly replied, "I was gang raped. Seven-to-one."
Cat felt a little sick to hear that. "Why now? Did you get triggered by something? How'd it start?"
Sam sighed deeply. She decided she might as well tell her everything, just to get it out of her own head. "'Kay, so I woke up. Or… I thought I did. I picked up a call on your phone. It was some guy demanding a ransom or else he'd leak my naked pics too."
"So, you woke me up, and then..?"
"No. I, um… stole your debit card and ran to the ATM down the block," Sam confessed. Cat was looking at her incredulously, but she continued, "They wanted $5,000, so that's how much I withdrew. But when I met up with the guy, he had a whole gang with him. They counted my money and lied that it was only $4,900."
Cat was terrified to hear what happened next, but she let her keep talking.
"So, they started thinking of ways I could make up for the extra hundred, and…" Sam took a deep breath, "Basically, they pinned me down and tore my clothes off. The main guy was just about to rape me when I woke up."
Cat scoffed. "Sam, how were you gonna know if they really deleted those pics after you paid them? They could've made copies and stolen your—my $5,000 and then posted them anyway."
"That didn't really occur to me," Sam admitted. "The ATM withdrawal limit being $5,000 should've tipped me off. Or the fact that the guy knew it was me that answered your phone. I don't know; it made sense in dream logic."
"I can't believe you'd steal from me like that." Cat actually could believe it. She just really didn't like it. "So, is that how I should expect for things to go in the future? You need a little extra cash, so you just swipe some from me?"
"Cat—no, I…" Sam wasn't sure what to say. "I felt like the situation called for it, and it was too dangerous to get you involved."
"Did the ATM let you in without a pin?" Cat wondered. "In the dream?"
"No, I guessed it," Sam answered, "Why?"
"What was it?" It was irrelevant, but Cat was curious.
"Uh, it doesn't matter."
"Sam, tell me," Cat said firmly. She felt like she deserved it after being dream-stolen-from.
"74739," Sam muttered. "You probably don't even remember it, but that safe in our room way back then; it had a combination, and—"
"I remember." Cat had a strange look on her face. "Well, I guess I'm gonna need to change that."
"Wait—are you seriously telling me that's actually your pin?" Sam choked out a laugh of disbelief.
"I'm not great at remembering numbers," Cat informed her with a one-shouldered shrug. "But I always remembered that one, 'cause I punched it in so many times. So, it's kind of stuck around."
"Holy shit. I can't believe I literally could've robbed you." Sam saw the way she was looking at her and said, "I won't! I'd never do that. To you."
Cat rolled her eyes. "Sam, just go to sleep before you say something dumb."
"Okay." Sam relaxed a little. "Don't stop holding me, okay?"
"'Kay." Cat squeezed her tighter and kissed her forehead. "Goodnight."