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There’s a knot forming in my stomach, and it fills me with concern that she’s not going to react well to me touching her. Whatever’s happening in her head right now seems very physical.
But that’s why I don’t want to leave her asleep. I don’t want her to keep suffering like this, because in the real world, she’s safe. I also don’t want Rae to have to keep witnessing it.
As I kneel by the side of the bed, I decide to try Rae’s tactic of talking her awake—to begin with, at least.
“Liv,” I say in a steady voice. “Liv-Andria, wake up. It’s Landon and Rae. You’re having a nightmare.”
She doesn’t respond to me at all.
I lean a bit closer. “Liv? Liv, it’s Landon. Wake up, okay? Wake up.”
Still nothing.
I look at Rae, who’s standing on the other side of the bed. Still looking more distraught than not, she makes a motion for me to shake her aunt.
Just be quick,I tell myself.Don’t linger. Just do it and then stop.
I reach out and give Liv’s arm a light shake. “Liv, wake up.”
A change: she quiets down some.
I go for raising my voice rather than a second touch. “Liv, it’s Landon. You’ve been dreaming. Wake up.”
A strangled noise sounds in the back of her throat. She jerks in a different way from her shivers, and then her eyes are opening and she’s gasping for air. She sees me first, then whips her head around until she spots Rae, then looks at me again—and bursts into tears.
“Hey,” I say gently, “you’re okay, okay?”
She nods wildly, her eyes as full of anguish as they are tears. “Oh my—oh my G-God—”
She covers her face with her hands, curls away from me and into a vulnerable ball, cries so hard her whole bed seems to shake.
“Annie,” Rae says in a small voice as she climbs over to her.
Liv continues to cry into her hands, but Rae doesn’t mind. She puts her arms around her and hugs her the best she can.
Like an adult in a tiny body, she says soothingly, “It was just a dream.”
That paired with the state Liv is in makes my throat tighten up. I swallow hard and work on breathing deeply.
Past that, I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to say anymore. I’m worried that if I try to comfort Liv any more, she’llreallyfreak out. So I just stand here quietly.
When she calms down enough to hug Rae back, the kid gives this big sigh and pats her head. “I called Landon like you told me to,” she says. “He rescued you from your bad dream because I couldn’t wake you up.”
Liv groans, as if this information displeases her.
It’s…honestly, it’s not the reaction I expected.
Rae glances at me with a little frown, like she didn’t expect it either. Then she whispers, “I think we should tell him,‘Thank you.’”
No response from Liv.
At all.
Not even another groan.
Definitely not a look back at me.
Feeling decidedly awkward, I scratch at my jaw.
